Hello, thank you for giving 'Fight or Flight' a try :) FoF will be a three-shot, no more, no less. This story is strictly platonic.
Summary: Between fight and flight, she has always chosen flight. (KiriharaOC friendship three-shot)
Disclaimer: I don't own PoT.
Fight or Flight
Chapter 1: The Meeting
When Kurumi walked into Rikkai Dai, she couldn't help feeling overwhelmed by the grandiose buildings.
The gigantic main school building with its whitewashed walls made the petite girl whose eyes were the same color as her ocean-blue hair feel pathetically small. She subconsciously tugged at the front of her olive-green blazer, only to remember that she had removed her safety amulet that morning because of the 'no accessory' school rule dictated in the student handbook.
'Oh no, what am I to do? Tou-san and kaa-san will be so disappointed at me,' thought Kurumi, already becoming edgy before she even stepped into her classroom, 'I, I shouldn't impose on others, I'll get through with this.' Kurumi decided even though she desperately needed someone to walk with her and supply her with strength. She knew she wasn't cut out for King Rikkai Dai, she wasn't anything like her brother who was born for this prestigious school of the Emperors.
Still… she didn't want to see her father sighing over her again, even though she had always been the lesser child between her and her brother. Kurumi wished that her relatives would stop putting her in juxtaposition with her brother and constantly take delight in pointing out the difference in their aptitudes; unfortunately, year after year her wish was never granted. Whenever they were at a family gathering, people would without fail remember to bring up her family in the conversation. Her brother, the prized son, her, the younger sibling who was completely eclipsed by the omnipotent 'Child of God'.
It wasn't as if Kurumi hated her brother; she loved him dearly, as do he in return. It was nobody's fault that he was a prodigy in all areas when she was just normal, too normal to be the younger sister of Yukimura Seiichi, too normal to be deserving of the title 'Daughter of God' which spilled over to her because of her brother's glories.
Actually, Kurumi didn't even play tennis at all, all the more making her and her nickname 'Daughter of God' an irony which people often poked fun at.
Tightly clutching her book bag, the pale-skinned girl slowly made her way into the main school building, head lowered in fear that people would recognize her by her facial features. Her looks were the only thing she shared with her brother; they both possessed supreme beauty.
Despite having the student handbook which contained the school map in her possession, Kurumi only found the way to the main school hall after bumping into a friendly second year senior who recognized her as a first year and led her to the main school hall. Maps were pretty much redundant for her who could never figure out which direction was south or north even with the aid of a compass. Sometimes, Kurumi was truly grateful that she was born in Japan which has one of the world's most well-developed public transport system.
While seated with her class, Kurumi began her nervous fits again. Her introverted nature made it difficult for her to take the initiative when it came to socializing. The girl to her left had already began making small conversations with their classmate who sat on the other side; Kurumi was left feeling forlorn yet no matter how much she tried, she couldn't bring herself to open her mouth and approach another. She wanted to make friends, she really wanted to make at least one friend instead of isolating herself like she used to.
Well, God heard her prayer there.
"Hey there," the dark-haired girl seated to Kurumi's right suddenly tapped her arm and whispered.
"A-ah? Is there anything you need?" Kurumi stuttered, slightly taken aback.
The girl giggled, "Like I thought, you're an adorable one. My name is Chiyozumi Asaki, let's be friends."
"Eh?" Kurumi blinked, thoroughly perturbed.
"What's your name?" Asaki carelessly brushed aside the confusion she caused and proceeded to ask.
"Yukimura Kurumi," Kurumi answered spontaneously.
"Yukimura? Do you happen to be related to the legendary senpai who just graduated recently?" asked Asaki as she scratched her chin. Shrugging it off, she continued, "Well… it doesn't matter either way. I will call you Kurumi-chan from now on. Nice to meet you, Kurumi-chan. You can call me Asaki."
Asaki's question about her surname made Kurumi flinch – being associated with her brother always made her terribly self-conscious; when she heard Asaki's next sentence though, all that remained was surprise.
Kurumi looked at Asaki who was beaming at her, there was a mischievous glint in Asaki's deep brown eyes which Kurumi always saw in those spirited girls who she didn't mix well with. She opened her mouth, but produced no words.
Was she serious about befriending her?
"Oi~ I didn't sprout flowers on my face, did I?" asked Asaki jokingly when she didn't hear a reply from Kurumi.
"Eh?" Kurumi blinked, still semi spaced out. Her response procured another series of giggles from Asaki.
"You're adorable, Kurumi-chan," remarked Asaki – and Kurumi was reminded of another person who was an ex-student of Rikkai Dai too. Kurumi didn't understand why Asaki would remind her of her brother's girlfriend. They weren't similar personality-wise… Asaki seemed much more outgoing, at least. At the moment though, this seemingly irrational sense of familiarity warmed Kurumi up to Asaki.
"It's nice meeting you too, Asaki-chan," said Kurumi softly, a small smile blossoming on her beautiful face. Only the young Yukimura knew how much courage it took for her to churn out a mere greeting like that.
"I take back what I said, Kurumi-chan," Asaki shook her head, and Kurumi's heart sank – already? Did she regret approaching her? Seeing the crestfallen expression on Kurumi's face, Asaki grinned and said, "You aren't cute, Kurumi-chan. You're absolutely drop dead gorgeous."
Kurumi's face flushed red at the compliment. More than that… she was relieved. Relieved that Asaki still wanted to make friends with her, relieved that her first friend in middle school wasn't going to walk out on her within minutes after they freshly got acquainted.
"T-thank you, Asaki-chan."
~x~
"Which club are you going to apply for, Kurumi-chan?" asked Asaki as she spun the pencil she held in her right hand, "If you don't have any clubs in mind, let's apply for the taekwondo club together."
"Sorry, Asaki-chan. I can't," Kurumi shook her head, "M-my brother had already made arrangement for me to fill the position of the manager of the boys tennis club."
"Ah-ha! So you are related to Yukimura Seiichi after all," Asaki grinned. Nobody else heard her because she lowered her volume for which Kurumi was thankful. She didn't want to stir up a commotion in class. Yukimura Seiichi may have graduated, but he left behind an irrevocable legacy. His name was spread from generation to generation – and Kurumi knew that his name will linger in Rikkai Dai for many years to come. The name Yukimura Seiichi in itself was a synonym for miracle.
"… He's my brother," Kurumi admitted, chewing on her lips. 'Is Asaki-chan going to compare me to nii-chan like everyone else?' Kurumi wondered. People always do, when they find out that she was related to the Yukimura Seiichi. To her surprise, Asaki seemed rather disinterested in the whole sibling thing.
"I won't force you to sign up for the taekwondo club with me then, guess we'd have to go separate ways after school for our club activities," said Asaki who began filling out her club registration form, "You should fill up your form too."
Kurumi looked at Asaki, trying to pick up on any hint of judgment on her face. Finding none, Kurumi's heart settled down a little. The blue-haired girl smiled shyly and mumbled, "I will, Asaki-chan."
~x~
The Rikkai Dai boys tennis club was said to be famous nation-wide and within one of the nation's most eminent schools. Initially, Kurumi didn't understand what this fame entailed. That was until she arrived at the tennis courts and was greeted by the sight of boys and girls surrounding the boys' court and acting as human barricades on top of the fence. Horrified and helpless, Kurumi didn't know how she could walk past the walls of iron defense. She wished that she was Moses who parted the Red Sea with his staff; that'd be a really helpful skill in the current circumstance.
With each passing moment she spent pacing up and down without decreasing the displacement between her and the boys' courts, Kurumi was starting to become nervous. She was going to be late for the boys tennis club's first practice; what a first impression, she thought. If she didn't want to be tardy or worse; play truancy during the first session of her club activity, she'd have to think up something and quick.
The problem was, Kurumi looked over the crowd in desperation, what could she do given the current circumstances?
~x~
"Oi, Kirihara, isn't the new manager here yet?" Shiota called out to his captain as he rummaged through his tennis bag for his wristband.
"Nope, did your message get through to her? I told you to make sure that she got the message," replied Kirihara gruffly. Impatiently, the dark-haired captain was tapping his foot against the ground.
"Duh! She even replied to me," Shiota rolled his eyes, "Unless she wrote down the wrong number on her application form and whoever on the other end of the line decided to pull a prank on me, I'm pretty certain I messaged Yukimura Kurumi."
"Then why isn't she here yet? There's only 5 minutes till practice begins!" Kirihara ran a hand through his hair and muttered angrily, "Yukimura-buchou specially entrusted her to us too!"
"Haven't you considered the possibility that she's blocked out of the court by the crowd?" Shiota sighed, "Ah, my wristband. Finally." Spying the circle of green at the depth of his bag, Shiota grabbed it and slipped it around his wrist.
"… Oi, Shiota, can you message her again to confirm that she's out there?" said Kirihara, finally deciding that waiting around wasn't going to do any good, "I'll go pick her up if she's there."
"Hmm… okay," Shiota zipped open a compartment of his tennis bag and pulled out his mobile phone. A few minutes later, Shiota looked up and nodded to Kirihara, "Well, Kirihara-buchou, go rescue our little manager. Hey, Chiba-kun and Ryuu-kun, go along with our buchou and keep him in line, okay?"
"Yes, fukubuchou," came the replies from the two boys who were named.
"What do you mean by that, Shiota!" Kirihara jumped up when he heard Shiota's instructions. Seeing his teammates' teasing looks, he gritted his teeth and spat out unwillingly, "… Fine. I got it," Kirihara grunted, resigning to his fate.
~x~
Outside of the courts, Kurumi was panicking upon receiving a message from the vice-captain of the boys tennis club which said that the captain was coming out to escort her in. 'Oh no,' thought Kurumi, she was causing troubles for people again…
"Eh? Is Kirihara-kun coming out?"
"Oh my gosh – he is! He's heading this way too!"
"Do you think he noticed me?"
"Don't be silly; don't you see Subaki-senpai at the back? He must be coming for her!"
"Heitenshirou-senpai looks much better with Kirihara-senpai!"
As chatters escalated into screeches, the black-haired newly promoted captain had already walked through the gates to the court.
Kurumi couldn't see what was happening at the front, but the next scene reminded her of a passage from the bible –
Moses held out his staff, and the Red Sea was separated into two halves by God. The Israelites walked on dry ground and crossed the sea, followed by the Egyptian army. Moses again moved his staff once the Israelites had crossed and the sea closed again, drowning the whole of the Egyptian army.
– Though, the current situation was a little different. Kirihara didn't exactly do anything. He merely stopped in front of two girls and the crowd parted before her eyes, making a walkway for him and the two regulars who stood guard beside him. As he walked down the newly opened path, Kurumi really thought that she saw a God walking towards her – a God, an unearthly being like her brother; that only lasted until he opened his mouth.
"Oi, you're Yukimura Kurumi, right?" said the dark-haired boy, beautiful green eyes gazing into her ocean-blue orbs, "If you're done standing there, come into the courts now. We're late for practice already."
Chiba and Ryuu sniggered, while Kurumi blinked, breaking out of her reverie. She looked at the impatient third year senior standing before her, thinking to herself: were Gods so… humane?
Kirihara gave her no chance to indulge in her own thoughts and surprise. He felt a strong urge to just grab her by the arm and pull her into the courts – they were late for practice, and Kirihara didn't like wasting his precious tennis time, but this was Yukimura Kurumi, his ex-captain's little sister. Forcing his restlessness to simmer down a little, Kirihara said, "Come on, Yuki– no, Kurumi-chan." Kirihara flinched at the notion of addressing the girl as 'Yukimura', it made him feel as though he was disrespecting his captain.
"A-ah? Okay," Kurumi scurried to Kirihara's side when she realized that he was probably the boy her brother had been telling her about; Kirihara Akaya, her brother's junior and current captain of the boys tennis club. Seeing that Kurumi had come forward by herself, Kirihara nodded and made his way back into the courts, Chiba and Ryuu stood next to Kurumi, acting as human shields for the petite young girl.
Perplexed, Kurumi was walking into the courts, tiny hands nervously clutching her olive-green school skirt when she came under the scrutiny of all the people she passed. When the group of four finally disappeared back into the courts, the crowd burst into uproar.
"Did you see that? Kirihara-senpai called that girl 'Kurumi-chan'!"
"That's beside the point, she shares the same last name as Yukimura-senpai! Do you think–?"
"Ah, I did hear that Yukimura-senpai has a little sister. Perhaps she's the one?"
"I don't care, nobody can fill the spot next to Kirihara-senpai except Subaki-senpai or Heitenshirou-senpai!"
Unbeknownst to Kurumi, she had once again become a subject of heated debate amongst her peers. Just like it had been in grade school, just like it had been everywhere else.
Yukimura Kurumi was Yukimura Seiichi's little baby sister; the 'Daughter of God' who couldn't serve or do a return to save her life in tennis; the normal girl who could've been thought to be unrelated to Yukimura Seiichi if it weren't for their similar looks.
Everyone knew her as Yukimura Seiichi's little baby sister, but nobody knew her as Yukimura Kurumi.
And nobody could hear her silent pleas for help, nor understand the desperation that was slowly consuming her.
Update for this is likely to be slow because it's the first time I'm trying something like this… Do you like Kurumi and Kirihara? :) Do drop me a review to let me know what you think of them and thanks for reading to the end here!