It was in the middle of the night when the doorbell of Shino's apartment rang. Against better judgement – it wouldn't be the first time for a murderer to be in front of her door after all – she got up to check who felt the need to disturb her at this god-awful time. Looking through the spyhole revealed a girl from her tight-knit friend group of VRMMO players, albeit the one she probably spent the least of her time with – Suguha Kirigaya, the younger sister of the guy who saved her life some time ago. Twice, to be exact.

Still confused by the unexpected visitor, but now knowing there is no threat, she unlocked, then opened the door, albeit reluctantly. It might be an acquaintance, maybe even a friend – she wasn't completely sure how to call her relationship with the familiar girl – but still, a visit out of the blue at this time was fishy. Can't be too careful.

"Suguha? What are you doing here?"

The girl in question fidgeted uncomfortably, sporting a bit of an awkward smile. "I was wondering if maybe I could stay over?"

That didn't help lift Shino's confusion at all. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for the surprise visitor to go on, at least vaguely hint at the reason why in the world she'd come all the way here to ask for that unusual favour. In person, no less, instead of just sending a text or calling her. Didn't the trip take almost two hours? Who would take such a long ride in the middle of the night to take the chance to maybe have a sleepover?

"Asuna is staying over for the weekend. In my brother's room, apparently," Suguha started, implying the reason she's here now. "Mom's on a business trip," she added.

"Please spare me the details," Shino stopped her, holding her hand up, signalling non-verbally, too, to stop the explanation. It didn't take a genius to see why the sibling inhabiting the room next door having their partner over, no parents at home, would be less preferable than wandering through the cold night, taking her luck at finding shelter at a friend's place. She opened the door further and motioned for the other girl to come in, not like she had another choice. For once Shino was glad she was an only child, and living on her own.

"Thanks," Suguha sighed in relief as she entered, Shino closing and locking the apartment's door right away again. "I tried to call on my way, but there was no response. Were you asleep already?"

"It's no problem," Shino smiled at her guest. "I wasn't, I tend to stay up late. Make yourself home, I'll get some tea ready." She motioned for Suguha to go ahead into her bedroom and wait for her there, as she fetched her phone from her pocket, remembering she had it set on silent. And true enough, it showed 3 missed calls, and a text message.

Hey Shino! I've been calling to ask if I could come over, but you didn't take the call. I'll just come over, okay?

"I'm really sorry for intruding like this," Suguha apologized, a little contrary to the sound of her message, as Shino joined her in the bedroom. But the remorse in her voice made the genuineness of the apology apparent.

"I told you, it's no problem," Shino reassured her, handing her guest the drink. "I have one question, though."

"Hm?"

"Why me?"

She was merely curious, not really expected any certain answer. The two of them hardly had anything to do with each other, and surely, they wouldn't even meet up ever if not for the fact that they had the same friends. Of course, it's not like they disliked each other, it was more that they hardly knew each other.

"You're kind," Suguha stated as a matter of fact, as if that was the one special characteristic that none of the others shared. "I know, I know! We never hang out together without the others or anything, so it seems kinda weird… But also, I wanted to get to know you better anyway, so I guess, why not have a sleepover?"

"I see," Shino smiled awkwardly. Maybe this was the actual reason she wanted to come here, and the initial one was nothing but the convenient event that gave her the right push. "I don't mind that. But… I don't have a futon for you."

As convenient as it was to run off to the one friend who is not living with parents who would question the surprise sleepover, her apartment wasn't exactly big, and there was just a single place to sleep on besides the hard floor – a single bed. It could fit two people surely, but there would be hardly any distance between them and while Suguha wouldn't mind that, she felt it too rude to propose sharing it.

"I can sleep on the floor, no problem," she suggested instead, knowing that her back would hurt the next day and that it wouldn't exactly let her have a decent rest. But that felt like a much better option than being offered a finger by her hospitable friend and taking the whole arm along with it.

"Nonsense," Shino rejected the proposal, yet she herself knew it's not like she had a lot of options to offer. Piling a couple of clothes to make for a softer surface on the floor would be silly. Letting her maybe-friend, maybe-acquaintance sleep on the floor as she suggested would be an even worse alternative, though.

"Then…?"

"If you don't mind, we can share the bed."

"Are you sure?"

"It's big enough for two people, so as long as you don't kick me in your sleep…" Shino joked.

"No promises!"

The two girls laughed together about the joke, before Suguha felt the need to clearly say that no, she would not move too much in her sleep, getting a bit embarrassed when Shino said she wasn't really concerned about that in the first place. These kinds of awkward situations and slight misunderstandings could only ever happen to her, she was sure.

"Is it just for tonight? Did you bring pyjamas, or do you need to borrow mine?"

"I'm not sure," Suguha fidgeted, not sure how to tread here, still feeling pretty awkward. "Maybe tonight and the night after? And I brought my own, no worries!"

"I see."

Suguha excused herself to the bathroom, for one reason to splash some cold water in her face – for some reason, she felt she really needed that. She changed here as well, just to extend her time in solitude. She knew this would feel awkward even before she left her home, but actually being in this situation just made it so much more apparent.

Stupid idiot, she mentally scolded herself before sighing a last time, knowing it's about time to head to sleep and that would be a welcomed rest at this moment. What'll be tomorrow is for her future self to worry about.

As she returned from the bathroom, she found Shino, who had also seemed to have changed in the meantime, staring at her bare legs – trying to be subtle, but being in the same small room, you can't exactly miss where one's gaze is directed.

"Uhm, something wrong?"

"No, just… I never noticed before how toned your legs are," Shino said nonchalantly, flustering the other girl just a bit. She herself thought not much more of the comment than that.

"I know, it's not exactly cute."

"No! That's not it," Shino slightly raised her voice, feeling guilty for making the girl trying to befriend her probably self-conscious about her body. "It's proof of how much work you put into your training. If anything, I kinda admire that."

"I-I see." Suguha blushed – it was the first time she was complimented for her muscles, and the effort she put in for years that resulted in them. It wasn't that she found herself ugly, and she was proud of how far she's gotten in kendo, planning to go even farther, but at the same time she knew that it wasn't exactly a match for the beauty ideal, so she couldn't help but sometimes worry a little how others might see her. "Thanks," she added, feeling awkward about the pause.

Shino now took off her glasses, placing them on her desk before getting onto her own bed. She waited for Suguha to turn off the light and following her into the bed, herself having moved as far towards the wall as she could while still being able to lie in a comfortable position later, then pulled the blanket over both of them. Thinking about it, this was her first sleepover since she was a young kid, and she was in a way grateful for Suguha to show up tonight because she found she doesn't exactly mind company like this once in a while.

"You really don't mind?" Suguha whispered, unaware of the other's secret gratitude. She already figured Shino was kind enough to not send anyone who needs help away, but she was still intruding, maybe even overstepping boundaries here. They weren't such close friends that sharing a bed, sleeping so close it's impossible to completely prevent body contact, would be normal yet.

"I don't," Shino repeated, her eyes already closed, facing the other way. "Don't worry about it."

"I'll try," Suguha promised, turning her body away as well, so they'd lie back to back. "Good night, Shino."

"Good night, Suguha."

While it was normal for Suguha to doze off within mere seconds, the late hour helped the other girl fall asleep soon as well.

Not too long after, maybe an hour, however, Shino abruptly shot up, breathing heavily, holding her head and trying to still her heartbeat. Her panic potent enough that she forgot about the girl sleeping next to her.

"Something wrong?" Suguha asked sleepily, a yawn following after the question. The movement has surprisingly woken her up, but she seemed ready to fall back asleep any second up until she noticed Shino not reacting to her at all. "Shino? Hey, Shino? Sinon?"

After Suguha ran out of names to call the other girl, the concern easily pushed the remaining fatigue aside, and she shot up herself to assess the situation, only now noticing Shino was biting her bottom lip and trembling. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around the other girl tightly and gently caressed her back; it wasn't the first time she had seen someone seemingly out of it. She still remembered seeing Kazuto like this quite some time ago, now she only had to hope she would manage to help Shino, too.

"It's all right, Shino. I'm here, everything's fine." It took some time for Shino to calm down, Suguha's assistance helping to bring her consciousness back to where she was now – in her locked, safe apartment, in her bed, at night, next to a friend of hers who wouldn't hurt a fly. She was safe, nobody would get her here.

"Sorry," Shino croaked weakly, still choking back tears. She wouldn't cry in front of anyone. "For waking you up."

"Don't be." Suguha shook her head.

Despite not being aware of her issues – unless Kazuto told his sister everything behind her back which he wouldn't do – the girl didn't ask any questions, but simply offered her warmth and support. Suguha wasn't nosy, she was just there.

"I'm fine now," Shino breathed, aware that she was lying; not only to the other girl but also to herself. "You can go back to sleep."

In response, Suguha wordlessly pushed Shino back down onto the bed, as softly as she could as to not trigger another such panic, only to wrap her arms around the girl from behind.

Shino debated asking what Suguha thinks she's doing, telling her to stop, yelling at her, even. But for some reason, she couldn't. She had been fighting her fears all on her own for so long, she didn't want any help – yet, now that she felt the comfort of the embrace, not only in a physical sense, a part of her wanted to hold onto that feeling for forever.

"I won't leave," Suguha breathed, as if knowing Shino's inner struggle, eliciting slight goose bumps from her breath softly tickling the other girl's nape.

The rest of the night went by without any more incidents, Shino sleeping more peacefully than she had for a while, Suguha keeping her promise and not letting go of the slightly smaller girl, her thumb mindlessly caressing Shino's arm until she herself fell asleep, too.