Hey Guys! Back here with another Sorina fanfic because thats what I do best lol. I hope you enjoy!
Erina Nakiri swirled the bit of Champagne she still had in her glass, patiently waiting for the night to be over, even though it had hardly started. Though she really liked her job as headmistress, there were still a few drawbacks to the job in her opinion. One of those drawbacks was the many formal events at various cooking conferences across the world. She went to 3 or 4 of them per year, and she couldn't quite say she had taken a liking to them.
Who could blame her though? She was a third year in high school still, and most of the people out-aged her by at least 10 years. She was also never the best with people, so that didn't help. A few of the younger men asked her for a dance, but she politely refused them, saying that she wasn't dancing tonight. She wore a modest dress in an attempt to have as few people approach her as possible, but her beauty always attracted attention no matter what she wore.
However, she wasn't going to let just any man have the pleasure of dancing with her, they had to earn that privilege. And to her, only one man had earned that privilege, and his name was Yukihira Soma. It had been a long time since she had seen him, almost a year in fact, and she hadn't had any form of communication with him other than a general letter he sent addressed to all of his friends many months back. The later part made her a bit sad, making her think that she cared about him more than he cared about her, and that her feelings for him were one sided. She had mostly pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind though, and decided she would be more honest about her feelings the next time she saw him.
Across the room, her eyes briefly spotted a tuft of red, before it disappeared just as quickly. Ok, now her eyes were playing tricks on her. There was no way her crush was here at some random cooking conference in Russia. Even if it was cooking related his was never the biggest one for formality, seeing as he always tried to talk his way out of elite ten tasks that weren't directly making food or Shokugekis. Erina was a bit embarrassed by how her heart seemed to beat a bit faster when she caught glimpse of that red.
She wishes she could have stopped him from leaving that day. If she could go back in time and actually call his dish delicious at the BLUE competition she would have if that meant he would stay. She would have gladly cast her pride aside. Part of her thinks that she deserves this for how she had treated him over the years.
She headed to the bar to get another wine after finishing off hers, hoping to get a slight buzz and forget the redhead for tonight. At her seat at the bar, she tuned into the conversation there, mainly out of boredom. It was two older men talking, old friends she assumed.
"Hey, have you heard? I heard chef Sergei's apprentice is here tonight. I heard he's really good and fun to talk to."
"Oh you mean that red haired kid? I heard he was from Japan or something. Said he had been travelling to a lot of places to train over the past year. Ah, reminds me of my youth."
Hearing this, Erina grabbed the old man by the arm and spun him so he was facing her, surprsing the man.
"You mean he's actually here?"
Upon realizing what she had just done, Erina let the man go but he didn't take offense to it, and just laughed at the gesture.
"Yeah I've seen him here today. Red haired kid about your age, pretty handsome too. Are you his girlfriend or something?"
"N-no! I'm not his girlfriend. I'm his… friend. I just haven't seen him in a while so I was hoping to say hi."
"Last time I saw him he was on the dance floor, so I would check there if I were you. Best of luck finding him, young miss."
"Thank you!" Erina said to the old man before making her way to the dance floor. It would make sense that he would be in the only place which she had been avoiding the entire night. It was almost as if fate was playing tricks on her, considering it was her who was avoiding him most of the time when they first met.
After discretely trying to look through the crowd, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she laid eyes on him. It was actually him, Yukihira Soma. he looked a little older, but she thought that only made him look more handsome. She was about to discard her pride and being running over to him, until she saw what made her heart sink as soon as it had became lively. He was dancing with another girl. Erina eyed this girl up and down. She appeared to be a native Russian, with brown hair and a figure that rivaled her own. The two looked to be having a lot of fun with each other both smiling as if they were in their own little world. Jealousy couldn't even begin to describe how she felt. She felt a bit bad about just how much it ticked her off though. It wasn't like she had any claim to him in all reality. She knew not to restrict his freedom, considering he was the one who fought for hers.
Dejected, Erina turned around and considered turning in early that night when she heard a familiar voice call out to her.
"Yo, Nakiri. Is that really you?"
The simple words froze her in place for a few seconds, and by the time she turned around he was almost in her personal space.
"You look good tonight. I like the color of your dress, good choice."
She had went with a red dress that night. Ok, maybe he was on her mind more than she would admit most of the time. He smiled at her in the same way he always had, the same way which worked past her defenses very quickly.
"Yukihira… what are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? Well, I don't really know actually. Just got invited kinda. My boss said it'd be fine if I tagged along."
"And who were you just with?" She said this a little sharper than her last question, and Soma could hear the jealousy leaking into her voice.
"Relax Erina. That was just one of my friends, Stella, who also an apprentice like me studying under the same head chef. Well, the head chef is actually her dad and she wanted me to come to this thing because she said there would be no one else her age here, but I didn't expect you to be here!"
Erina began to feel a bit silly that she expected Soma to be engaging in some fling. She knew him better than that, where his motivations were, and as always he was just helping out a friend to not have an awkward night.
"That's good… sorry for asking that so randomly"
"Are you perhaps, jealous?" Soma teased
"I-I was not! I'll let you know i don't get jealous. In fact, I bet I've had more dance offers than you've had tonight."
"Well maybe, but how come you were staring at us for a whole five minutes?
"I was no-" she looked up at Soma who was giving her the total face that he knew he had caught her, so she decided to come clean.
"Ok, so maybe I was observing you for a little bit. But what's it matter to you?!"
"It doesn't matter to me, but I think Stella was a bit nervous. She said someone with a real queen presence was staring her down and once I noticed it was you I had to tell her you were friendly and meant no harm." Soma chuckled
"Do I really look that intimidating to others?"
"I don't think so, but maybe that's because I know you so well. How about I introduce you to her and we can clear things up?"
"You really don't have to."
Before she could protest any further, Soma grabbed Erina by the hand and began leading her around the room to where his friend Stella was. Not once did she try to break away from his grip, there was something nice to her about being led by him, so she just let it happen. Once they were in range, Erina's hand tensed up on Soma's real quick, letting him know she was nervous. He quickly removed his hand from hers, a rare case were he misread why she was nervous.
"Stella! Hello again. I wanted to introduce you to my friend Erina. She's also actually the headmistress where I go to school."
"H-Hello Stella. Nice to meet you. I hope you can forgive me for any misunderstandings from earlier."
In a quick motion, Stella grabbed both of Erinas hands and locked eyes with her, and Erina could see the sparkles in her eyes.
"It's nice to meet you Erina! Soma has told me sooo much about you. I didn't think you would have been the girl who was eyeing us earlier."
"Oh um, yeah. Sorry about that."
"It's fine. I understand." She got a little closer to Erina and spoke so only she could hear.
"You want him all to yourself right?"
"I-it's not like that!"
"Suuure. Well, you've picked yourself out a good one! I'm rooting for you!"
"So you mean you don't like him?"
"Of course not silly. I already have a boyfriend, I just asked Soma to come here tonight because we work together and I know he's fun and can hold a conversation."
"Oh, that's a relief."
"I thought you didn't like him though." Stella teased
"E-enough about that!"
"Hey, what are you two whispering about over there?"
"Nothing important, Soma. Well it was nice meeting you tonight Erina. Good Luck!"
And quickly stella rejoined the dance floor.
"Good luck? What does she mean by that?"
"N-Nothing really. Anyways, I have some questions for you, and I want answers! So you will give me answers!"
"Ok ok." Soma said putting his arms up in defense "But how about we go to the dance floor? The musics been really good tonight."
"F-fine. I'll dance with you. But make sure you lead me properly! I assume you know at least that much?"
"Don't worry Erina. Dancing is one of my secret talents."
"And you didn't bother to show me?"
"I didn't know you wanted me to. But i'll remember that." he smiled at her and she blushed. They connected hands and he placed his hand on her waist, and began leading her in a slower song. Erina could feel her cheeks heating up at the contact. This was probably the most physical contact they had shared since knowing each other.
"So Soma, I was wondering, why you haven't texted me or emailed me in 6 months?! I was getting worried about you, you know. I… missed you."
"You did? That means a lot coming from you Erina. But, I can say I haven't texted you because my phone broke."
"And you didn't bother to get a new one?"
"Didn't have the money."
"You could have just asked!"
"Well I don't think it'd be right the use schools funds on something that's for me."
"Just ask me personally then! Even though I'm a student, I'm also the headmistress which means I get a salary which I can use for myself."
"You would really do that for me?"
"Yes, if its for you. If you ever run into a money concern just let me know and I'll deal with it personally."
Wow Erina, thank you. I like the generous side of you."
"Well you're one of the few people who gets to see it. Think of it as just the beginning of how I can repay you for all that you've done for me. Actually, If there's anything I can do for you just let me know."
Soma then gave Erina a spin and a dip, continuing their dance.
"I'll let you know if I'm ever in trouble, but I'll try to manage on my own. It's nice to know that you're backing me up though."
"Sooo… does that mean you'll still be away from Japan for a while?"
"I don't know. I haven't decided yet. I feel like I've learned a lot, but that there's still so much to learn. I want to be able to keep my promise to you, you know."
"I know, its just… it would be good to see you at home Soma. Everyone wants you home.
I want you to be home."
"You're making my choice harder with everything you say." Soma half joked
After dancing the night away and catching up, the evening was almost over. Both Soma and Erina wished the night would go on forever, but like all nights it had to end. Waking outside, hand in hand, they arrived at the spot where Erina's limo was set to pick her up.
"So I guess this is goodbye for now." he said somewhat awkwardly, which was unusual for him.
"Soma, could you bend down? I want to whisper something in your ear."
"Sure, go for it."
Soma leaned down a bit waiting to hear something but instead felt Erina plant a soft kiss on his cheek. She turned to face him, seeing him blush a little.
"That was for giving me a good night." she put her finger up to his lips now
"And I'll give you another one there when you come back home."
And with that Erina left behind a both stunned and blushing Soma, for once leaving him speechless. Three weeks later Soma returned and Erina remained true to her promise.
"It's good to have you back."
How'd you guys like it? I really liked this one lol. I also have another Sorina oneshot in the workings. I'm also thinking about writing a fanfic in another series so Naruto fans get excited lol. Please Review!
Until next time,
~TheGoodGuy20