If Jealousy Could Kill

Rina sighed softly, rubbing the back of her neck as she pushed the heavy front door open. She pushed it closed with a heave before making her way slightly into the house. She let her bag drop to the floor before she bent down to take off her shoes. Once she had managed that, she drug her tired self into the living room.

Rina didn't understand why school had made her feel this tired; usually she was never tired after school. She was awfully glad that she ended up not having work after school, she was nowhere in the mood or mind frame to deal with work. All she really wanted to do for the rest of the night was rest and relax.

When Rina got to the living room, she tossed her bag onto the couch. As soon as she had done that, she could hear the shout from the kitchen.

"Rina, is that you?" Haruna called from the kitchen. Rina's mood began to perk up when she realized that her roommate was home. She just hoped that she wasn't here as well, Rina wasn't in the mood to see Tomomi right now.

Rina quickly made her way to the kitchen, peering inside and smiling when she saw Haruna standing there. Haruna was leaned up against the counter, a cookie in hand with her other hand leaned out against the counter behind her. Rina could also take notice of Haruna's clothing choice. The older brunette was wearing a simple outfit that consisted of a white tank top and a pair of blue jeans.

Rina made her way into the kitchen but the closer she got to Haruna, the more her smile faded away. Standing close to her now, Rina could clearly see the mark on Haruna's neck. There was no way she could miss that with the way Haruna was dressed. She knew she must have missed that last night because of the shirt Haruna had been wearing. Now that she was in a tank top, there wasn't really any hiding it.

"What's that?" Rina asked before she knew what she was doing. It was a question that Rina almost regretted asking right away, she wasn't sure if she actually wanted Haruna to confirm her fears. She didn’t even know why she had asked it, it had just come out without her even thinking about it beforehand.

"Hm?" Haruna murmured. She pushed the rest of her snack into her mouth before rubbing the back of her neck nervously. She knew exactly what Rina was talking about. She'd forgotten about the mark that Tomomi's handiwork had left. "Tomo just got a bit carried away with herself."

"Oh..." Haruna couldn't ignore the dejected tone of Rina's voice, almost as if she was saddened by Haruna's answer. She wanted to question it but at the same time, she didn’t really know how to question it.

Rina walked over next to Haruna, making it a point to not look at her. The young girl grabbed a glass, filling it with water and ignoring Haruna the entire time. Haruna stepped back, an odd feeling swarming her body. Had she made Rina upset? That didn't make sense, Haruna had come home with plenty of those marks in the past and Rina had never cared. There was no reason for her to care, so it had to be something else upsetting her.

"Rina... Are you okay?" Haruna asked softly. She saw Rina glance over to her and she could swear she saw tears in Rina's eyes. The feeling swarming Haruna’s body only got worse when she saw that. Now she was fully convinced that she had upset Rina but she still didn’t know why or how she had.

"I'm fine." A chill ran through Haruna's body at the cold way Rina had said those words. She certainly didn't sound fine.

"Did something happen at school?" Haruna continued to pester. Rina didn't respond right away, instead taking a sip of the water she had poured. The younger girl kept her back turned to Haruna, not wanting to face her. If she faced her, she knew her eyes would be drawn to the proof of how close the couple had really gotten.

It had been worse than Rina had thought. She knew that the two girls had grown closer, that was clear through the pet names Tomomi had been using, but she didn't know it was that bad. Rina didn't even have to question how the hickey had come to be, she knew in her gut what those two had done. And she knew how much she was beginning to hate Tomomi for having touched Haruna like that.

"Rina, please talk to me. What's wrong? Is it something I did?" Haruna practically begged her. Rina bit down on her tongue, resisting the urge to shout a yes at her. She didn't want to blame Haruna. It wasn't Haruna's fault, it was Tomomi's fault. Haruna was innocent. If Tomomi had just left well enough alone...

Without warning, Rina sat the glass down and whirled around, wrapping her arms tightly around the shorter girl's waist and pulling the two of them close together. Rina just wanted to hold Haruna right now. She wanted to forget about what the couple had done and just feel like Haruna was there for her like she had been before. Haruna was shocked by the sudden action but she recovered quickly, returning the girl’s hug. Haruna laid her head down on Rina’s chest, beginning to rub her back softly.

"Do you love Tomomi?" Rina mumbled the question to her when she felt Haruna embrace her. Haruna’s eyes widened in shock as she heard the question, she was questioning whether she had heard it right or not. Of all the things Rina could say or ask that question had not been one she was expecting.

"What?" Haruna simply wanted to confirm what Rina had asked. She wanted to make sure she had heard Rina’s odd question correctly before she attempted to answer it.

"Are you in love with Tomomi?" Rina repeated herself. Why was Haruna stalling? Rina didn’t understand why Haruna didn’t just answer her question.

"Why are you asking that?" The more Haruna stalled, the more Rina’s fear grew. Why wouldn’t she just answer the question already.

"Just answer it please." Haruna felt bad, Rina sounded like she was desperate for an answer. Haruna still didn’t understand why Rina was doing this but she felt a need to answer the young girl now, she couldn’t leave Rina hanging after she used a tone like that.

"I think... I do. I am in love with Tomomi," Haruna answered her. As soon as she had finished giving her answer, Haruna could feel Rina’s grip begin to tighten around her.

Rina's grip around Haruna was progressively getting tighter and tighter as the seconds passed. It had gotten to a point where Haruna could no longer ignore how tightly Rina had her arms wrapped around her. Haruna squirmed a bit in Rina’s grasp, trying to get comfortable but nothing would work. Nothing would get Rina to loosen her grip.

"Rina.... What are you doing?" Haruna asked her softly. The older brunette was beginning to get scared at the mysterious way Rina was acting. Haruna winced as the pain from Rina’s grip began to set in. She had to make the younger brunette let go of her.

"Don't say that," Rina muttered lowly. Rina’s voice sounded almost monotone, like there wasn’t any emotion in it. That might just be the scariest thing Rina had done so far. Rina never spoke like that; her voice was always filled with emotion, whether that emotion is bad or good.

"What do you mean?" Haruna asked, wincing again after her words. Rina’s grip was beginning to become unbearable for the older girl.

"Don't say you love her." Haruna was more shocked by the heartbroken tone of Rina's voice than her actual words. Why did this upset Rina? Haruna was more confused than she had been in a long time. She had never seen Rina act like she was now about something like this. It had never bothered her in the past.

"Rina... Rina, can you-can you let me go?" Haruna managed to choke out. The tight grip was beginning to feel like it was taking away Haruna’s ability to breathe; it was really hurting her now. “Please let me go, you’re hurting me,” Haruna continued to beg her.

Rina didn't make any movements to let Haruna go though. She stayed silent, keeping her grip on Haruna. Rina didn’t want to let her go. Haruna began to squirm again, trying to break free of Rina’s grasp but it was all too no avail. Her grip was simply too strong for Haruna to break free from.

"Rina!" Haruna shouted loudly. All at once, Rina's arms dropped from Haruna, her body stepping back. Haruna wanted to be mad at her but when she saw the tears sparkling in Rina’s eyes, she knew she couldn’t be mad at the younger girl. But she also couldn’t very well let it be. “What the hell was that, Rina?”

"I'm sorry; I don't know what came over me… I think I'm just tired," Rina responded finally. Haruna have her, a sympathetic look that told the younger brunette that Haruna didn't believe her. Haruna was considering pushing Rina some more on her odd behavior but she didn't want to push too much and make her even more upset. She was also a bit scared after what Rina had just done.

"Are you sick? Did you catch a cold?" Haruna asked, the concern lacing her words. "Maybe you should lay down." It was one 3 pm but if Rina was feeling sick then Haruna didn't want her up and about.

"I think I should. I'm really not feeling well." Haruna still found something odd about Rina's tone. She knew Rina was hiding something but she had no idea what.

"Do you want me to come lay with you?" Haruna offered. It was something she would offer every time Rina got sick; she had been doing it since high school. It always seemed to make Rina recover faster if Haruna helped care for her.

"Is Tomomi here?" Rina asked bitterly. If Tomomi was here then Rina didn’t want Haruna to come; she didn’t want to take the chance of Tomomi coming in. Haruna was shocked by her tone but she shook it off, deciding not to make a big deal of it. She was simply going to focus on helping Rina feel better.

"No, she's at work. She said she won't be back over tonight, she has some stuff to do at home." Rina had to hold back the smile that wanted to come from her words. She was happy; this meant she would have Haruna to herself tonight.

"Would you come lay with me then?" Rina asked in a whisper. Haruna smiled at the sudden change in tone. Rina was back to speaking like the sweet girl she always was.

"Of course. Come on," Haruna said. She grabbed Rina's hand, lacing the two of their hands together before pulling the two girls out of the kitchen.

Haruna led them down the hallway and into Rina's room. She lightly guided Rina into lying down onto the bed, giving her a soft smile. Haruna leaned over Rina, brushing her hair out of her face and kissing her lightly on the forehead. Rina smiled at the affection Haruna gave her.

Haruna made her way around the other side of the bed. She laid down next to Rina, extending out her arms and beckoning for Rina to come closer. Rina did as Haruna requested, her body scooting over and into Haruna's arms.

The elder girl wrapped her arms tightly around Rina's body. Rina was laying lower on the bed than Haruna, so even though she was taller, she could still lay her head down against Haruna's chest, her eyes closing.

Haruna smiled at the young girl in her arms. She knew something was wrong with Rina and even if Rina would never be specific, Haruna was determined to help her. She would always help Rina no matter how difficult Rina attempted to be.

Haruna brought a hand up, beginning to lightly run her fingers through Rina's hair. Rina let a smile come to her face before snuggling as close as she could get to Haruna.

Maybe Rina was losing for now. Maybe Haruna was still with Tomomi, but Rina intended to change that. She knew what she had to do; she had to make Haruna see her love. She had to remind Haruna of her love and the love she knew Haruna had for her. If her plans so far weren't working then she would have to resort to direct action to wake up the older brunette. She just needed to find the right time to make a move on Haruna.

For now, Rina just wanted to enjoy having Haruna to herself for the night.

***

Mami leaned against the counter, a bored expression on her face as she stared at the empty store in front of her. She didn’t get why the store was so dead today, there was just simply no one coming in. A dead store made for a bored Mami. Without any customers, there really wasn’t anything for the blonde to do.

“A little bored there, Sasazaki?”

Mami huffed when she heard the familiar, cocky voice from beside her. She glanced over, seeing just the person she thought she would. Miyuki came closer to her before lifting herself up onto the counter, crossing her leg over the top of the other one.

“What are you doing here?” Mami asked her. Miyuki shrugged in response, leaning back onto the counter. “You know your parents are going to skewer you if they see you up there.”

“Well they won’t see so it doesn’t matter,” Miyuki responded casually. Mami snorted at her response, rolling her eyes and slipping down farther onto the counter. She really wanted to go home. If no one was going to come in then she’d rather be home, but she still had a few more hours left to her shift so she was trapped.

“So why are you here?”

“I got bored and thought I’d come check up on you,” Miyuki responded just as casually.

“Uh-huh, sure ya did. What’s the real reason?” Mami challenged her, knowing full well that Miyuki was not telling her the full truth. Miyuki laughed softly before jumping off the counter, turning her body around and leaning against it in a similar fashion to Mami.

“Are you okay? I’ve noticed your mood has been down lately,” Miyuki told her bluntly. That was just as Mami had expected, Miyuki never was one to beat around the bush with anything. That’s one of the reasons that she and Mami got along so well.

“Sometimes I hate how damned observant you are,” Mami grumbled. She earned herself a laugh and a grin from Miyuki. Mami smiled at the look Miyuki gave her, she really did remind Mami a lot of Haruna. That was the exact reason why she set up Miyuki and Rina. Miyuki was no Haruna, the two had so many differences, but they also had a lot of similarities. Mami might be misguided, but she thought it would be easier for Rina to move on if she did it with someone who did bare resemblance to Haruna.

One of the major differences between Miyuki and Haruna though were their observance skills. Miyuki was good at noticing things but Haruna wasn’t. Haruna tended to have a one track mind, she could really only focus on one thing at a time. If something wasn’t in front of her face, Haruna could easily miss it. It was one of the elder girl’s biggest flaws. This was probably why Haruna never noticed Rina’s true feelings. Rina had never put them out there so naturally, Haruna had never noticed it. She probably thought Rina saw her the same way Haruna saw Rina.

“So you want to spill the beans or should I make you?” Miyuki told her. Mami snorted again at Miyuki’s threat.

“You’ll make me? How exactly do you intend to make me?”

“I don’t know but trust me, I’ll find a way,” Miyuki said with a grin.

Mami shook her head with a smile chuckle pushing herself off of the counter. She stretched her arms above her head with a soft sigh while Miyuki looked back at her.

“Tell me what’s up, Mami. It isn’t healthy to hold things in.” Mami let out another sigh, resuming her previous position. “Come, you know you can trust me. Just let it out, it’ll make you feel a lot better.”

“You’re such a pain, Miyuki,” Mami sighed out. Miyuki laughed softly, nudging Mami in the ribs with her elbow. Mami and Miyuki hadn’t known each other for too long but the girls had become close, working at the store together bonded the two of them and helped them get to know one another a lot quicker.

“And so are you, Mami. Now spill it, what’s been bothering you? You’re so eerily quiet lately.”

“I have not been quiet,” Mami fought back.

“For a loud mouth like yourself, you have been quiet. Now stop trying to change the subject and spit it out before I make you spit it out.” Mami chuckled lowly, shaking her head and allowing her blonde locks to fall in her face. She might as well come out with it. It’s not as if she had to give Miyuki specifics, she could just be vague about it.

“Miyuki, if you found yourself falling in love with two different people… What would you do?” Mami had asked her question in such a soft voice that it startled Miyuki. Many times, it was hard to tell if Mami was being genuine or not but when she spoke that quietly, that was definitely one sure fire way to tell that she was being honest and serious.

“I guess it depends on who these people are. Do either of them like you back?” Mami cringed from her question, it was practically rubbing salt in Mami’s wounds. The blonde knew that her friend hadn’t meant to hurt her; it was Mami’s own fault for bringing this up and being so vague about it.

“I’m…not sure,” Mami answered truthfully. “I mean, they both have girlfriends so… Maybe neither do.”

“People having a partner doesn’t mean they’re incapable of having feelings for other people… Nor does it mean their relationship is honest.” Mami was curious from that last sentence; the tone Miyuki had said it in was an odd one from the previous tone she’d been using up until that point. “Will you tell me their names?”

“As if,” Mami snorted. Miyuki laughed lightly at Mami’s comeback.

“Then let me guess… Is one of them Haruna?” Mami’s head snapped up to look at Miyuki, the older girl having her head turned to the side in wonder.

“No way. Haruna isn’t my type…. It’s not her.” Miyuki nodded in understanding, piecing the pieces together one by one. Mami was underestimating her skills at observance. Miyuki knew that it had to be one of the three; there weren’t many options for it to be. Mami didn’t hang around very many other people. This meant that these two women Mami spoke of had to either be her, Tomomi, or Rina. If Haruna wasn’t her type than Miyuki knew she also definitely wasn’t Mami’s type.

Miyuki had figured this out rather quickly but she wasn’t going to let Mami know that. She didn’t want to surprise Mami too soon and risk the blonde playing dumb and denying her suggestions. She had to take it slowly with Mami and work up to that. One way to do that would be to confess her own feelings.

“So, Mami… If we’re confessing things, want me to make one as well?” Miyuki asked. Mami raised an eyebrow at Miyuki’s sudden random sentence.

“Go for it, not like anyone is coming in any time soon,” Mami said with a shrug. Miyuki exhaled slowly; Mami was going to hurt her for this.

“I know you’re going to want to punch me when I tell you this but…. What would you do if I told you Rina and I weren’t actually dating?” Mami’s eyes narrowed into a glare at Miyuki’s question.

“What are you trying to say, Miyuki?” The older woman gave a nervous laugh, pushing herself off the counter and rubbing the back of her neck. She would really rather not be too close to Mami when she said this.

“Well Rina and I aren’t, we’re only pretending. Our first date didn’t go well, Rina couldn’t stop thinking about Haruna and I knew she didn’t fall for me. I felt sorry for her. She was so distressed over Haruna; I knew I had to help her. So we came up with a plan that I would pretend to be her girlfriend in order to make Haruna jealous so she’d come back to Rina.”

As soon as Miyuki’s explanation was done, Mami let out a low growl, roughly pushing herself off the counter. She swung around, hitting Miyuki hard on the arm. The older girl recoiled backwards, her other hand coming up to grip where Mami had struck her.

“What the hell, Mami?!” Miyuki yelled at her, groaning in pain.

“You told me I could punch you,” Mami said lowly.

“I said you would want to punch me, not that you could!” Miyuki shouted back. Mami crossed her arms over her chest and Miyuki shuddered from the glare Mami was giving her. Mami was one unhappy blonde.

“I do want to punch you!” Mami yelled, her voice rising. Miyuki’s eyes widened, she didn’t think Mami would get this mad over this. She thought that Mami would certainly understand more than she appeared to be right now.

“Mami…”

“You idiot!” Mami yelled, cutting her off. “You were supposed to help Rina get over Haruna, not try to help her chase after Haruna. You’re only hurting Rina by giving her false hope!”

“What do you mean?” Miyuki asked softly. Mami groaned, turning away from Miyuki. She leaned back on the counter cradling her head in her hands.

“I don’t know what Rina told you but Haruna doesn’t like her. Haruna only sees her as a little sister, that’s all. Those two don’t have a future as a couple, that’s why I wanted her to start dating. I wanted her to move on and I thought she was. But obviously I was wrong.” Miyuki cringed from the venom on Mami’s last words. This was definitely confirming it for Miyuki that Rina was one of the women Mami had mentioned being in love with, she would never be this defensive if she wasn’t.

“I was only trying to help her…”

“Helping her chase after an unrequited love is not going to help her, it’s only going to hurt her. Someday Rina will realize that Haruna doesn’t feel any romantic love for her, I don’t want her to get too hurt when she realizes that.”

“I’m sorry, I just thought that… With the way Rina talked… It made me think that she and Haruna had a past before Tomomi came along.” Mami sighed softly. She should have seen that coming.

“Rina misled you. She was never Haruna’s girlfriend and they’ve never had a romantic past. I’m sure she didn’t mean to mislead you, she just has a habit of saying things in odd ways that can be easily misunderstood.”

This time, it was Miyuki who sighed softly. She walked back over to the counter, laying a hand on Mami’s back. Now was as good a time as any to come clean about her having figured out Mami’s secret.

“Mami, I know that one of them is Rina.”

“What?”

“One of those girls, I know she’s Rina. I confessed this to you as a test; I wanted to confirm that what I thought was true. The way you exploded in defense of her just shows me that is the truth.”

Mami groaned, letting her head drop down onto the countertop. She never should have mentioned this at all, she should have known Miyuki would be able to figure it out without her even saying any names.

“One thing I don’t get though…. If you love Rina, why did you set her up with me? Why didn’t you just try to help her move on yourself?”

“At the time, I wasn’t in love with her. At least… I don’t think I was. I don’t know. These feelings just appeared and I just… I’m confused, okay? I don’t know what I’m doing. When I hooked up Tomomi and Haruna, I thought it would be simple but it hasn’t been. I caused problems with Rina and now look where we’ve landed ourselves.”

“Ah, so their relationship is your doing, huh?” Miyuki mused aloud. Mami simply nodded, feeling completely defeated. “Go after her.”

“What?” Mami repeated, her head lifting itself to look at Miyuki.

“Mami, everything I just told you was true. I did start pretending to date Rina to help her but now things have changed. She may not love me yet but I want her to. I no longer want to help her chase after Haruna; I want her love for myself.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Mami grumbled. Miyuki smiled at the newfound sadness and grumpiness in Mami. It wasn’t something one would see in the blonde a lot.

“I’m telling you this because it looks like I’ve got new competition,” Miyuki said. Mami furrowed her eyebrows together, only making Miyuki laugh. “Mami, I want you to go after her. I will not back down though, I’ll keep pretending to be her girlfriend and I’ll keep fighting for her love. But I want you to do the same thing. If you love Rina then you shouldn’t give up on her but you’ll also have to fight me for her.”

“What makes you so sure Rina would ever fall for either one of us?”

“I’m not. I’m not sure of anything. All I know is that she and Haruna are a lost cause. You were right, romance will never happen for them. Even if Haruna does end up falling for her, a relationship between them would fail. She’s not right for Rina. In time, I know Rina will be able to let her go and fall for someone else. That someone else might be one of us. We’ll never know if you don’t try though.”

Mami turned her head away from Miyuki, letting her eyes shut lightly. What did she do? She could continue keeping herself away from love, continuing to torture herself day by day. She didn’t want that though. She did want to pursue Rina but she also didn’t want to complicate things even more. This entire mess was her fault as it was, she didn’t need to make it worse. But she didn’t want to let Rina go, she didn’t feel like she could let Rina go. She didn’t want to go through watching the woman she loved love someone else again; she didn’t want to go through all of that heartache again.

Miyuki let out a heavy sigh before stepping away from Mami. The blonde looked over to see that Miyuki was beginning to walk away from her. Just as she went to leave the counter area, she stopped and turned to look back at Mami. She gave the blonde a small smile, stuffing her hands into her jean pockets.

“Make your decision, Mami. But make sure that whatever you decide, you won’t live to regret it.”