She can remember that they were joking and playing 'I spy' in the car. She can remember him laughing at something she said. Then suddenly an idea came to her. She thought it would be funny, so she leaned forward and covered his eyes from behind.

She felt the car swerve and saw him dive towards her, wrapping his arms around her as if to protect her for what's to come.

"Yuzu-!", was the last thing she heard. Well, that and the sound of his head colliding with concrete.

"Dad…?"

His arms were still wrapped around her, stiff and motionless. They lay there for what seemed like hours. She couldn't move under his weight so she just stayed there, crying as red soaked into the pavement, into her clothes and into her hair.

"Please… get up!"

It was suffocating, not just his weight on her but also the smell of blood combined with the nearby smoke that the fire was emitting.

"Dad please…!"

Suddenly she felt the weight disappear.

"Dad, you're okay…!". Then, cold, bloodied hands grabbed her by the shoulders. "D-dad?"

"Why did you do it Yuzu? Why did you kill me?!", an inhuman voice screeched at her.

"You killed me! You killed me Yuzu!"

…

"Yuzu!"

Suddenly her eyes shot open and she frantically sat up. Her heart was racing and her whole body was covered in sweat.

"Shh it's alright Yuzu, it was just a dream. I'm right here…", Yuzu was greeted with her girlfriend's concerned eyes.

"Mei…", the blonde looked around. She glanced at the clock. It was 2.37am and it was still pitch black outside.

"What happened?", the younger girl asked as she wiped away Yuzu's tears. "You were crying and screaming so I tried to wake you up…", she explained worriedly.

The blonde stared at Mei dumbfounded, "...I was?".

The younger girl nodded, "...Do you want to talk about it?"

Yuzu looked away for a moment before sighing, "I… I dreamt about my dad… a-about the accident", she said reluctantly. "H-he was yelling at me. Shouting that it was my fault- that I killed him…!", Yuzu's eyes were filled with fear, dejection and tears.

Mei immediately pulled her into a hug, brushing her hair softly while calming her down. There was another moment of silence before she heard the older girl chuckle bitterly.

"He was holding me like this too… that's how I survived. That's why he died…! Because he protected me. I should've- I should've been the one to…", Yuzu trailed off.

"No, don't ever say that Yuzu! He- your father he wouldn't have wanted you to think that! He wanted to protect you because he loved you", Mei assured. "And I love you too… so don't say that you should've been the one to die!"

Yuzu's eyes widened, "...I'm sorry…".

Mei tightened her embrace on the older girl in reply, which Yuzu happily reciprocated. Both girls fell asleep after a while, still entangled in each other's arms.

The next morning both woke up without bringing up the event that took place earlier that day. Not that they were avoiding it, just that the problem was dealt with and now they're moving past it.

It has been a month after Yuzu's promise to Mei and, to the younger girl's relief, she really did keep her promise. The promise Yuzu made to work harder and day after day the blonde had improved in her combat skills, as well as her defense skills, meaning the amount of injuries she received daily decreased in amount and severity.

Mei was happy with that and had decided to go back home since she wanted to check up on everything at home. Her responsibilities were gnawing at her each day so much so that she could not relax any longer and had to do something.

Although Yuzu was reluctant to let her go back she knew that Mei wasn't the type of person to just sit around doing nothing. She was a girl of action which is another reason why the blonde loved her so much.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise", the younger girl said as she was entering the limousine.

"Okay", Yuzu smiled. "Please make sure to tell mom that I'm fine and that I'll be back soon…"

Mei nodded in assurance as the chauffeur closed the door. Yuzu started walking back when she heard a tapping sound on glass. She looked behind her and saw Mei mouth a word. 'Wha?' Her confused look made Mei repeat herself, this time mouthing the syllables slowly and more exaggeratedly. "Ga-N-Ba-Tte!"

Yuzu was able to make out what Mei was saying just as the limousine turned a corner. 'Ganbatte, huh?', she giggled quietly to herself. 'She's so cute…', the blonde tried to squeal inwardly but failed as the servants stared at her with confused expressions.

As she arrived in her room she held Mei's pillow close to her, taking a deep breath before gaining her enthusiasm and optimism for what's to come, "Ganbatte!", she said to herself while punching upwards.

Mei's POV

As Mei felt the vehicle turn and drive out of view she couldn't help but explode in embarrassment. 'What did I just- Why did I do that?!'.

'Because you wanted her to cheer up after seeing that sad look combined with that fake smile!', someone, somewhere in the back of her mind told her.

'Yeah but still- What I just did was… so uncool'

'Since when do you care if you're uncool or not? Actually, since when did you care about anyone's opinion of you at all?'

Mei suddenly gave herself a smack on the cheek to regain her composure. She took a deep breath before sighing, "Yuzu, what are you doing to me…?"

She chuckled to herself quietly, "You've literally made me go crazy for you".

...

The house was in a terrible state when Mei arrived. As soon as she took off her shoes she called her stepmother, worried that something may have happened.

"Mei, what's wrong? How are you girls?", Ms. Aihara asked nonchalantly.

"I just came home and the entire house is a mess… are you alright?"

"Oh dear! I didn't think you would return so soon, I'm sorry! I was just so busy with work and what with all the deadlines and-", the middle aged woman tried to explain.

Mei sighed in relief before stopping her stepmother, "It's okay I'll handle it. You needn't worry"

Before Ms. Aihara could reply however Mei had already ended the call and rolled up her sleeves.

She put all the clothes that were strewn about into the washing machine. Next, she collected all the empty containers of microwave meals, ramen cup noodles and leftover take out food that littered the entire kitchen and living room. Finally, she threw out all the trash bags that were already overflowing and washed all the dirty dishes as well.

After finishing all the house chores she called Himeko over to bring all the school notes, homework and student council work that she had missed. She wanted to get everything done so she could return to Yuzu as soon as possible.

Yuzu's POV

After Mei's encouragement earlier, determination seeped into her body and she decided to study some more in the library. She had immensely improved in her fighting skills and actually picked it up after a few more weeks as muscle memory kicked in from when she was taught martial arts from an early age. Now, the rest of the next month would be spent on augmenting and honing her abilities.

But since her skills had improved so much, she had to focus more on studying. Things like history, business and languages were being taught to her as just knowing some martial arts was not enough to let her take over the family business.

Although she was so determined at first, it didn't make studying any less boring. Her tutor would not be in today so she had to study by herself, making it all the more harder.

'Maybe I should just take a nap for the rest of the day…', she thought to herself for a moment. However the image of Mei cheering her on made her snap out of her thoughts immediately. She decided to ask Ms. Izumi if she could tutor her for the rest of the day.

After a few days of strenuous studying and perfecting some of her fighting techniques Yuzu had entered a 'zombie-like' state where she did nothing but study, eat, train, and sleep.

'Was it always this boring without Mei?', she thought sadly. 'I wonder what she's doing now-'

"Yuzuko-sama, would you please pay attention?", her tutor suddenly cut her thoughts off.

Meanwhile...

Mei was slowly dying as she was catching up on all the work she had missed. She had completed all of her homework assignments already and now she was working on finishing all of the paperwork for the student council.

'Was it always this boring without Yuzu?', the thought suddenly appeared in her head. 'I wonder what she's doing now-', suddenly she cut herself off and smacked her cheeks in an effort to get a hold of herself.

'Focus, Mei. The faster you get this done, the sooner you get to see her…'

Back to Yuzu

After one and a half weeks since Mei left Yuzu was sure that she would die. Sure, the servants would do anything she asked, but they would not allow her to leave. That was part of the deal after all, to 'stay in the Hayato estate' meant that she could not leave until her grandmother allowed her to.

'I want to see her…!', she grew more and more impatient by the day as she punched the punching bag harder.

"Yuzuko-san…?", a servant was reluctant to interrupt her as the blonde's frustration had been growing worse each day and was becoming more and more obvious.

"What."

"Er- dinner is ready if you would like some-", the servant offered before being cut off.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry", Yuzu answered with a monotone voice as she turned back to vent out her frustration on the red sack in front of her.

"Th-then perhaps a bath…?"

The blonde stopped to think before answering, "Yeah, please prepare one, thanks". Yuzu felt bad for scaring the servant and tried to smile.

"Alright, as you wish Yuzuko-san", the girl brightly said, cheering up.

As Yuzu collapsed on her futon she realised how exhausted she was, not just physically but also mentally. She rolled over to where Mei's side used to be and sighed heavily as she closed her eyes.

'Another night without her…', she thought sadly as she tried to fall asleep.

Her eyes shot open however, as soft and slender fingers wrapped around her own. Her eyes were met with Mei's half-lidded, amethyst ones. Before the blonde could speak her mouth was met with the younger girl's, which she gladly welcomed.

Mei broke off the kiss after what seemed like a few minutes, smirking as she looked at Yuzu's flushed, panting face, "Told you I'd make it up to you…".

The blonde, who was still recovering from the intense kiss just then, whispered into the raven haired girl's ear, "...not enough".

That was enough of a prompt for Mei to pull off Yuzu's shirt. Both needed it, right there and then. There was no time for teasing. She hurriedly took off her own shirt as she resumed kissing the older girl while pinning her to the floor. Mei was moving quickly, she had no intention of going slow.

The raven haired girl moved down, trailing small kisses down the blonde's collarbone, to her hip and then to the girl's inner thigh.

Mei was about to pull her girlfriend's underwear off before her hand was grabbed by the older girl. She looked up at the girl in confusion.

"Come here… I'll do you too…", Yuzu said huskily.

Mei blushed at the older girl's suggestion, "B-but that kind of position is… embarrassing", she whispered the last word.

But before she knew it, Yuzu had managed to get on top of her with her rear end facing Mei. The younger girl was startled at first but the image of Yuzu's... uh gluteus maximus right in front of her made her lose all sense of humility.

"I-if you won't do it then I'll- Hyah!", Yuzu was interrupted as she felt a warm, slippery organ enter her.

"Yuzu...try to keep… it down…", Mei said in between each stroke of her tongue.

"How am I supposed to- Hah!... w-with your tongue inside me- mmph!".

Yuzu was starting to get irritated so she started using her index finger to touch the wet spot on Mei's panties. She used small, light strokes before using her other hand to stroke her bud. This earned a loud moan from the younger girl.

"Look Mei. You're so wet that my finger's going in through your panties…!", Yuzu tried to get back at her but suddenly felt two fingers enter. "S-so, you wanna play dirty?", the blonde said, feeling competitive.

Mei didn't reply and merely continued pleasuring the older girl until she felt Yuzu shift slightly. The raven haired girl could swear that she saw fireworks for a moment when she felt something vibrate against her bundle of nerves.

"Y-yuzu- Hyah! Wh-what- Hah! ...is that…!, Mei tried to control her voice but failed.

Yuzu chuckled at the girl's reaction, "It's an electric toothbrush. Nice, right? You see, after you left I was very lonely you know? I wanted to be ready for when you returned. Actually, I haven't even used this. I haven't touched myself at all since you left".

Just as she finished explaining, Mei felt something similar to a lightning jolt pass through her body. Before she knew it she came, leaving her gasping for air.

Satisfied with seeing the younger girl trembling from her orgasm under her, Yuzu moved off the girl and lay next to Mei.

"...too…", the dark haired girl quietly mumbled.

"Hm? Mei, did you say something?"

The younger girl sighed before speaking again, "I said me too…"

"Huh?

"I haven't touched myself either since I left. I wanted you to be the one to…", she trailed off, avoiding eye contact with the other girl.

Yuzu couldn't help but smile at that. She sighed contently as she embraced the younger girl, pulling her closer to herself since there wasn't much space in her futon, "Sorry, it's a bit cramped. I hope you can sleep comfortably… I would set up your own futon but I don't know where it is".

Without warning however, Mei got on top of her, straddling the older girl.

"M-mei?", Yuzu was stunned at the girl's sudden action.

"I don't need to sleep and I'm not letting you sleep either, so prepare yourself…!", Mei declared.

Yuzu gulped in nervousness and excitement as she braced herself. It was going to be a long night.