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Sakura kisses Natsuki first.
Well, Natsuki kisses her.
It’s not a conscious thing, the six of them. Moving as a unit - three, then five, then six. And of course the old men, but that’s different.
Moving rooms too - they live close enough, they share keys.
Sakura knows she’s the only one who hasn’t visited the Chief’s room. He gave her life, so she feels like she owes it to make it perfect. He owns her heart most of all.
But Natsuki kisses her first.
She came by to return the borrowed gear, and Sakura almost hits herself when she realizes she forgot to take it back. Being in a team has changed her.
Not a unit, a team.
Then Natsuki kisses her and grins, because she’s Natsuki, and Sakura stares.
She hasn’t kissed a girl since—
Leather and cotton strewn across the floor, and she still tastes like strawberries—
“I don’t want to have sex with you,” Sakura says.
Natsuki hmms.
“I wasn’t gonna ask about that.” She says, and at Sakura’s face. “And I do know what that is, for the record. Masumi knows I need to know things to protect myself, and I think I’m 21?”
It’s the not knowing that scares her. The last time she kissed a girl, it was an alien, and the alien neglected to tell her some things. It was a mistake regardless - they never saw each other again, and it was a distraction.
“Alright,” Sakura says. “Would you like to stay the night, regardless?”
That much, they’ve done before.
Natsuki nods, and hugs her.
Sakura thinks I don’t deserve you.
“Yeah, we don’t deserve this,” Masumi says, and Souta nods.
They have some time just the three of them, on a hike and treasure hunt. They don’t often talk about themselves, any of them, but they all know.
The important parts.
Most of them.
“But it’s fun,” Souta replies. “And they don’t care - Chief, the SGS. So what can I do but do better?”
He grins. Masumi nods.
“You’re thinking about it too much, Miss Pink,” Masumi says. “So stop.”
I don’t ever stop, I just hide it better.
They make camp and lay close together. They hold her without asking, and she realizes she feels safe.
When did that happen?
They each kiss her, in the morning.
Whatever they have, she can’t describe. Souta still sees other girls, but he brings them up less and less.
Akashi doesn’t say a word, or demand anything, but then, he must need his time. He lost both his old partners.
“Polyamory was common when there were more Ashu hunters,” Eiji says. Sakura turns to him.
“And that is?”
“What we have here, I think,” Eiji says. “It kept the group close knit. Not everyone was with everyone, but everyone was part of the Takaoka family… But then so many died during the sealing.”
Sakura nods.
“I don’t know what we have here,” she says. “Is it anything?”
“It’s a team,” Eiji says. “I think it’s become a Precious to me.”
He kisses her, and he grins, and he hands her a carrot.
She kisses Akashi, because he awoke from a nightmare and her words and touch didn’t reach him. He called her Kyoko.
“I’m here,” she says. “I caught you, Chief. I caught you, Akashi Satoru.”
“Sakura,” he says softly. “Pink.”
“That’s me,” Sakura says.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he says. His body still trembles underneath her.
“I know,” Sakura says. “I’m not going anywhere, I told you that.”
He holds her close, and she rests against the man who gave her life.
They all knew it, in the end.
Their ultimate Precious.