To everyone who has been reading my fanfiction, especially the recent entry-- sakura_drop_, Keiyuu, Minami-chan, MatsuiLee & junchan-- thank you very much for the support.
I apologise for not posting anything as of late to all of you who still pop on by to my OS or my ongoing-but-on-hiatus story Indestructible Fire, but I sincerely thank you all regardless for putting up with my works so far.
I am still trying my best to get through with my slump and problem with writing fanfictions caused by my own mental stress.
Till then, this slightly over 2.7k words JuriSaku 'drabble' is all I've got to offer.
I hope you enjoy and do please leave a comment. Every comment is really precious to me, especially if it is a comment that tells me where and what I can improve on to further strengthen my creative writing skills.
Thank you very much.
Special mention: Thank you, M0cchi for proof-reading
Untitled - JuriSaku
Matsui Jurina slowly regained consciousness in a room enveloped by a radiant but warm orange light shining through from the windows, a few feet away from the bed she was on. She squinted a few times so her eyes could get used to her familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings and it was then, at the corner of her eyes, she noticed a figure by her side. Her head hung low and thus, she was unable to identify who this person was. She had jet black hair done in a short bob-style haircut, with her fringe successfully covering her eyes as her head faced downwards.
Jurina was curious as to who this person was, since it was rather unusual to have someone waiting by your side till you woke up unless you were a friend, family member or someone you were in a relationship with. A trail of thought did come to her mind where she was just an overly responsible student fulfilling her job as a student tending to the infirmary while the teacher was away.
However, that did not stop her from wanting to see her face more properly. So, she tried propping herself up, and that led to the bed letting out a loud creaking sound in the silent room. That little ‘mistake’ did the trick though, as it brought a pair of sleepy-turned-surprised pair of eyes towards her own and the unknown student let out a soft gasp.
“A-Ah! M-Matsui-senpai! You’re awake!”
She said, still rather startled by Jurina, who was still trying to sit up properly. Her torso still felt rather weak and gave her a surge of sore pain, hence why she was still struggling. She decided to give up until an arm hurriedly slipped around her waist, trying to support her.
“You shouldn’t be getting up that fast…! Please, relax…” The concerned girl, who had swiftly adjusted the pillow Jurina was sleeping on to lean against the headrest, slowly let Jurina lie against it, so at least she could comfortably sit up without feeling the irritating weakness her body was facing at the moment.
“… Sorry but, who’re you?” Jurina suddenly asked, her gaze, to the girl, was that of someone who was ready to attack her at any time. The emotionless gaze of a delinquent.
“O-Oh umm… I-I’m Sakura. Miyawaki Sakura. The teacher has been out since you were brought in so I thought I could check up on you in her stead……” The girl seemed very uncomfortable and started to fidget with her fingers that were shaking due to nervousness.
“Hehh…” Jurina let out a deep sigh, “Wait, how did you know my name?”
Sakura briefly looked into Jurina’s still-unfriendly eyes before looking at the small fabric nametag pinned onto Jurina’s PE T-shirt. She pointed at it, in which Jurina followed the direction of Sakura’s finger, only to tug at her shirt and realise that she had asked the most obvious question ever. She felt stupid but simply cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment, which led to Sakura jolting for a bit.
“Geez, are you that scared of me?” Sakura quickly shook her head in denial.
Jurina shifted her gaze lower from the fidgeting girl’s face to her chest area, noticing that she donned a red ribbon. That established the fact that she was a second year, opposed to Jurina who was a third year and graduating soon, that is, if she does not get into trouble.
The blonde long-haired girl let out a soft chuckle, making Sakura ease up a bit and look at Jurina once again. This time, Jurina’s eyes had warmed up and she flashed Sakura a smile. The fidgety girl was taken aback momentarily at her 180 degree turn in attitude from this senior before her. She did not know whether to feel utterly impressed at how her senior could feel like a killer one second and a friendly person to hang out with the other. She was dumbfounded.
“Sorry sorry. It’s a normal defense reaction. I mean, you’ve heard about me right? Since I’m like… the only Matsui in this whole school for some reasons… other than Rena-chan.”
“… Umm… no…? I haven’t heard about you, Matsui-senpai.”
“Oh?”
Sakura scratched her cheek nervously, “I’ve actually just transferred here recently… I used to help the infirmary back at my old school so that’s why I quickly got myself posted here, otherwise I would’ve only start helping out next month…”
“I see~” Jurina said in a singsong manner, “Well, not to brag about myself but… it’s really best you don’t associate yourself with me, unless you want to be feared by everyone in school.”
Jurina’s grin sent chills down Sakura’s spine. How could she say something so threatening and yet continue to put up a friendly senior façade like that? Was this senior an actress??
“… W-Why…” Sakura honestly did not want to know more but her brain was involuntarily doing the talking for her, “… are you feared by everyone…?” Sakura clammed her mouth shut with both her hands and only after she saw Jurina’s eyes widen for a moment, it registered in her mind she had pried into an area she could have been well-off not knowing about.
Jurina smirked, enjoying how flustered her junior was and slowly moved her body against her, placing a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it a bit before whispering in a sultry voice directly into Sakura’s ear that did not take a second to turn beet red, “Because… I… am…”
It felt like Jurina was purposely saying it slowly so the soft puffs of air as she spoke would linger around Sakura’s ear, and that made her feel extremely sensitive in various parts of her body and even more flustered than she has been initially.
However, all those weird and ‘hot’ sensations Sakura was feeling were put to a sharp halt when the infirmary door was slammed opened which shocked Sakura but Jurina had just coolly lifted herself upwards to look at the person who placed a lid on her fun.
“Oh hi Rena-chan,” Jurina greeted nonchalantly.
“Don’t ‘oh hi’ me! What have you gotten yourself into again?! And we’re in school, don’t call me ‘Rena-chan’!” The older woman grumbled as she stormed towards the bedside, not even aware Sakura was there as her eyes were dead set on Jurina.
“W-Whoa whoa calm down! Rena-cha—sensei!” Jurina swiftly grabbed Sakura and wrapped an arm around her shoulders while the other hand caressed her head as if she was a precious pet, “You’re going to scare this poor little junior over here!”
“Ju—ah!” Rena finally took notice of Sakura’s presence but noticed Sakura blushing hard from Jurina’s current act and broke her away from Jurina, thinking that Sakura was uncomfortable, “What the heck do you think you’re doing to her?” Rena looked at Sakura with a worried gaze, “Are you alright? She didn’t do anything weird to you or while you were both in here right?”
“Cut me some slack, Rena-chan~…”
“N-No… umm… Matsui-sensei…” Sakura smiled wryly to Rena.
“Oh? You know me?” Rena gave an unimpressed glance to Jurina before she turned back to Sakura, “Is it because Jurina told you?”
Sakura nodded accordingly.
“You better not have—"
Jurina cut Rena’s sentence, “Said stuff to embarrass you? No. I just told her that we’re the only two people in this whole school who have the same family name, that’s it.”
Sakura nodded vigorously at the suspicious gaze of the teacher before her and that let Rena shrug.
“So why did you get admitted again?” Rena sat on the bedside, eyes scanning Jurina as if she was checking for any exterior wounds on the girl’s body.
“I probably fainted during PE. Didn’t eat much during lunch break.”
“And why did you not eat properly?”
“… I was uh… y’know. Hanging out with my gang, walking around the school~…” Jurina had tried her best to avoid Rena’s interrogative gaze but that failed when Rena had placed both her hands on Jurina’s cheek to twist her head towards her, her eyes already piercing into Jurina’s soul, in a bad way.
Jurina knew she was about to face the music any time soon but Sakura had stood up from her seat on the sidelines, interrupting the Matsui duo.
“U-Umm! I checked Matsui-senpai and she did not have any cuts or bruises. She only fainted during PE and was brought in here, Matsui-sensei…!”
Jurina was astonished at the transfer student who dared to stand up for her, knowing that she had probably seen a cut and bruise or two around her torso and applied some coolant along with large pieces of gauzes to hide the injury. She gently touched her injured torso and smiled in relief.
After all, the injuries were caused thanks to a fight she got into during lunch break. Jurina was infamous throughout the whole school as a rough but easily-deceiving-to-the-eye delinquent due to her beautiful facial features. Though she would try her best to not get into too much trouble, her ‘friends’ that formed her current gang, would almost always get into trouble, and as the leader, she had the responsibility of taking the blame. In exchange for respect of her peers, she had given up most, if not all, of her own personal image. It seemed like a daft move to do in life, but Jurina just did what she wanted to do.
“Is that so,” Rena was still suspicious but of course, let it go for now since they were still in school anyways. She disliked lecturing Jurina like this in front of a third party.
“Well then, I’ll be taking my leave. Thanks for taking care of her, umm…”
“Sa—"
“Mi-ya-wa-ki Sa-ku-ra,” Jurina spelled out her name to Rena, an act that made Sakura lower her head slightly out of shyness.
Rena rolled her eyes at Jurina before giving Sakura a smile, “Thank you, Miyawaki-san.”
“N-No problem. It’s my duty after all, to umm... look after her,” Sakura tried her best to return the smile but it felt really awkward due to how shy she was feeling right now.
“Jurina, I’ll be sending you home later. Come to the faculty room once you’re ready to leave,” Rena said sternly as she walked towards the door.
“Ya done with your teacher work already?”
Rena opened the door and looked over her shoulder to see Jurina one last time before leaving, “I’ll be done by the time you’re ready, don’t worry about me, worry more about yourself.”
With that, the teacher stepped out of the room and with the click of the door to signal that it has been completely closed, Jurina and Sakura both let out a relieved sigh. They looked at each other when they realized they had done the same thing, and laughed, Jurina half-laughing, half-aching though, due to the pain she was suffering from.
“Hey Sakura, thanks. I probably wouldn’t have survived a lecture if you didn’t step in,” Jurina smiled, and Sakura felt how genuine it was.
“I-It’s nothing…” Sakura returned to the seat beside Jurina’s bed.
“She’s always such a worrywart, that Rena-chan,” Jurina shrugged before continuing as her gaze fell towards the door that Rena left through, “Y’see, we’re sort of like uh… ‘childhood friends’. I’ve known her since I was a kid and she’s always this older sister that I always wanted since I’m the only child. Despite you seeing her so uptight like that, she’s actually really nice and caring and—"
“You… really like her.”
Jurina’s words were put to a halt and a loud smacking sound could be heard because Sakura had again, shut her mouth with her hands. She seriously did not know what is possessing her right now but her thoughts are involuntarily pouring out in the presence of a potential life-threatening senior.
As for said senior, she was rendered speechless. She bit her lips a bit before smiling wryly to the shaking junior who probably thought she had a thing coming to her by now, “You sure are brave and perceptive huh? I like that, Sakura.”
Every time Jurina says Sakura’s name in a soft, calming tone of voice, Sakura felt a weird urge of wanting to understand her senior more, and to get closer to her, inch by inch by inch—
“But yeah, you’re right. I’m shamelessly head over heels for Rena-chan. I don’t remember when it started but by the time I realized I had feelings for her, I probably started doing crazy stunts so she would always take notice of me. Of course, in a bad way… but what can I do? I’m hopeless at studying so… doing showy stuff became my forte.”
Sakura did not mutter a word as Jurina confessed her feelings towards Rena. She wanted to understand how it felt. Having someone you cared so much about in your life yet never being able to tell the person.
“By the way, just call me Jurina. You can drop the senior affix too if you’d like, I don’t care anyways. It’s a hassle if we hang out and Rena-chan pops up randomly.”
“T-Then… J-Ju… rina… san,” Sakura said nervously after snapping out of her reverie, blushing right after that and hung her head low once again.
Jurina pat the girl’s head at the chance, chuckling a bit, “You’re really cute, Sakura. Maybe we should just cut to the chase and be something more than friends immediately!”
Sakura’s head shot up from her downwards, which made Jurina quickly retract her hand as a reflex action and Sakura’s face was literally on the verge of tears due to sheer embarrassment. Jurina panicked, seeing that her little comment that she thought was innocent, did not go as planned.
“H-Hey uh s-sorry I didn’t mean it! I was joking…!”
Sakura rubbed her eyes to get rid of the tears, still not saying anything.
“I-I uh…” Jurina’s mind spun as fast as it could so she could blurt something comforting but not make it sound like she was flirting as she would have done, “I… Let’s still be friends though, Sakura! I mean, even though I told you to stay away from me but you’re really nice and I think I want to get to know you more and who knows maybe you can help me sort out my feelings towards Rena-chan and—"
Feeling Jurina’s genuine effort to cover up her slip of the tongue with simultaneous blabbering, Sakura giggled, never realizing that someone like Jurina had so many faces to her. It felt like she was already getting to know her senior just within the short time of interacting with her immediately when she woke up.
“S-Sorry Jurina-san…! I’m happy to see you have an adorable side to you as well.”
Jurina rubbed her neck in embarrassment, mumbling under her breath, “
Oh come on, now I’m getting told that I’m ‘adorable’ by the overly shy junior I just met? Way to go, J.”
“I…” Sakura tightened her hands into fists, “I want to be your friend too. Even when you warned me initially, I had already determined to be your friend…”
“Really now,” Jurina smiled, “What if I had continued to push you away?”
“I’d still try my best…! I…
want to repay you…”
“Hmm? Sakura, I didn’t hear the last part, what did you say?”
A silhouette flashed past Sakura’s mind as she closed her eyes, her heart beating to the rhythm of how peaceful her surroundings felt when she noticed the heartwarming smile of that silhouette.
“Sakura…?”
Sakura let out a deep breath before opening her eyes, her cheeks still rather rosy, “I’m glad to have made your acquaintance, Jurina-san… I’m sorry I’m pretty shy and all but it’s because I haven’t had a conversation like this with someone in a long time…”
Jurina could not help but felt her heart sink a bit. She thought maybe Sakura had her own fair share of hardships. She wanted to help her, to know what that cute and easily flustered junior of hers was hiding deep down in her heart.
She had to admit, she was growing fond of this junior she seemingly had just met.
“Y-Yeah. Sure,” Jurina spoke, “I’m glad you’re the junior who helped patch me up and not someone else then.”
Sakura shyly smiled at Jurina, who returned the same.
Perhaps, Jurina thought, this was the girl she had been waiting for to cure her infatuation from Rena.
While for Sakura, it could be the start of something new.