(A/N: Alright, next chapter is here. Last time we left off on a… well, not so much of a cliffhanger, but more of an "oh shoot, now what's going to happen?". So, yeah, after Shiori got a little too excited for Juri's victory and kind of exposed their relationship to the whole school. So let's see how that's going to go now that their secret is out.)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 11: Harassment
Even now, a whole month after the end of the tournament, Shiori was still kicking herself for what she did. She couldn't believe she had kissed Juri like that in front of all those people. No, not just all those people, but technically in front of the entire school thanks to all the cameras broadcasting the tournament to the classrooms. Meaning their secret relationship was most definitely not a secret anymore after that.
She honestly hadn't meant to do it. She'd just been so excited that she had gotten carried away. Kissing her had just felt so natural that she had just done it without even thinking about it after getting caught up in the moment. Now the whole school knew about the two of them.
Naturally, her and Juri's relationship had become the talk of the school. If two students, who were both girls at that, kissed in front of the entire school wasn't cause for gossip, the love life of a student as popular as Juri was also cause for others to talk. And talk they did. For nearly a week straight, Shiori couldn't go anywhere without students whispering and staring at her. It especially made the fencing club awkward.
But no matter how juicy the gossip was, eventually it would die down. As was the case with this. The whispers and staring had pretty much ceased, so things weren't so awkward anymore. And at least now she and Juri no longer had to keep their relationship a secret, so that was a relief. And although they faced some judgment for being two girls in a relationship, or Shiori did anyway since no one dared to show Juri contempt, most of the students didn't care that they were two girls dating.
Truthfully, Shiori never cared about that either. While at first it had been anxiety provoking to date another girl after having only dated boys before, the thought of it had never actually bothered her. No, when Juri had suggested that they could keep their relationship a secret, she had gone along with it for another reason. She wasn't ashamed or embarrassed to date another girl, it was that she was dating Juri specifically. Because she knew what would come along with it.
It was happening now, just now during lunch. She had been on her way to find a spot to sit when she tripped. Or, more specifically, someone had tripped her. With a surprised gasp, she stumbled and went down, falling on top of her lunch tray and getting her clothes all dirty.
This was followed by nasty, mocking laughter. Shiori let out a growl of frustration and glared up at the one who had tripped her. She wasn't at all surprised to see that it was her main tormentor. She had seemingly just appeared and began harassing her when Shiori's relationship had become public knowledge. Apparently, she was one of Juri's many admirers who didn't like the fact that Shiori was dating her idol.
She wasn't alone either. She was often accompanied by a few others who disapproved of her relationship with Juri and were determined to give her a hard time about it. Shiori didn't even know who any of them were, and only knew the main culprit's name because she heard one of her other harassers say it.
"Very funny, Sakura," she grumbled.
"Oh, do you think so?" the main bully, Sakura, said with a laugh. "That's a suitable place for you, isn't it? Down on the ground by our feet. It's where you should be when it comes to Juri."
Standing up, Shiori brushed the food off her chest, but it was hopeless; she would have to go change clothes. "I don't see how it's any of your concern."
One of the other girls pointed at her. "That's because you can't see how out of your league Juri is."
"Exactly," Sakura agreed. "It's straight up laughable that you think you're worthy of Juri's affections. Unfortunately, Juri is too nice to put you in your place. That's why it's up to us to do it for her."
"Yeah, leave Juri alone, you gold-digging whore," a different girl snapped. "She's got better things to do than waste her time on some loser-nobody who chases after those who are too good for her."
"And we're going to keep delivering the message until it sinks in," Sakura concluded.
Having had their say, the three girls walked off. Shiori just glared after them, her hands clenching into fists. This is what she had been worried about if her relationship with Juri was ever brought to light, getting harassed by people who were either jealous of her or who thought she wasn't good enough. Hell, she didn't think she was good enough, so she could only imagine what others who didn't think she was good enough thought of her. No, scratch that, she knew exactly what they thought of her; she was getting first-hand experience of it.
She should probably tell someone and have something done about all the bullying, but her pride wouldn't allow it. She wasn't some weak child. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and dealing with a bit of bullying. Although it was definitely more than "a bit". Common things have included being called nasty names, having water or trash poured on her or spitballs thrown at her, her possessions being stolen, being left nasty messages, having tacks put in her school shoes after gym class, and one time she had even found her school uniform all cut up in her locker.
But again, her pride wouldn't allow her to admit that she was being bullied to anyone. Not even Juri. As far as she knew, her girlfriend had no idea how some of the others students were treating her, as they were always on their best behavior whenever the orange-haired girl was around. When she wasn't though, her harassers took every opportunity they could to pressure her into breaking up with Juri.
Well, she wasn't going to do that. Nor was she going to let them know that they were getting to her, even if she did feel like she was close to a breaking point. Which is why she didn't even bother to leave the cafeteria to change clothes as she got back in line for a new lunch, pretending that their harassment wasn't bothering her.
Though she wasn't going to let them know they were getting to her, there was no hiding her frustration. And so she practically slammed her lunch tray down on the table and began eating. It wasn't the best lunch, she reluctantly noted. All this harassment was causing her to stress eat some more. She really had to stop doing that or else she was going to start really putting on the pounds, and she didn't want to lose her slim figure.
"What happened to you?"
Shiori looked up to see that Juri had joined her and was eyeing the food stain on her shirt questioningly. Pushing down her frustration, she forced a smile on her face. "Oh, just me being clumsy. I tripped and spilled my lunch all over myself. I'll go change after lunch though."
Her explanation seemed reasonable enough to her own ears and her tone sounded normal, but Juri frowned as she continued to eye her suspiciously. "Shiori, are you ok? You seem a little… on edge."
"I'm fine," the violet-haired girl grumbled, some of the irritation she felt slipping into her voice. "I'm just embarrassed that I tripped and annoyed that I got my clothes all dirty. But like I said, I'll go change after lunch."
She immediately scolded herself for being short with her. It wasn't Juri's fault that she was being harassed. She had been moody a lot lately though, chalking it up to frustration at being bullied and her emotions being so out of whack as she still tried to figure out her feelings for the orange-haired girl. She really wasn't handing all this well; it was a lot to bear.
"Sorry," she muttered. "I'm just having a bad day. I don't mean to take it out on you."
Juri nodded. "We all have bad days. Nothing to worry about."
Shiori raised an eyebrow at her. "And what about you? Still being hounded by admirers?"
Ever since winning the tournament, Juri's popularity had increased even more, resulting in even more students coming to look up to and admire her. Shiori had known that she would already face harassment in dating someone like Juri, but with her increase in popularity after winning the tournament, things were worse now than they would have been had their secret relationship come out beforehand.
A sigh escaped the range-haired girl. "Unfortunately. It really is a nuisance. I never cared for all the attention or wanted to be popular, but I'm afraid it comes with the territory."
Mild annoyance flashed through Shiori. "Of course. You're beautiful, rich, talented, come from an influential family, you're the best duelist, a member of the Student Council, the captain of the fencing club, and now the winner of the school's dueling tournament. Who would have thought such things would make you popular?"
She regretted her words the moment she spoke them. That was her inferiority complex at work once more. With a dramatic sigh, she dropped her face into her hands. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That's just my stupid jealousy talking again." She peeked through her fingers, giving the orange-haired girl an apologetic look. "You know I don't mean it, right?"
Juri nodded, giving a reassuring look and understanding smile. "I know, don't worry. But really, Shiori, there's no reason to be jealous. Being popular is not all it's cracked up to be. A lot of people think it's what they want, but really, it's exhausting and time consuming to have so many people look up to you and always having to please them and meet their expectations. I'm actually rather envious of those who have a simpler life."
"Hmm…" Shiori muttered thoughtfully as she went back to eating her lunch.
Afterwards, she returned to her room to change into a clean uniform as she considered Juri's words. She had to admit, she hadn't really considered the drawbacks of being popular, such as the lack of privacy, the need to always keep up appearances and meeting everyone's expectations. But then, she supposed most people didn't consider such things when seeking to become popular, only focusing on the good and never the bad or hard work required to maintain one's popularity.
Truthfully, when she thought about it, it did sound rather exhausting. Maybe being popular wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Was all the stress and work that came with it really worth having a bunch of people pay attention to you? Especially when the smallest thing could bring your reputation crashing down?
She was still contemplating this as she exited her room after having changed into clean clothes when she was suddenly splashed by water. She let out a surprised yelp and looked towards the source, scowling when she saw Sakura standing there with a water bottle. It looked like she was alone though. Had she actually followed her back to her room just so she could continue to harass her?
"Oops, sorry," Sakura told her mockingly. "I thought I'd help you wash up after your little fall in the cafeteria. Didn't know you had already changed clothes. Now they're all wet. My bad."
Shiori's nails dug into her palm as her frustration reached its capping point. "Why are you bothering me all the time? What the hell is your problem with me?"
The girl's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms and sneered at her. "My problem is that you're a menace. Juri deserves better than some social climber who whores herself out to her betters in order to make herself look good."
"I'm not a social climber!" Shiori snapped. At least not anymore, she silently admitted. "And I'm not whoring myself out!"
"Oh, no?" Sakura asked mockingly, pointing an accusing finger at her. "Don't think we haven't noticed what you've done. You come from overseas and try and hang out with Juri because she's so popular, but then you have a falling out. Then Ruka returns to the school and you two immediately start dating. And once he dumps you, you go running back to Juri, even joining the fencing club in order to get close to her, and as soon as she wins the tournament, you kiss her to let the entire school know that the two of you are together. How are you not whoring yourself out to the more popular students?"
Shiori frowned. Put in that context, she could see how other students saw her as a social climber who was just hooking up with the more popular students to get ahead. Regardless, that didn't justify the harassment she was facing. And also, the other students didn't have the full story.
"You're wrong," she said firmly. "Juri and I were childhood friends before I went overseas, and there were always… intense and complicated feelings between us. That was the cause of our falling out when I came back, but we've made up since then. And Ruka, I had been crushing on him for a long time. I wasn't with him to make myself popular. I really did love him. As for my current relationship with Juri. I'm not using her, and I'm certainly not whoring myself out to anyone."
"Sure," Sakura replied mockingly. "Because that all sounds so believable. Face it, Takatsuki, you're just a slut trying to reach for more than you deserve. You tried it with Ruka, but since that didn't work out, you turned your attention to Juri." She sneered at her, placing her hands on her hips. "Are you sleeping with her too? Have you ever even been with a woman before? Do you even know how two girls have sex, or are you just figuring things out as you go along?"
Shiori's cheeks turned red as she thought back to her heated make-out sessions with Juri. "W-What the two of us do together in private is none of your concern. In fact, nothing about our relationship is any of your damn business, or anyone else's."
Suddenly, Shiori's head snapped to the side as the sound of Sakura's open palm striking her cheek echoed down the hall. It was accompanied by the sting of the slap and the immediate reddening of Shiori's cheek. The violet-haired girl refused to let out anything more than a loud gasp at the contact and just glared at her assaulter.
Face twisting with anger, Sakura reached out and grabbed a handful of Shiori's hair, slamming her against the wall. "Don't you speak to me that way, you little tramp! I'm not taking that kind of attitude from some social climbing slut!"
A pained cry escaped Shiori as Sakura's grip on her hair tightened. And that's when her control of her temper snapped. An entire month's worth of anger at the harassment she had suffered, most of it spearheaded by the girl in front of her, came spilling out. Heedless of Sakura's tight grip on her hair, Shiori all but threw herself at her tormentor, grabbing a handful of her shirt and tackling her down. The two girls fell to the floor and began struggling with each other.
"You bitch!" Shiori yelled. "I've had enough of you!"
"We've all had enough of you!" Sakura shouted back. "Leave Juri alone!"
"You leave us alone!" Shiori cried as she too grabbed Sakura's hair. "I'm done with your crap!"
"Let go!"
"You let go!"
Their squabble went on for the next few minutes, until it eventually drew the attention of other students who were passing by, and soon a crowd gathered to watch. Eventually though, a faculty member arrived and broke up the fight. The two of them were then properly reprimanded before being sent to the school nurse to be examined.
Despite the slaps, scratches, and hair pulling she had received though, Shiori left the nurse feeling thoroughly satisfied. Sakura had definitely come out worse for wear than her, even ending up with a black eye. She made a real show of playing the victim of the whole thing, but it amounted to nothing, as both she and Shiori were grounded to their rooms for the rest of the day once classes let out.
In hindsight, fighting with Sakura like that probably hadn't been the best idea, as Shiori knew that there was probably a good chance that the bullying would get even worse now in retribution for her having fought back. But still, she'd taken all that she could stand from the other girl. And who knew, maybe now that Sakura saw that Shiori had stood up for herself instead of just rolling over and taking it, the bullying would ease up instead.
But something Sakura had said had gotten Shiori thinking. It had been her question of if Shiori even knew how two girls had sex. And, truthfully, Shiori reluctantly admitted that she didn't. Despite the heavy making out and groping they did, not to mention what had almost happened during their date at the pool, Shiori had no idea how two women actually made love.
She wasn't completely ignorant though, having had sex in the past, and so figured that there were similarities with two girls having sex as there were to when a boy and girl had sex. Using one's fingers and mouth on their partner would obviously be the same for foreplay and oral stimulation, but as for the act itself, Shiori found that she was clueless.
The truth was, she hadn't really thought about it before, of how things would work if and when she and Juri took that next step in their relationship. And if Shiori was honest, she did want Juri, badly, even if she wasn't sure if they were ready to take that next step yet, and the thought of making love with Juri was rather anxiety provoking. The thought of the two of them together, intimately entwined, no clothes to get in the way, kissing, touching, and pleasing each other, it made Shiori feel like she was going to pass out from overheating.
But whether she and Juri were ready to take that next step or not, Shiori now found herself curious as to how two women made love. How exactly did they make up for the… lack of compatible equipment so to speak? She knew there were sex toys and such, but how did they make love without such things?
With her curiosity piqued, she decided to do some research on the subject. And like most people, she turned to the most reliable source of information available to her, the internet. Which, unfortunately, was only accessible through the school's computers in the library. And so, it was with the utmost caution that she made her way to the school library.
She was relieved to see that it was relatively empty. There were only three other students present; two of them were sitting down and reading and the third was on a computer. That was fine, as there were plenty of other computers. Just to be safe though, and to have additional privacy for the research she would be doing, she sat as far away from the other student on the computer as possible at the other side of the room. She couldn't fathom how much trouble she would get into with the school if she was caught looking up what she was about to look up.
She wasn't surprised that the first several pages that popped up ended up being links to porn sites, so she tried being more specific with her search. This brought her more along the lines of what she was looking for. She saw some of the things she thought she might find, from kissing to fingering to various cunnilingus positions, including pictures and detailed descriptions, all of which had Shiori blushing down to the roots of her hair. There were also images and details on different sex toys, including strap-ons, strapless and double-sided dildos, vibrators, and more, causing Shiori's face to turn an even darker shade of red.
She soon came across a term she had never heard before, and so clicked on the link to get more information, and began quietly reading the description under her breath. "'Tribidism, commonly known as tribbing and scissoring, is the act of two women…'"
Her face turned redder than ever at what she read, her blush spreading from head to toe. The description was even followed up with pictures of women performing the act, and Shiori's eyes widened at the sight of two women pressing and rubbing their genitals together. For some reason, the thought of two girls doing such a thing had never occurred to her, even though now that she saw it, it seemed so obvious.
Was that how two women actually made love? Just the thought alone had her squeezing and rubbing her legs together as she shifted about in her seat. Almost against her will, she couldn't help but imagining her and Juri performing such an act on each other. The thought alone once again almost made her feel like she was going to pass out from overheating, and she felt a fluttering in her stomach and a tingle between her legs that had her fidgeting even more.
"Hey, Takatsuki!" an angry voice shouted from across the library.
Shiori tore her eyes away from the erotic images on the screen and looked across the library. She saw a group of students consisting of one boy and four girls angrily making their way over to her. She recognized all of them as students who had been bullying her this past month, and the girl leading the charge, the one who had called her name, often took part in much of the harassment Sakura had been dishing out.
A feeling of panic flashed through Shiori as her eyes darted back to the computer screen. She quickly clicked to put the monitor to sleep and the screen went black a moment before the group reached her.
"What do you want?" she demanded, and then quickly came up with a lie for her presence in the library. "I'm trying to do some homework."
The head girl, Shiori had no idea what her name was, or what any of the other students' names were really, slammed her palms down on the table. "We want to know what makes you think you can attack Sakura the way you did!"
Shiori scoffed as she turned her nose up at them. "Attacked her, huh? Is that what you call it? I would call it self-defense, especially after everything she did to me."
"You gave her a black eye!"
"And I'd do it again!" Shiori shot back, getting to her feet. "She put her hands on me first! And that bitch has been harassing me for weeks! She got what deserved!"
"Well, well," one of the other girls sneered, "someone's acting all high and mighty. I guess you think you're pretty important just because you're dating Juri. Was that your goal the whole time? Date her so you become important too?"
Shiori scoffed again. "You guys don't know what you're talking about." She sat back down. "Just leave me alone."
"That's not how this works," one of the other girls told her. "If you think we're just going to let you get away with everything, you've got another thing coming."
A low growl escaped Shiori and she threw her hands in the air. "God, will you just get off my back already! What do you want from me?"
The boy of the group pointed at her. "We want you to break up with Juri."
Shiori blinked, looking up at him in bewilderment. "What?"
"You heard him," the head girl replied, placing her hands on her hips. "We want you to break up with Juri. In fact, stay away from her completely."
Shiori narrowed her eyes at them. She didn't know why their demand had surprised her; it had been the whole reason for all the harassment. "No, I'm not going to break up with Juri. Why is it any of your business anyway?"
"Why wouldn't it be our business that someone we look up to is being used by some cheap whore?" another girl asked.
"I'm not using her!" Shiori practically shouted. "God, why does everyone think I'm using her? I'm with Juri because I want to be."
The head girl scoffed. "Oh, please. You think we don't see the pattern? First Ruka, then Juri. Who are you going to go for next? Touga Kiryuu? Kyouichi Saionji?"
"I have no interest in either of them," Shiori spat.
The boy of the group pushed his glasses further up his nose. "More like you know they'd never go for you. Tell us, what tricks did you use to seduce Ruka and Juri?"
She chose to ignore the part about Ruka and just focus on the issue with Juri. "I didn't use any tricks. And, quite frankly, for claiming to admire her so much, it sounds like you don't think very highly of her if you think I can trick her into dating me."
Another scoff came from the head girl. "Juri's too nice for her own good. It allows people like you to take advantage of her kindness. That's why we need to look out for her."
"Yeah," one of the other girls agreed. "And even if there was no trickery involved, Juri deserves better than the likes of you as a girlfriend. All you'll do is bring her down."
"Which is something we're not going to stand for," the head girl continued. "We won't let Juri be with someone who's not worth her time. You know good and well that you're not worthy of her. So just make it easy on yourself and let her go."
Shiori's nails scratched against the tabletop. "I'm not breaking up with Juri. I don't care what you do to me."
At that, the head girl just sneered. "In that case, I guess we're just going to have to keep doing whatever we can to make you. We won't allow Juri to be with someone so unworthy of her."
"Well, isn't that considerate of you," a new voice replied.
All heads turned to see the orange-haired girl in question making her way over to them. Her arms were crossed and her face was stoic, as if she didn't have a care in the world. She nonchalantly walked around the group of five students to stand beside Shiori before fixing them with an unreadable look.
"It's so good to know that my admirers are so concerned about me that they're willing to bully my girlfriend behind my back to try and force her to break up with me."
"Juri…" one of the girls began, "that is–"
"Just one question," the orange-haired girl continued as of none of them had spoken. "What exactly makes any of you think that you have the right to dictate my life?"
"No," the head girl stammered, looking very uncomfortable, "you don't understand. We're not trying to dictate your life. We would never try to do that."
Juri raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, no? What was it you said to her? 'Juri deserves better than the likes of you for a girlfriend'. 'We won't allow Juri to be with someone so unworthy of her'. That certainly sounds like you're dictating my life, deciding who I should or shouldn't be with."
"No, no," the boy of the group exclaimed, waving his hands. "We're just concerned about you. We just think there's someone out there better for you than her."
"Oh?" Juri replied, and took a step closer to him. "And who would that be? Hmm? You? Because in case my dating Shiori didn't clue you in, I'm not into guys, I like girls."
"We're not saying it has to be a guy," the head girl quickly replied. "It's fine if you want to date another girl. We just thought it should be someone more worthy of you. We're just concerned about you."
A humorless chuckle escaped her. "Really? And you're the ones who get to decide who's worthy of me? Then tell me, who exactly did you have in mind? Your friend, Sakura?" She glanced at the other girls in the group. "Or maybe one of you? Do you think any of you are worthy of dating me?"
"Well…" one of the girls began, but seemed at a loss for words. "We just… uh… We were only trying to…"
Juri's calm demeanor faded a bit as she scowled at them. "I'm not some thing that you get to put in a box and decide what to do with. What I do and who I do it with is no one's concern but my own, and none of you have any say in the matter. I'm with Shiori because I want to be with her. In fact, it was me who pursued her. So you can get rid of any false notions you have of her using me."
"She's not good enough for you!" the head girl exclaimed. "She's just some nobody who's not even worth your time! Can't you see that?"
At those words, Juri dropped all pretenses. She angrily reached out and grabbed the head girl's shirt, pulling her forward threateningly and fixing her with a serious look. "Let me make something perfectly clear. How I live my life and who I spend my time with is my business, not yours or anyone else's. None of you get a say in what I do. I love Shiori, and if I want to be with her, then I'm damn well going to be, regardless of how anyone else feels about it. And if I find out that you or anybody else is bullying Shiori again or trying to break us up, then so help me God, I will come down on you with all the power and influence of the Arisugawa family. Is that understood?"
Clearly intimidated, the head girl completely caved at Juris threat, looking terrified. "Y-Yes, Miss Juri."
The orange-haired girl's angry eyes then shot to the others, and they all winced under her gaze. "Yes, Miss Juri!" they echoed.
"Good," Juri replied and shoved the girl she held into the others. "And be sure to tell anyone else who plans to interfere with mine and Shiori's relationship the same. Especially your friend Sakura. Tell her she'll be the first one I come down on if there's another incident. Now leave."
The students immediately scattered, rushing to get out of the library. The entire display had drawn the attention of the few students who were actually in the library for its use, but they quickly looked away when Juri glanced at them, pretending that they hadn't seen or heard anything.
Shiori supposed she should have been grateful for Juri stepping in to put a stop to all the bullying, but instead found herself feeling more annoyed. There had been a reason why she hasn't said anything to her this past month, and it wasn't that she had been ashamed that she was being bullied. Still, she supposed she should at least acknowledge that Juri had helped her.
Averting her eyes, she tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice as she said, "I guess I should say thanks."
Juri turned to her almost aggressively, her eyes blazing. Shiori looked back up at her and saw that the orange-haired girl was furious. However, she saw that that anger wasn't directed at the other students, it was directed at her. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Shiori stubbornly feigned ignorance as she looked away. "I don't know what you mean."
In response, Juri angrily slammed her palm down on the table. "Don't play games with me, Shiori! Why didn't you tell me that there were students picking on you?"
"Why?" Shiori demanded irritably. "So you can play the role of the prince and save me like you just did. I'm a big girl, Juri. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
A frustrated sigh escaped the orange-haired girl, and she reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Shiori, it's not a matter of whether you can take care of yourself or not. I know you can take care of yourself, but you shouldn't have to. I want you to be able to rely on me."
Shiori knew she was being irrational, but she couldn't help it as she glared up at her. "Of course, perfect Juri, coming to save the poor, helpless Shiori. Is that how you wanted it to go down? You say you know I can take care of myself, but now you're mad at me for not involving you? It wasn't any of your concern."
"It is my concern," Juri insisted, speaking much louder than what was considered appropriate for a library. "Someone I love is being harassed. How is that not my concern? What more, the reason you're being harassed is because of me. So yes, it is most definitely my concern."
Shiori's shoulders slumped at the truth of her words. When she put it that way, keeping silent about her being bullied did sound foolish. "I just… didn't want to go running to you. I wanted to take care of things myself. It seems like you're always able to handle your own problems on your own; I wanted to do the same."
A deep sigh escaped Juri and she suddenly looked tired. "Shiori, we're a couple. And a couple is supposed to be able to lean on and rely on each other. It means they're not alone anymore, that they're a team and they're supposed to work together. They go to each other with their problems and they work through them together. I would go to you with my problems, and I would hope that you would come to me with yours, even if it's just to talk or vent. Do you understand?"
Suddenly feeling foolish and well reprimanded, Shiori nodded. "Yes, ok."
Juri let out another sigh, this one lighter than before. "As for me always being able to handle my own problems, do you really think that I do everything on my own? Do you really think that I don't ask others for help when I need it or simply to talk when I need to?"
This surprised Shiori, and she was unable to hide it as she gave the orange-haired girl a bewildered look. "You mean you do?"
A light chuckle escaped Juri as she sat down beside her. "Silly, of course I do. I'm not perfect; no one is. In fact, do you know how many times I've spoken to my friends on the Student Council about things? Did you forget that I told them about us early on because I needed someone to talk to?"
She reached out and covered Shiori's hand with hers. "No one can do anything on their own, Shiori. I want you to be able to rely on me, or at least talk to me about your problems. And I hope that I can rely on you if I have a problem."
Now Shiori just felt bad for the way she had behaved. She turned the hand that was covered by Juri's upward and then placed her other hand on top of Juri's, grasping it lightly. "Of course you can. I'll always be here for you, Juri." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This was just me being stupid again. I guess part of what those students said about me not being good enough for you got to me a bit, and I thought if I could deal with it myself that it would show that I could stand beside you or something. It sounds stupid, I know, but it made more sense in my head. I guess I thought if I could handle the situation on my own that it would show that I was good enough. That I could handle things without any help the way I thought you did."
Smiling, Juri placed her other hand on top of Shiori's other one. "I get it. But this is partly why I want you to stop putting me on a pedestal. It paints me in an inaccurate light, and it sets unrealistic expectations for yourself and others. I'm only human, Shiori. We're all only human. We all make mistakes, and we'll continue to make mistakes."
Shiori's shoulders slumped further and she let out a sigh and looked away. "Yeah, but it seems like I keep making the same mistake over and over again. I know I have an inferiority complex when it comes to you, and I really am working on it, but it seems like I keep falling into my old habits. Like just now. I know you just wanted to help me, but I stupidly had to turn it into a social status thing. God, what is wrong with me?"
Juri stared at her long and hard for several seconds before retracting her hand and crossing her arms as she sat back in the chair. "Hey, Shiori, perhaps you can give me some advice on something that would help me."
Shiori glanced back at her in surprise at the sudden change in topic. "Me? Um, ok, with what?"
The orange-haired girl was silent for a few moments, looking as if she were choosing her words carefully. "Well, there's this girl, see. She's someone I love very, very much. But she has this little problem she's trying to overcome. She sometimes gets these silly thoughts in her head where she thinks she's not good enough, and she holds me in such high regards that she has unrealistic expectations when it comes to us, and she'll occasionally compare us and think she needs to match me in order to be good enough, even though she's already good enough, despite not seeing it."
Shiori's eyes widened, and almost against her will, she felt the sides of her mouth turn upward. She could tell what Juri was doing, and the ridiculousness of it had her cracking a shy smile.
"Sometimes she runs into problems, just like anyone does," Juri continued, "and while I know that she can take care of herself, I still want to help her because I care about her and don't like to see her suffer. But I'm afraid that if I do that she'll misunderstand and get mad at me. So I'm not sure if I should help her out and risk upsetting her or leave her to struggle with her problems." She looked at Shiori expectantly. "So, what do you think I should do?"
A bit of color filled the violet-haired girl's cheeks as she continued to smile shyly before giving Juri an appreciative look. "I guess just try and be understanding with her. Know that when she gets upset that she's not really getting upset with you and is just stupidly misdirecting her anger. And know that she's really trying to work on herself, but that it's not easy and is going to take time, but she'll get there eventually, and until then, she's going to selfishly ask you to please be patient with her." She cocked her head to the side. "Does that help?"
Smiling, Juri reached up and cradled the back of Shiori's head. "It does." She drew her in and kissed her before whispering against her lips. "You have no idea how patient I can be. I waited so long to get you; I have all the patience necessary to keep you."
Shiori returned the smile as she rested her forehead against hers. "Don't let go of me."
"Never," Juri replied, and then pressed another quick kiss to her lips before standing up. "Now, come on, let's get out of here. It's the weekend, so let's enjoy it."
She stood up and held out her hand. Shiori took it allowing Juri to pull her to her feet. "Sounds good. Oh, by the way, how did you know I needed help?"
Juri just smiled. "I didn't. After you got grounded to your room yesterday, I came looking for you after breakfast. Someone told me that they saw you heading to the library, so I came here. On the way, I saw those students making their way here, and after hearing about what happened between you and Sakura yesterday, it was easy enough to figure out what was going to happen. So I followed them at a distance and stayed out of sight, because I knew you could handle them, and only stepped in when I had something to say about how they thought that they could dictate certain aspects of my life." She reached out and stroked Shiori's cheek. "Not because I didn't think you couldn't handle yourself."
Shiori gave her an appreciative smile. "Thanks, Juri."
"Anything for you, Shiori. Now come on, it's almost lunch time."
Nodding, Shiori stepped around her. She hadn't taken more than five steps though before she came to a halt as she suddenly remembered. "Oh, wait, I forgot to shut down the computer."
Behind her, Juri reached for the mouse. "I got it."
Shiori's eyes widened. "No, wait!"
She made to grab Juri's wrist, but it was too late. Her hand had moved the mouse enough to wake up the computer. The black screen flashed to life, revealing what was on it. Juri's eyes widened slightly in surprise as a mortified expression crossed Shiori's face. She turned beet red as the image of the two girls with their legs interlocked as they ground their genitals together was put on display for Juri to see.
"I-I… I can explain," Shiori stammered, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. "See, I was just kind of curious about how two girls would… you know. So I thought that I'd do some research, just in case. Just to educate myself, you know. I figured, if I'm going to be dating another girl, I should know what to expect, even if we're not there yet."
She was rambling, she knew that. But as long as she kept talking, then she wouldn't have to hear what Juri had to say about the fact that she had been looking up how two girls had sex. To the orange-haired girl's credit though, she didn't react outside of some color filling her cheeks. She then closed out of Shiori's searches and cleared the browser history for good measure before shutting down the computer.
Standing up straight, she kept her back to the violet-haired girl as she spoke. "Shiori."
Swallowing in nervous embarrassment, the violet-haired girl did her best to keep her voice steady. "Y-Yes?"
Juri turned to her, her cheeks red and her eyes looking off to the side. "I would love to do that with you; you have no idea how much. But you don't need to force yourself into anything until you feel ready." Her eyes finally moved to Shiori, her cheeks still filled with heat, and she gave her a bashful smile. "Like I said, I'm patient."
Still feeling embarrassed, Shiori could only nod. Juri playfully reached up and tapped her nose before walking past her, giving the violet-haired girl some time to regain her composure.
"Oh, and Shiori," she said suddenly looking back at her. She waited until the violet-haired girl glanced at her before smirking. "Just so you know, the school may not constantly monitor the computers, but if they ever felt so inclined, they can always go into the system and see what websites were visited, even if you delete your history."
Shiori's face turned red.
(A/N: Ok, so, this was a development. We got a little trouble in paradise. Shiori was facing some expected harassment for dating someone others considered out of her league. Sadly, it happens, but good for her for standing up for herself. And it seems that Juri was able to put an end to it for good, hopefully. But what I really liked getting into was both their reactions towards each other. Rather than Shiori being grateful she was saved, her inferiority complex made her angry with Juri, and rather than be sympathetic towards Shiori for being bullied, she was angry she hadn't told her. I felt these reactions were not only realistic, but made sense for both their characters, especially in helping Shiori work through her inferiority complex. What more, this seemed to be their first fight, for lack of a better word, since they became a couple. Relationships aren't all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes there are going to be arguments and disagreements. The important thing is to work through them, and it seems like Juri and Shiori were able to do so. Good for them. And what's this? Is their relationship going to be taken to the next level soon? Shiori's looking into information on it, so maybe. Stick around to see how their relationship progresses from her.)