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“I don’t want to fight.” Kaoru says it without looking up from the magazine she’s idly flipping through, eyes scanning back and forth on the page like she’s actually reading, but Rei knows better. She hoists herself the rest of the way through Kaoru’s bedroom window and perches on the ledge.
Kaoru glances at her for a fleeting moment before looking away. Their eyes don’t meet.
“Who said anything about fighting?” Kaoru shifts on the bed. The blankets move to cover more of her. Their eyes do meet now, and the look she gives Rei is pointed. Rei drums her fingertips on the thin plank of wood beneath her and resists the urge to scowl, because it would only make Kaoru shut down and she really didn’t come here to fight. Not to fight Kaoru, anyway. ”I could leave, if that’d make you happy.”
“No, that’d—hey, stop that!” Kaoru’s mouth is drawn tight in alarm. Rei realizes she’s leaning too far back against the open window, and almost goes forward again.
She doesn’t; she leans even further back, hands gripping the edges of window to keep herself from falling. “Why don’t you come here and make me?”
Kaoru shakes her head, but she’s already kicking off the blankets, long legs swinging out and touching the floor. She reaches up and—almost brutally—brushes away a stray lock of hair that’s fallen into her eyes. Rei smiles.
Strong hands grip the fabric of Rei’s shirt. Rei lets Kaoru pull her into a standing position, away from the window. There’s a sharp rap as Kaoru slams the window shut.
“What are you smiling at?”
“Your pajamas. Basketball hoops, really?”
Kaoru’s still annoyed, but it’s slipping out of her grasp, out of focus. Rei sees it in the slight twitch at the corner of Kaoru’s mouth, even as Kaoru holds back the actual laughter. ”I’ve seen you in worse,” she retorts.
“Weak comeback. Losing your edge already.” She’s pretty sure she hasn’t gone too far, but still feels a twinge of relief when Kaoru shakes her head again, this time with the smile clearly breaking the surface, and pushes her.
She lands on the bed. ”I thought you didn’t want to fight.” The sheets, from where she lies, smell too clean, too clinical. Not at all like Kaoru.
Kaoru presses in on top of her. She’s avoiding Rei’s gaze again, but Rei can’t bring herself to mind because her lips are pressing against Rei’s collar bone, Rei’s neck, just underneath Rei’s ear. ”Maybe I changed my mind.”