Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ The Other Side Of The Picture ❯ Cruel and Unusual Punishment for the Soul ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: This is a fanfic chapter for those JuriXShiori fans!

WARNING: SHOUJO-AI! If you don’t like it, LEAVE! If you are close-minded, LEAVE. If you don’t like het. Pairings or alt. het. Pairings, LEAVE! DO NOT flame me! If you think JuriXShiori should be the main couple here, LEAVE! As I have said before, the main pairing is the one that Oneesan no Miroku Houshi’s fanfics, so yes, JuriXShiori is a SECONDARY couple, not the main one. Later, I may write a JuriXShiori fanfic if you ask nicely and not flame me. Here is chapter 2, Enjoy, read, and review!

The Other Side of the Picture

Chapter 2: Cruel and Unusual Punishment for the Soul

Loving someone brings pain

Burning, and getting burned

Painful jealousy

Enigmatic energy

Sin surrounds me

Awaki Hikari ni- From Record of Lodoss War – preformed by Kusao Takeshi

The girl sat there, alone; feeling the only companionship she had: the solitary wind, tousle through her being. Though Ohtori was full of students, engaged in their normal activities, she felt as if it was desolate and she was the only occupant.

Among the students who were nearby, was an assemblage of adolescent men, about four of them, all with short, dim tinted hair and right in the center of them, was a young-looking girl with short, mauve hair and vivid blue eyes. She wore the typical Ohtori uniform and pink lipstick.

One of the guys put a hand on her shoulder and smiled genially at her. She held a hand up to her pink lips and giggled a naive giggle.

They seemed engaged in a conversation about nothing in particular, just small talk. The group laughed again, and one laugh in particular caught Juri’s ears: the flirtatious, innocent, feminine giggle of her childhood friend, Takatsuki Shiori.

Her azure eyes widened a bit and she snapped her head up, finally noticing that she wasn’t unaccompanied. The orange-haired girl quickly hid the locket in her pants’ pocket, making sure the chain was veiled as well. She placed her hands back in her lap. The leopard couldn’t let her associate see the thing she held closest to her heart.

In the kendo hall, Saionji wiped the sweat from his forehead, looking out before him; he saw the washed wood of the Kendo Hall’s floor. It had taken him long enough, but he finally managed to finish the task at hand.

The emerald haired man sat on his knees in the middle of the kendo room. He wore a look of profound contemplation.

‘The one in Juri’s locket . . . It’s not Shiori . . . I have indeed miscalculated myself…The only question is . . . Who is it? I’ve thought through this situation thousands of times and Shiori was the only answer I could come up with. This time, it seems I have been ruled out yet again, strange…I’m usually one to figure out these things.’ The kendoist sighed in dissatisfaction.

“Why the hell am I thinking about this anyway? It’s none of my concern.”

His thoughts seemed to offset his statement.

‘If it’s not, then why am I so concerned?’

He narrowed his eyes.

“How irritating all of this is.”

Back outside of Ohtori, as Shiori was engaged in conversation, one of the students she was conversing with shifted his weight to the other leg, revealing a lone girl sitting on a bench. The purple haired girl’s eyes widened at who it was, and then a coy, seductive smile crossed her face.

“Excuse me for a moment.” She nonchalantly placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder to excuse herself.

“Of course.” The boy moved to the side. Shiori walked past leisurely and casually to her childhood friend.

The orange haired girl looked ahead; out of the blue her view was covered with supple hands. Juri made a slight intake of breath at who it was. She knew it was Shiori.

“Hello, Juri-san.” The voice of Shiori purred in her ear.

The orange-haired girl said zilch in return.

The lavender haired girl slowly ran her hands down either side of Juri’s face. The leopard closed her eyes as she could feel the small, tepid hands run down her face, the slowly down her neck.

‘She’s teasing me.’ The leopard notioned to herself.

The smaller girl ran her hands a bit further down her décolletage and onto her collar bone and further on to her sternum. After she stopped her hands, the younger girl clasped her hands together at Juri’s breast and gently laid her chin on her shoulder. The orange haired duelist could feel the purple, silken strands on her cheek. She remained still and her eyes remained closed.

When they were closed, the only mental image Juri had was of the one whose portrait was in her locket. She could feel Shiori’s contact, and the one she held close to her heart. The warm embrace of deception and the warm embrace of her betrothed.

She could feel a warm face nuzzle against her check.

“Just like old times, huh?” Her sweet voice whispered in her ear.

For this moment, the orange rose was in a delusional bliss, believing that for this moment, they were together. For this moment, she could live in her own delusions of being with Shiori. She could live her childhood dreams.

…Then, why did she feel so anxious?

Is it because she was going to be hurt again?

Is it because of the duplicity she was so willingly facing?

Is this just one of those cruel and usual punishments of the heart?

From deep within, she could feel a smoldering of the heart…perhaps from Shiori…or someone else?

What had gotten into her as of lately? She had really been unusual…Not herself. Was this something that resulted from her feelings toward someone other then Shiori? Was this because of her feelings for the one in the locket?

She was beginning to feel less and less of Shiori’s touch, yet Shiori hadn’t left. They were still in the same position as before, her head on Juri’s shoulder, and her arms wrapped around her breast, still bent over the back of the bench, close to her childhood object of her jealousy.

Have her feelings for Shiori died down?

Surely not.

If not, then what else was on her mind?

It had to be the person that resided in her locket!

The one she despised…yet…loved…Or was it the one she despised to love?

On a non-descript wall of Ohtori Academy, the shadow playgirls A-ko and B-ko were present.

B-ko was still standing, while A-ko was looking at one of the dresses she held.

“Have you made your decision?” B-ko asked.

“I dunnoooo…” A-ko replied aimlessly. “I’m leaning towards this new dress. The old one is losing its touch, and there are some rips and stains.”

B-ko replied. “You could just get it over with and wear the new one.”

“But this one is full of memories!” A-ko then sighed. “I don’t know which to choose...This may take a while. Being stuck with old memories is so hard, you know?”

B-ko put a hand up to her mouth. “Not really, I’d just pick the new one.”

“B-ko!”

Shiori purred softly in the leopard’s ear and nuzzled her once more before she heard her name being called.

The girl turned around and smiled amiably before leaving, running her hands back up Juri’s sternum, to her neck and face, finally running her hands through the orange ringlets of hair.

After that, Shiori skipped blissfully to the crowd of followers with a sly smirk on her face, knowing that once again she had gotten the better of the orange rose duelist.

Azure eyes looked downward again as she pulled out the locket and held it in her hand.

She let out a sigh.

‘This is all too confusing…Do I let go of the past? Or do I keep holding on?’

She opened it to reveal the one she held close to her heart. The orange haired girl looked at the picture with confusion.

‘Why do you haunt me so?’ She thought as she narrowed her eyes at the jovial face which it held within. ‘Why must I have feelings for you? I hate you…and yet…I can’t resist you all the same. Why do I feel like this? I mean, I’ve never felt this way for anyone like you…or even of your persuasion.’

Juri glanced back over to the giggling Shiori, wishing that, for just one moment more, they would have remained that way, and still feeling bothered, that, for once, they had.

Was the person in the adornment causing her to become delusional in them, or in the fact that there really was no such thing as a miracle?

TBC

Preview for chapter 3:

Memories are painful, but sometimes they help you see the light. With undying love, you can overcome the greatest battle against your heart.

A/N: There you go, a little piece of heaven for you JXSH fans. I also did another dress bit with the shadow playgirls and we still have to find out who’s in the locket…Unless you’ve read ‘Who’s in the Locket?’

By the way, I recommend those stories and the author- she gave us all of the ideas and I’ve never read better fanfiction in Utena in all of my life then her wonderful writings! She’s also my beta reader!

Oneesan no Miroku Houshi- user id- 315093

Who’s in the Locket? - Story id- 2100806

The Unspoken Heart- story id- 2094004

Now, please R&R and tell me what you think!