Mei woke up to the soft sensation of Yuzu's fingers in her hair. She groaned softly as she turned to the blonde who was twirling the younger girl's jet black hair around her index finger.

"Good morning", she smiled brightly.

Mei smiled back and kissed the older girl's forehead lovingly, "Good morning".

"Did you sleep well?", the blonde inquired.

Mei, who was still half asleep, replied with a quiet "..Mhm, you?"

The younger girl felt her girlfriend squeeze her slightly, "Best sleep I've ever had…".

"How's your cheek?", Mei reached out to gently caress it.

"It's fine now thanks to all your kisses", Yuzu smiled.

They lay there for a few minutes, just breathing in each other's scents when a loud and annoying clock started to ring incessantly. Yuzu groaned before she got up reluctantly to turn it off. It was 5am and it was time for her early morning training.

Mei still lay under the covers as she watched the blonde starting to get dressed in a new white gi uniform. Yuzu looked down at the girl, who seemed to be pouting.

"Do you really have to get up already?", she asked in a disappointed tone.

Yuzu found it to be quite adorable as Mei looked like a small, pouting child. "Yes, unfortunately I can't skip my morning practices. I'll be done by 7"

She heard a sad sigh from under the covers before her girlfriend got up as well.

"You should sleep some more", Yuzu suggested.

"No, there's no way I can go back to sleep once I'm already awake, so I might as well watch you again…", the younger girl bent down to pick up her undergarments that was strewn about on the floor from last night's events.

Yuzu stared at her girlfriend as she slipped on some underwear. 'Wow. All of that is mine. She's mine. I can't believe it…'

Before she realized it, the raven haired girl had approached her and closed her gaping mouth.

"Careful, or you'll start drooling"

Yuzu blushed at the usual quiet girl being so playful, 'Yup. I still can't believe it'. With that, she was fully motivated to train.

After watching Yuzu's morning lessons both girls were called out for breakfast.

"Ah, Yuzuko-san. Today you'll be spending the rest of your morning with Izumi-sama", the maid explained while she laid out more food on the table.

"Izumi-san? Why?", Yuzu asked as she lifted an eyebrow in confusion while basically devouring most of the food.

"Your tutor called in sick today so Izumi-sama will take his place", she collected the empty plates that was slowly piling up thanks to Yuzu's huge appetite.

"Oh, alright. Thanks", the blonde said as she stuffed her mouth with more food.

After the maid left Yuzu noticed the raven haired girl's slightly confused stare, "Mei? What is it?"

"Tutor?", was all the younger girl said.

"Oh yeah, as the 'heir to the Hayato clan' I must be educated as such, so I need to continue studying", the blonde explained. "Tsk, even if I'm not in school right now…", she muttered under her breath.

"I see", Mei curtly said as she stifled a giggle at Yuzu's cute pouting face. "Well, maybe I could join, since I was thinking of catching up on my studying anyway…"

The older girl's eyes widened with excitement, "Yes, that's a great idea! At least then it won't be so boring".

...

Sadly, it was not how Yuzu had imagined it at all. Since Mei was independent and self sufficient enough she could study on her own in the corner of the library while Yuzu sat on the opposite side of the room with Izumi-san. She sat bent over on her desk, sulking until she shook her head as she genuinely tried to pay attention to what Izumi-san was talking about.

Meanwhile Mei pulled a few books out from a shelf and sat down to study. She groaned at the thought of the pile of student council work that awaited her back in school but she quickly shook those thoughts away. The outcome was worth it as she was finally able to confess her feelings. She turned backwards to look at the blonde who seemed to be really focused on listening to Izumi-san and writing notes down intently.

'Wow. She's actually studying. She seems so focused too…'. Suddenly she gasped as she caught herself staring once again and quickly turned to her books again. Mei consciously blushed after remembering what happened last night. It was a bit of a late reaction, but it finally hit her.

She shook her head violently again to concentrate on her studies. First, she read up on some japanese literature, then moving on to social studies and finally some calculus.

Before she knew it they were called out for lunch and Yuzu soon left to continue her martial arts lessons. Mei decided to spend the afternoon reading her book as she wanted to take some time to relax. Plus, she couldn't keep watching her girlfriend train, not after last night. Or she might just pounce on the blonde right there and then.

She returned to her room where she found that the servants had removed the sliding doors that separated their rooms. Mei walked towards her bag where she pulled out her book. While doing so another book fell out of her bag. 'Oh, I still need to give her this', she glanced at the newest chapter of Yuzu's favourite manga before she stuffed it into her bag again.

The dark haired girl settled down on the kotatsu while reading her book. Though she was finally relaxing from all her worries, that being catching up on her studies, her student council work and of course confessing to Yuzu, she still felt a bit of dread in the pit of her stomach. But she couldn't think of why.

The girl instead tried to concentrate on reading her book, reading chapter after chapter until a maid had come in to gently wake her up "Um, Aihara-san? Dinner is ready…".

Mei slowly lifted her head up from in between her book, rubbing her eyes while doing so. When had she fallen asleep? She quickly closed the book and made her way towards the dining room.

She couldn't help but smile as she saw her girlfriend already sitting at the table. However, it soon faded away as she saw the blonde in an even worse state than she was in yesterday.

"Hey!", the older girl said enthusiastically.

"Hi…", Mei couldn't help but frown at the other girl's injuries as she sat down quietly.

Yuzu noticed her girlfriend's frown and put two and two together before smiling at her lovingly. "Mei… I'm okay… okay?"

Mei's face was obviously full of doubt but she nodded anyway. She continued to eat until her gaze shifted towards Yuzu once more. She looked at the blonde's shaking hand as she was trying (and failing) to use her chopsticks.

The younger girl sighed in annoyance before using her own chopsticks to grab some food and pointing it towards Yuzu. "Um… Mei?"

"Hurry up already! It's distracting to see you struggling to eat…", the raven haired girl lamely said while looking away.

Yuzu smirked at Mei's gesture and hungrily ate the food from the girl's chopsticks. "It's so yummy! Having Mei feed this to me makes it a hundred-no, a thousand times better!"

"Shut up, just keep eating…", the younger girl couldn't do anything else but continue feeding the blonde while turning a slight shade of pink.

With some reluctance, difficulty (and tsun) Mei mustered up the courage to offer Yuzu some assistance in the bath. Of course, she was able to look and keep her cool while asking her girlfriend in her 'student council president' mode.

Yuzu happily accepted the younger girl's offer and felt a bit embarrassed for needing help in the bath. But she did know that Mei wanted to talk about something, judging by how she kept staring at her injured hands.

Finally, after dinner both girls entered the bathroom. Yuzu would have been nervous if it wasn't for Mei's serious expression. She knew that now was not the time to indulge in any of her… fantasies. Besides, she wasn't really in the right condition for anything since she couldn't even wash herself.

The blonde pulled the bandages off herself, much to her relief. Though they were necessary for keeping her wounds clean, they made it hard to breathe. She sat down on one of the small stools and rinsed herself first with a pail of water. Mei soon joined her and started to massage some shampoo on the older girl's golden locks.

She felt Yuzu's body become tense as she continued to smear more shampoo on her girlfriend's body. Though there was no hidden intention in her offer in helping her girlfriend, it was still quite embarrassing.

"Turn around. I'll wash your back..", Mei simply said.

Yuzu did as she was told and turned around, giving Mei a view of her scarred back. The bruises on her abdomen were already healing but the ones on her back were still pretty messed up, making sleeping a difficult task for her as well.

Suddenly the blonde felt a warm and soft sensation on her back, particularly on the spots that were bruised. Her body eased as she realized that the younger girl was kissing her. The younger girl sighed heavily before leaning forward and burying her face into Yuzu's nape.

The blonde waited for a moment before finally speaking up, "..Mei, is something wrong…?"

There was another moment of silence before Mei answered, "Yesterday, when I saw all the injuries on your body and today, after your training your hands-". She sighed once again before continuing, "It-it made me realize the toll it's taking on you…"

Yuzu didn't say anything as she waited for Mei to say more.

"I know that you made the decision to do all this yourself and I can see how determined you are… But please just- just be careful…", Mei finally finished.

Yuzu turned around to embrace the girl in her arms. 'I see, she's worried…', she thought. "I'll try to be more careful from now on, okay? I'll definitely dodge all of Miyagi-sensei's attacks next time and I'll definitely achieve my goal and come back home with you. So please, stop worrying about me…"

Mei suddenly let out a small chuckle, "Are you stupid? I don't think I'll ever stop worrying about you from now on… But I guess that's part of loving someone.."

Yuzu snickered at that, "So, you love me?", she said smugly.

She felt a small jab on her arm, which (thankfully) wasn't injured. Mei glared at her, "Yes, I love you, okay?"

The blonde smiled and couldn't help but laugh with happiness. 'She really does love me huh?', she thought gleefully as she kissed the younger girl passionately.

…

After finishing their bath both girls made their way to their now shared room. Mei remembered her present for Yuzu but didn't know how to give it to the blonde without being… awkward.

"Sit down over there, facing the wall and close your eyes", she suddenly blurted out, her voice coming out authoritatively instead. "Don't open them no matter what"

Yuzu however, was already prone to Mei's 'student council president' mode and was able to ignore her forced, confident tone. Actually by this point she was probably already oblivious to it. "What, what is it? Is it a surprise? What is it? Show me, show me!", Yuzu couldn't hold in her excitement.

Mei merely rolled her eyes at her girlfriend's childishness, 'So impatient…'. She opened her duffel bag and pulled out the manga book.

Meanwhile Yuzu was growing impatient, "Can I open them now?"

"Mm"

With that, Yuzu finally opened her eyes. A smile tugged on Mei's lips as she watched Yuzu's eyes light up. "Oh my gosh! The newest chapter of the Momoiro Sisters! I've been dying to read this. But how did you know?", Yuzu asked excitedly.

"Taniguchi-san told me that you didn't buy the latest chapter of your favourite manga series. So I simply took the liberty of getting it for you", the younger girl explained while quickly replacing her smile with her usual poker face.

Mei was suddenly engulfed in a tight embrace to which she happily eased into. The contact was short lived however, as Yuzu couldn't wait another second.

She tried (with some difficulty) to open the first page of the chapter. Her injured fingers were visibly trembling and she was starting to get irritated by them. That is, until she felt a soft hand on hers.

"Here, let me", Mei offered as she wrapped her arms around Yuzu, her chest against the older girl's back while holding the chapter in front of the blonde, giving her a clear view of the first panel of the page. Both sat comfortably with Mei leaning her back on the wall while she turned the pages for Yuzu.

She herself was starting to enjoy the manga when she felt the other girl's soft and rhythmic breathing. For the third time that day she couldn't help but smile at the blonde. The younger girl leaned into her girlfriend more, breathing in her scent before falling asleep as well.