If Jealousy Could Kill

Haruna yawned lightly, her body rolling itself over, her hands gripping the covers tightly and pulling them with her. She groaned she felt the hot sun on her face, the rays peeking in through the curtains that hadn’t quite been shut tight enough. She let out a disgruntled grunt, finally letting her eyes open. Her eyes narrowed into a glare at the offending window before she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

Another yawn escaped her as she ran her hand through her messy hair. She ruffled her hair a bit, her eyes glancing over to the end table next to the bed where she saw a small note. Her hand left her hair, moving to grab the note. She held it in front of her, her eyes scanning the paper and a small smile coming to her face.

I had to go to school this morning. I didn’t want to wake you up so I thought I’d leave you this note so you didn’t go jumping to conclusions. I have work later as well so I’ll call you after work. I’ll see you later. I love you.

-Tomomi

Haruna smiled at the note, a soft chuckle passing her lips. Even Tomomi’s notes were adorable. Haruna sat the paper back down onto the end table, collapsing down onto her back. Her arms laid splayed out on the bed, her sleepy brown eyes staring up at the clean white ceiling.

Maybe Tomomi was right, maybe she was just stressed. Who knows, a little time away could be good for her. It had been quite a while since the last time Haruna had actually taken a vacation. The only part that Haruna didn’t like was potentially leaving Rina alone with Miyuki. Haruna wanted to ask her if she’d stay at Mami’s house while the two were away, but she got the feeling that Rina would rather stay with Miyuki over Mami these days. Rina and Miyuki had only been together for a few days but she knew that wouldn’t matter to Rina. When Rina fell for someone, she tended to fall hard.

Haruna blew some strands of hair out of her face and shook her head. There was a part of her that wanted to be mad at Mami for introducing Rina and Miyuki, but there was a stronger part of her that wanted to thank Mami. It had been so long since Rina had been interested in anyone, Haruna was a bit curious as to how Mami had managed to get her interested again. It seemed like a miracle that Mami had gotten Rina interested in dating again so quickly.

As the thoughts crossed Haruna’s mind, another set of thoughts crossed her mind. She thought back to one of the conversations that Tomomi and Haruna had had last night while they were lying in bed. Tomomi had mentioned trying to find Mami a date, saying she felt like the three of them owed it to her for all the work Mami had done with their love lives. The thought still made Haruna laugh. She wasn’t sure how any of them would even begin to go about doing that. In all her years of knowing Mami, she had never really seen the blonde date anyone. She didn’t even know what type of person Mami liked or if she even had a type at all for that matter.

Haruna ruffled her hair again as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. If Tomomi wanted to meddle in Mami’s love life then Haruna would let her do just that, but the eldest brunette didn’t intend to get involved in any of that. She’d leave that up to fate.

She threw the covers off of her body with a heavy sigh, reluctantly pushing herself off the bed. She didn’t really want to get up, but it’s not as if she could stay in bed forever, even if that is exactly what she’d like to do.

Haruna stopped at her dresser, running her hair brush through her slightly tangled locks quickly. Once she had felt the knots become dislodged and her wild hair fall as calm as she was going to get it for right now, she set the brush back down and made her way out of the room. She padded down the hallway, another series of small yawns escaping the tired girl.

Haruna walked into the kitchen, but her steps stopped immediately when her eyes laid on Miyuki. The slightly younger girl was seated at the table, a small coffee cup clutched in one hand while the other flipped through the newspaper.

When Miyuki had heard the footsteps, she looked up from the paper, raising an eyebrow when she saw Haruna standing in the doorway. The black haired woman diverted her eyes away from Haruna, letting them trail back down to her paper.

“Good morning, Haruna,” Miyuki said in a sweet tone. Haruna looked at the clock curiously when she heard Miyuki’s greeting. So it was still morning, only by another thirty minutes though.

“What are you doing here? Is Rina home?” Haruna asked. She had been sure that Rina had school and work today but if Miyuki was here, did that mean she hadn’t gone at all today? It would be so unlike Rina to do something like that though.

“No, I’m afraid she’s not. It seems that she left before I woke up this morning,” Miyuki answered her. Haruna nodded silently before making her way over to the counter. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard, pouring herself some water.

“Did you stay last night?” Haruna asked her. It was a stupid question given Miyuki’s last answer but Haruna didn’t particularly care. She turned herself around, pressing her back against the countertop as her eyes peered over at Miyuki.

“I did. Rina asked me to stay when I had brought her home,” Miyuki answered. Haruna simply nodded silently, taking a small sip from her drink. Rina did seem to like this woman a lot and she did seem awfully nice. Haruna had been quite rude to her the entire time they’d known each other but yet, Miyuki never returned that rudeness. She’d always been so kind to Haruna and everyone else, she had passed Haruna’s test perfectly.

Haruna, I want you to apologize to Miyuki tomorrow.

The eldest brunette let out a soft groan when the familiar words passed through her mind at her thoughts, simply seeing Miyuki had brought Tomomi’s words back to her mind. She’d been told them last night. It was just before Haruna had fallen asleep for the night that she heard Tomomi soft whisper her words encouraging Haruna to apologize to Miyuki for her behavior.

Haruna didn’t particularly want to apologize to Miyuki but deep down, she knew that Tomomi was right. Haruna had been a near horrible person towards Miyuki, she’d treated her terribly since the first time she had met her. Miyuki had proven herself time and time again that she was a good person from the way she’d take Haruna’s bad behavior in stride. Haruna really had no reason to doubt Miyuki anymore; perhaps it was time for an apology. But for someone like Haruna, actually apologizing was something easier said than done.

She sighed softly, shaking her head. It was about time for Haruna to swallow her pride, she really had no choice. Well, she did, but the other option wasn’t good. She knew Tomomi would use the guilt to eat away at Haruna until she broke down and apologized. Either way, Haruna would apologize; she figured it would be best to do it the easy way than give Tomomi a reason to start in on her.

She slowly made her way over to the table, sitting opposite of Miyuki. She sat her cup down onto the table, causing the black haired woman in front of her to look up at her curiously.

“Miyuki… Can we talk?” Haruna asked softly. She really didn’t like to do this. She always hated admitting she was wrong; she was just too much of a prideful person.

“What do you want to talk about?” Miyuki asked. She closed the paper, pushing it aside and leaning forward on the table to look at Haruna questioningly. Haruna let out another soft sigh, her hands fiddling with the handle of the cup in front of her.

“I wanted to say that I’m sorry,” Haruna mentioned in a tone just as soft as her first one. She peeked up at Miyuki, noticing a smile on the girl’s face. She let out a huff of air, looking back down at the table. She didn’t like the satisfied look on Miyuki’s face right now.

“Why are you apologizing to me?” The question got Haruna’s attention, the older woman lifting her head and locking eyes with Miyuki. The woman in front of her tilted her head to the side, genuine curiosity shining in her eyes. Miyuki could admit that she never thought she’d hear an apology from Haruna, she just didn’t seem like the person who would apologize and actually mean it.

“I’ve treated you terribly ever since I met you; you deserve to hear an apology for my behavior. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Miyuki. The only thing I only wanted to do was to protect Rina from getting hurt,” Haruna explained. She exhaled a slow breath, a small smile coming to her face. “But I can see now that you won’t hurt Rina. If you can put up with me like you did, then I know you’ll be a decent person for her.”

Miyuki wanted to respond, but she was too stunned to say anything. Her mind was still processing the words that Haruna had just spoken. Not only was Haruna apologizing to her, but she was also telling Miyuki that she approved of their relationship. It should sound like a good thing to anyone else but since the two girls were only together to make Haruna jealous, Miyuki didn’t quite know how to feel about Haruna’s new approval of their relationship.

“You really care about Rina, don’t you?” Miyuki spoke up finally. She could see Haruna look away from her, the older girl nodding her head in response. Miyuki let out a soft chuckle, grabbing her own coffee cup and taking a small drink of it. “Well you don’t have to worry, Haruna.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rina is in good hands, I promise you that no harm is going to come to her,” Miyuki answered. Haruna smiled, she was content with the answer that Miyuki had given her. That was exactly what she had wanted to hear from the girl in front of her.

“Thank you, Miyuki. But let me make it clear to you that if you ever hurt Rina--”

“I won’t hurt her,” Miyuki cut off Haruna, her words being followed with a soft laugh. This girl was just so protective of Rina that Miyuki knew they had to be close to breaking her. It would only be a matter of time before Haruna would be practically begging Rina to come back to her.

Haruna was content with their conversation. She let the silence come in-between the two girls again, leaning back in her chair and taking a drink from her glass. Her eyes diverting to the ceiling, her head leaning back onto the back of the chair. She had decided it was time to give Miyuki the benefit of the doubt and believe that she’d take good care of Rina.

“You know, Mami will be here soon to pick me up, we’re going to go out for a few hours. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if you tagged along, if you’d like that is,” Miyuki offered the older girl. Haruna looked back down at Miyuki before nodding.

“I’d like to come along if you don’t mind,” Haruna responded. As if on cue, Haruna and Miyuki heard a loud knock at the door. They both assumed it was Mami as neither girl was expecting anyone else but her.

Haruna sat back again as she watched Miyuki push herself up, making her way out of the kitchen to answer the door. She let out a small huff of air, rolling her head back and forth across the back of the chair. Maybe getting to know Miyuki would be worth it in the end.

***

“I’m so tired,” Mami whined as she dropped down onto the couch, her body slipping down into a half sitting and half laying position. Miyuki laughed softly, taking a seat on the couch next to her. She glanced back at Haruna, the older woman having made her way over to one of the tables to set the bags down.

“You’re such a wuss, Mami,” Miyuki teased her. Mami scoffed, lightly hitting Miyuki in the arm for her comment. From behind the two women on the couch, Haruna watched them, her eyes trained on Miyuki more than Mami.

“Oh! You guys are back!” The trio could hear the excited shout just seconds before Rina bounded into the living room, a smile on her face. When Miyuki heard the familiar voice, she turned around, raising an eyebrow when she saw Rina.

“I thought you had work?” Miyuki asked the excited girl. Rina giggled softly before she made her way over to where Miyuki sat. She took her place next to Miyuki, making sure to sit close to the older woman. In turn, Miyuki wrapped her arms around Rina, planting a kiss on her cheek.

“They closed the bakery for the day so I came home early but no one was here.” Rina’s expression turned into a pout as she said her last words, the action making both Miyuki and Mami laugh.

“Sorry, Rina, I’m afraid that is my fault,” Mami told her. Rina peered around Miyuki at the blonde who sat on the other side of her.

“Did you kidnap them or something?” Rina asked her, her words being followed by a small laugh. Mami returned her laugh, shaking her head in response to Rina’s joking question.

“I’m pretty sure Haru would murder me if I did that to her again,” Mami said. The trio could hear the scoff behind them before they saw Haruna make her way in front of them. The eldest girl leaned herself against the wall before letting her body slip down to the floor.

“What makes you so sure that I’m not already planning that for last time?” Haruna cracked off. Mami had opened her mouth to make a comeback, but she’d caught herself just in time before she’d actually said it. She didn’t think Rina would appreciate her making another comment about setting up Haruna and Tomomi. Careless words were what got her into this mess in the first place.

“If you wanted to then you would have done it already,” Mami settled with. She could see Haruna roll her eyes and shake her head, making a clicking sound with her tongue.

“Know it all,” Haruna shot back. Mami gave the older girl a big grin in response to Haruna admitting her defeat. The older brunette on the floor coughed softly, thinking it was time to finally bring up last night’s subject. “Can I talk to you all for a second?”

“About what?” Rina asked. She peered around Miyuki to look at the girl on the floor, Haruna’s eyes cast upwards toward the ceiling.

“I guess it’s really only you I need to talk to Rina, but Miyuki and Mami might be involved too,” Haruna began. She brought her head down, giving Rina a reassuring smile. “Tomomi and I are thinking of taking a weekend away, I want to know if you’d be okay staying at home alone or not.”

“Y-you’re doing what?” Rina squeaked out. The youngest brunette could feel Miyuki’s grip around her tighten, her hands beginning to rub Rina’s arms lightly. The words that Haruna had said were still sinking in for Rina.

No, no, no. They couldn’t go away together. If they were alone for an entire weekend, it would give Tomomi time to get inside of Haruna’s head even more. They’d bond and it would make it harder for Rina to win Haruna back. She couldn’t let that happen; she couldn’t let Tomomi have the chance of taking Haruna away more than she already had.

“Tomomi and I are thinking of going away one of these weekends,” Haruna repeated her question, oblivious to how Rina was really feeling. She’d simply thought the girl had just not heard what she had said; she was sitting fairly far away from Rina after all.

Haruna cocked her head to the side when she moved her eyes over to Miyuki, a harsh glare on the girl’s face. She didn’t understand it; her words didn’t even really have anything to do with Miyuki so she didn’t see why she would be looking at Haruna so angrily.

“I’m okay with Rina coming to stay with me for the weekend,” Mami piped up quickly when she could feel the tension in the room rising. She turned to Rina, giving her a small smile. “But it’s up to you. I don’t think Miyuki would mind either if you’d prefer to stay with her.”

“Of course I wouldn’t, Rina is welcome to come stay with me,” Miyuki answered. From where she sat, Haruna’s eyes narrowed into a glare. She may be agreeing to give Miyuki a chance but that didn’t mean she was fond of the idea of Rina staying at her house for so long. Just why did Mami think it was a good idea to make a suggestion like that?

“Ne, Rina, what do you think?” Mami asked, looking over at the brunette. The blonde gulped when she saw the clearly upset expression on Rina’s face, she was making it fairly obvious that she didn’t enjoy the idea of Haruna and Tomomi going away alone for such a long time. Haruna could even see the visibly upset expression on her face, even if she didn’t fully understand why Rina was upset all of a sudden.

“Rina, darling, are you okay?” Miyuki asked her. She reached a hand around Rina’s face, brushing some stands of hair out of her face and causing the young brunette to look over at her. Miyuki could see it clear in Rina’s eyes how she was feeling, and okay was about the farthest thing from what she was right now.

“I think I would be fine staying here alone, I can take care of myself,” Rina murmured out, a squeaky sound hinging to her words. Miyuki sighed softly, kissing her forehead.

“We know you can take care of yourself, but you don’t like being alone, do you? Come stay with me, I’ll keep you company until Haruna gets back,” Miyuki offered her. She could see Rina beginning to look in between her and Haruna, and she knew that the wheels were turning in Rina’s head. After a while of silence, Rina nodded her head finally.

“I’ll stay you with, Miyuki. I hope you don’t mind, Mami,” Rina said as she turned to the blonde. Mami waved her hand carelessly, brushing off Rina’s worry.

“No need to worry, Rina. I wouldn’t expect any less now that you’ve got a girlfriend, I figured you would want to spend some more time with her,” Mami answered, giving her a bright smile.

Despite the smile, Mami could feel an unknown emotion tugging at her heart. Mami was happy for Rina, really she was. It seemed like Rina was beginning to move on from Haruna. It was slow but slow was better than never. But even with the happiness she felt for Rina, Mami couldn’t help but feel a small ting of sadness pull at her for some reason. The blonde couldn’t understand it at all. Perhaps she was just a bit sad that Rina was indeed choosing Miyuki over her now.

“You know, you could just come stay with me too. We could have a sleepover like we’re in high school again,” Miyuki replied. Mami stifled a laugh, shaking her head at Miyuki’s offer.

“Well now that that is settled, I think I’m going to take a quick shower. Are you planning to stay tonight, Mami?” Haruna asked as she pushed herself off the ground.

“Would it be okay if I did? Unless I’m suddenly not welcomed,” Mami added in her joke. Mami hadn’t originally been planning on staying over at their house for the night but after hearing Haruna’s plans and seeing the way Rina had reacted, she felt it would be better for her to be here for Rina if she should need it.

“Of course, you’re always welcome here. Just don’t eat all of my food again,” Haruna warned her. Mami scoffed at her comment, waving her hand absentmindedly.

“What food? You’ve got nothing,” she countered. Haruna rolled her eyes and shook her head with a small laugh. With those last words, Haruna began to make her way out of the living room. When she made her way around the couch, she stopped just behind Rina, laying a hand on her head. “You okay over here, Rina? You look a little upset.”

“I’m fine,” Rina said quickly. She had jumped from the sudden question of Haruna’s but had managed to give her a convincing answer regardless. Haruna could see that her answer wasn’t entirely the truth though, Rina could never hide being upset, but she also thought that it was just a passing moment of sadness and nothing too big. Rina had always been an overly emotional person.

“If you say so, remember that I’m here if something is wrong. I’ll see you later.” Haruna patted Rina’s head before she gave her a kiss on the top of her head, leaving the living room afterwards.

Back in the living room, Miyuki turned back to Rina, giving her another soft kiss on the forehead. She laid a hand down on the side of Rina’s head, lightly pushing her head down so it laid on Miyuki’s shoulder. Even if Haruna wasn’t here, Rina still cuddled closer to Miyuki, wrapping her arms around the older girl’s waist. She just needed someone to hold her right now; the thought of Haruna possibly growing even closer to Tomomi was taking its toll on her.

“Miyuki, I think I should talk to Rina alone for a few minutes,” Mami began. Miyuki looked over at her, giving her a gentle smile and shaking her head.

“You don’t have to, Mami. I already know how Rina feels about Haruna,” Miyuki answered her. As soon as Rina had heard those works, Rina’s body shot up, her eyes widened as she looked fearfully at Miyuki. She wasn’t really going to expose their plan to Mami, was she? Mami would never understand it the way Miyuki had, she simply couldn’t know.

“Eh? You do?” Mami asked in surprise. Miyuki let out a small laugh when she saw how Mami had responded to her confession.

“Of course I do, but I don’t mind it. I know Rina loves me and that’s what matters to me. I’ll make sure she leaves her feelings for Haruna behind,” Miyuki mentioned. Rina smiled at her words, this woman really was quite a good actress. Rina snuggled closer to Miyuki to help put on a show for Mami, the blonde in question nodding in satisfaction.

Unknown to Mami or Rina though, Miyuki’s words now had more meaning. They weren’t a lie or just for show anymore. After seeing how uncaring and oblivious to Rina’s true feelings Haruna seemed, Miyuki knew what she had to do. Haruna didn’t deserve Rina; she wasn’t good enough for the sweet little brunette.

Haruna may care for Rina, Miyuki didn’t dispute that. But this was where Miyuki knew she and Haruna differed. Haruna could never properly care for someone as sweet and sensitive as Rina; she didn’t pay enough attention to handle someone who has so many needs. Miyuki was going to keep pretending like she was going along with Rina’s plan to keep the young girl happy but now, now she was also going to go for something extra.

Miyuki was going to do her best to steal Rina’s love away from Haruna. She was going to make Rina fall in love with her.