This was written for the Mai Universe Carnival of MUses challenge for March - Dinosaurs and Sleep. I chose sleep.
Disclaimer: Mai Otome belongs to Sunrise.
The peaceful silence of early morning lay over the walls of Garderobe and the young Gakuenchou walking down the corridor was probably the only person who was already up and about.
Natsuki had never thought that she'd make a habit of rising so early, but after her inauguration, she had quickly found out that the best time to finish annoying paperwork was that quiet hour at dawn before everyone else would get up and the academy became a buzzing hive of activity.
Reaching her office, she noted with a puzzled frown that the door was already unlocked. Warily, she entered, halting in her steps again only a moment later, surprised looking at the sleeping form curled up on the couch. Shizuru? Quietly, she closed the door behind her and tiptoed over to her friend.
What was she doing here? Kneeling down in front of the couch, she kept looking at her friend in bewilderment. Should she wake her? - No, Natsuki quickly decided against it. Whatever had brought her here could wait a little longer. If it were an emergency, she would have come straight to her.
She leaned a little closer as she was taking in Shizuru's sleeping features and a soft smile formed on her lips. She looked so peaceful. Ruffled strands of brown hair were partly covering her face, and Natsuki was just about to reach out and brush them away when crimson eyes slowly opened and met her gaze. A light blush crept onto Natsuki's cheeks, and she was glad that she had pulled back her hand just in time. "Morning," she whispered.
"Morning," mumbled Shizuru sleepily and closed her eyes again for a moment.
"You're early," said Natsuki, getting up from her kneeling position. "I wasn't expecting you before late afternoon."
"I didn't feel like spending another night on the road," murmured the brunette, "I flew the last part." She slowly sat up, stretching a bit. "But I wanted to see you before getting some sleep, so I was waiting here."
"Did something happen?" Natsuki was slightly concerned now.
Shizuru lightly shook her head. "No, I just wanted to see you," she said and an impish grin appeared on her features, only emphasised by the ruffled hair.
Finding the usually so perfect and impeccable Meister with messy hair was truly a rare sight, but also a very cute one, Natsuki suddenly noticed. Another blush was rising to her cheeks at that thought, and she quickly tried to cover it up. "Tea?"
"Hm." Shizuru nodded and was about to get up when Natsuki lightly laid her hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her down. "I'll make it," she said, and at Shizuru's quizzical look, she just grinned. "Trust me."
And so Natsuki shortly disappeared to make tea. On returning, she found Shizuru dozing off again, only opening her eyes when she put the tray with the teapot and cups down on the table in front of her.
The dark-haired Otome poured in some tea and passed the cup over to Shizuru with a smile. "Here."
"Thank you."
Helping herself to a cup as well, Natsuki sat down beside her friend. "Is it drinkable?" she asked when Shizuru took a careful sip from her tea.
"Hardly so," mumbled Shizuru and took another sip.
Natsuki grinned inwardly. It was just fine. Raising her cup, she peeked over to Shizuru once more, watching how she was contently sipping her tea with closed eyes. When she had taken over the office of Gakuenchou, no one had told her that Shizuru would be part of the inventory, but it was definitely one of the best things about this job. Natsuki's eyes wandered to the unruly strands of hair and a smile stole over her features again. Yes, definitely.
The brunette noticed her look and turned to her, confused raising a brow. "What?" she mouthed.
"Nothing," mumbled Natsuki quickly and took a sip from her tea to hide her smile. She would tell Shizuru about the hair later. For now, she would just enjoy the sight.
