a/n: finally! the flashback of tom&jerry's confession chapter yall been waiting for! :D

//

"miyawaki, choi! you two are hereby suspended from soccer practice!" their burly coach's voice thunders throughout the now vacant field, with only the three of them standing in the middle of the vast artificial greens.

it's already half past six in the evening, their friendly match ended half an hour ago and they should have been at home by now wolfing down dinner. however, it's painful enough when their coach turns out to be the wolf chewing them out, chastising the infamous duo about their unsatisfactory performance in the field earlier today.

"what." sakura responds in disbelief, irritation itching at her veins. she doesn't bother to hide the way her face twists with pique upon his words, her foot tapping with discontent. 

more than the plight she has dawned upon herself (it is their fault in the first place), sakura despises the pesky individual beside her beyond explanation. 

choi yena.

the girl was currently trying to reason her way out of their predicament but to no avail, their coach was adamant and truthfully, he had every reason to be.

"coach? do you realise what you're doing?! suspending your best forwards-"

"my best forwards do not matter if they don't have the teamwork the squad needs! i have other reserve forwards that behave and work together far better than the two of you!" the two visibly flinched when their coach raised his voice, lips drawn in a thin line as they fixated their gaze on the ground with defeat.

a long sigh escapes his chapped lips, arms akimbo. looking at the two girls whom he considers as children of his own, he knows he couldn't be angry at them for long. sakura and yena both possess great skills almost unmatched, but if only they could fix their teamwork and cooperate for once... he is almost certain they would be an unbeatable duo.

"look ladies, this sport is a team effort, so until you two learn how to cooperate, you girls are banned from upcoming friendly matches. now please, go home and reflect, and maybe learn to be friends instead of plotting to kill each other." although their coach knows how much it would break the rivals if they ever get suspension from soccer, sakura and yena still have to learn. 

he walks away with a shake of his head, moving to the benches to pick up his duffle bag before leaving without sparing the two a glance. alas, only the two of them remain in the field, with the sky slowly dissolving into a pinkish red hue. an announcement regarding school closure for the day would be heard sooner or later.

and if you think sakura and yena would leave 'peacefully' just like that, you're dead wrong.

the poisonous silence that stuck between the two of them dissipates when yena speaks out her thoughts, jaw clenching as if trying to suppress her frustration.

"this is bull." she kicks at the ground with a huff, earning an eyeroll from sakura who then stares her down with piercing eyes.

"yeah, you are."

anyone could easily predict what was about to unfold. the way sakura replied rather accusingly— as if mainly placing yena at fault for getting them suspended, angered the latter. just a second ago, they were reprimanded but it seems that sakura doesn't give much of a damn because then she decides to add fuel to the fire. 

and yena already knows she's definitely not walking home unscathed.

"wanna say that louder, bobcut?" yena begins to close the distance between them by treading slowly towards the girl with a face her fist badly wants to collide with. 

with heavy steps and balled fists to her sides, yena looks on, but sakura's face only contorts with more animosity before turning her back on the other striker. yena scoffs, knowing sakura would do just that because the girl was mostly all talk and no action, while she's the opposite. 

" off," sakura growls.

but yena isn't just about to let her walk away after all that, no way in hell was she ever going to let miyawaki sakura's back face her again.

yena impulsively pulls the back of her jersey, strong enough to send sakura staggering back a few steps, almost tripping. she kept her grip, boring her eyes in sakura's flaming ones. 

"real talk, why do you look at me dirty?" yena asked— demanded, because she is all but blind to the different looks sakura occasionally gives her. they're rivals, it's probably expected to give each other dirty looks, but yena's honestly had enough. 

"i said off!" sakura hissed, anger boiling after yena's rough pull. she doesn't even give yena a chance, proceeds to shove her using the entirety of her body. and even when yena crashed violently to the ground, elbows cut and bruised, sakura merely casts her an indignant look, swamped with fury. 

they already lost the friendly match today and being someone so competitive, sakura's mind was clouded from the start, and whatever her and yena is having right now is only adding salt to the wound. she tells herself to just walk away- walk away and ignore the flitting pain that she saw in choi yena's eyes before guilt could swallow her whole. she tells herself that she feels nothing, like a mantra.

but yena's unyielding, especially with her. 

sakura speedily walks away, not sparing yena another glance despite hearing her slowly getting up on her feet, before her footsteps turn into a full on sprint.

"and i asked politely-" it happened in a split second that sakura barely had time to comprehend the abrupt force ramming her back, propelling herself and her assailant forward, sending them rolling across the ground like tumbleweeds.

yena ends up having the upper hand and traps sakura underneath, gripping a fistful of her shirt,"-why do you look at me dirty?!" 

if a teacher catches them right then and there, they would definitely get more than a just club suspension. 

"shut up, you do the same!" sakura isn't lying, yena often looks at her as if she's committed a dire crime, and for so long it's been annoying her to no end. 

"maybe it's because i don't like how much of an arrogant you become every time i'm around!" yena spits out, her strength keeping sakura underneath. 

"arrogant?! you try to sabotage me in every game during gym class! you're just jealous!" sakura retaliates.

yena swiftly dodges the hand reaching for her face. they're both covered in cuts and bruises now, carelessly finding excuses to land a smack on the other and for what? was there a point that each of them wanted to make towards the other? if they didn't know any better, they might have just killed each other right and there.

"yeah, i'm jealous! so what?! i don't like how you're better than me in terms of academics!" yena doesn't even bother to hide anymore because if they're going to spill everything they hate about each other and somehow end their toxic rivalry after all this, then so be it. 

"well i don't like how you're better than me in this stupid sport!"

"someone must've shoved a stick up your for you to be this bitter! what else don't you like huh?!"

"look who's running their petty mouth! and i don't like you!"

it had been a heated moment up until sakura says just that, then silence befalls upon them again and sakura notices the way yena freezes on top of her. sakura doesn't like her, sakura doesn't appreciate a mere atom of her being anywhere near her- sakura doesn't like her. of course yena ing knows this, but why does hearing it out loud from the person herself feel like a hundred stabs in the chest?

christ, she knows exactly why.

yena grits her teeth and prays that she doesn't end up with angry tears streaming down her face after the bull she's about to blabber out. no, she's not about to make her first highschool crying incident about being stupidly lovelorn.

"funny! because my happens to like how your pretty coffee-coloured doe eyes shines, and how your stupid bobcut bounces cutely every time you walk, and how you stupidly blink a lot as a habit, and how you manage to sleep like a ing goddess even though you drool like an idiot in class and... and how your lame but adorable can't even wink to save your life! and that's not even goddamn the end!" yena wheezes, chest heaving from her very own spontaneous rap, breathless— kind of like what sakura actually does to her when she does the smallest things. 

, i'm never ever auditioning to be an actress.

yena shuts her eyes and takes a deep, well-deserved breath, finally reaching a conclusion so that sakura could easily process her bull. 

"i like your sorry , does your stupid brain not understand that?!" and she yells just to make sure she's heard loud and clear, honest and no more dumb lies (no more lying to herself).

yena's starting to despise the silence that loves to linger around them. meanwhile, sakura doesn't even utter out a single word, completely motionless underneath her. her doe eyes look up at her with pure disbelief and yena doesn't blame her.

imagine hating someone for a long while then suddenly getting tackled like a bull seeing red and then getting confessed to. who wouldn't get robbed off their speech? 

unable to bear the embarrassment manifesting from within and the killer silence engulfing them, yena instantly got off of the japanese and reached for the random water bottle beside them. there would always be a few bottles lying around after practice, and that would be due to some idiots either having a short term memory or intentionally leaving them to rot in the field.

and the first thing yena did with it after uncapping it was splashing the water on sakura in an attempt to break her out of her trance. 

it's safe to say that it worked because the next thing yena knows, sakura is up on her feet with her own bottle clutched in her hand, spraying at her relentlessly.

.

"you should know that i hate liars."

sakura vocalises firmly, eyeing yena with a dubious look. yena's confession— or so yena had claimed, still has her on edge, up until now she finds herself refusing to believe a single word. for all sakura knows, yena has only ever looked at her with nothing but contempt.

"what a pity, you hate yourself?" 

and when yena counters, a lump builds up in , and sakura doesn't breathe for a second or two after apprehending yena's words. 

half-drenched, sakura's grip on the empty bottle tightens unconsciously. 

"what did you say?" sakura prompts.

noticing sakura's faltering voice, yena merely sighs, running a hand through her damp raven locks. she could clearly see through sakura despite her act, knowing how the girl was being in denial. sakura is smart, but she isn't as perceptive as yena.

she's being stubborn.

"after what i blurted out with my whole chest, are you seriously still doubting me?" sakura's eyes are uncertain, lips glued together in a thin line. yena couldn't help but release a dry chuckle,"unbelievable."

sakura keeps mum, doesn't exactly know how to react or respond. her mind is a hurricane and her heart is practically screaming at her to do something— tell the ing truth maybe.

she's seen the times when yena would joke around, today isn't one of those times.

"i may not have your brain miyawaki, but i have the eyes. i've seen the way you look at me."

"what bull are you spouting now?"

why are you denying it? the question echoes and echoes in sakura's mind.

"you like me, but you act like you don't because of our infamous rivalry." yena asserts.

sakura's astonishment wasn't due to the fact that she was found out, rather it was the fact that she could see how yena's gaze held pain.

"no... you're wrong." sakura blurts out without thinking, and she knows that fear had prompted her to do so.

even when she truthfully meant the opposite.

yena bores her eyes into hers a while longer without words, and through her holding gaze, sakura feels the ache. then yena shifts her eyes to the ground, because staring any longer would just trigger her tear glands. she inhales deeply, it's ridiculous how she abruptly wants to cry out in frustration. 

she wipes her cheek, droplets of water still trickle from the tips of her bangs. she shakes her head from disappointment because of sakura but mostly because of herself. 

she starts to think that maybe she's wrong after all.

with all her will, yena casts sakura one last lingering glance.

"fine. be that way then, it was stupid of me to confess to a stubborn mule anyway." yena begins walking away towards the benches to pack up her bags, a frown etched on her face.

meanwhile, still overwhelmed with hesitation, sakura only watches yena's retreating back with tremulous lips, heels digging into the ground. she realises how much of a coward she is— from the first time she discovered she was (is) feeling for yena and then proceeded to bury it deep within as if taboo, to pretending to despise yena in an attempt to get rid of her feelings. (because she thought yena hated her with passion with the way she treated her.)

but then yena happens to feel the same way, and now she feels so damn stupid for doubting the girl when she had looked at her the same way she herself would when she stole glances. 

"stupid miyawaki, stupid feelings, stupid stupid stupid! why do i even like that arrogant ?" yena grumbles to herself, aggressively shoving her towel in her bag as she tries to hold herself back from screaming and crying in anger.

she figures she only had herself to blame.

and just as she was about to zip her bag, her shirt gets yanked back, forcing her to suddenly turn around. and once again she meets the eyes of sakura's, though it seemed different now but she's honestly too tired to give anymore s. 

yena educes another tired sigh just as sakura grips the collar of her jersey with both hands. she was already rejected, what more could sakura want? a fistfight? 

yena remains limp in sakura's tight grasp, eyebrows creasing.

"what now? you gonna spit on my face? hate me more?" she urges.

and sakura really said to her to 'shut the hell up', but she does it by ramming her lips into yena's instead. not a single warning beforehand at all.

the sudden contact completely caught her off guard, never in a million years did yena ever thought she would have a taste of miyawaki sakura's lips. the thought seemed too farfetched considering their status quo, but here she is within sakura's hold with her lips pressed so firmly against hers as if proving a point.

it left yena bewildered even after sakura withdraws and shoves her away ever so slightly in a demure manner, a side of sakura which yena is seeing for the time.

yena is dazed from the kiss but she spots sakura's reddening ears and her shaky hands. sakura could barely meet her eyes.

"i... ugh this- i'm a bad liar." was the first thing sakura admitted, and yena just wants to kiss her trembling lips right then and there.

yena touches her lips, the other hand clutching her head. this isn't a dream, she tells herself.

"that was..." yena pretends to be shaking out of her dazed state before her lips stretched into a teasing smile,"a weak kiss." 

yena's teasing earned her a smack on the shoulder and she's smiling so broadly now as if their fight earlier didn't happen at all, she's just drowning in bliss after realising what all this would mean afterwards.

"so you do like me back."

"shut up, i didn't think you were serious." sakura grips her pants, obviously nervous and embarrassed over what she had just done. 

yena laughs softly, slowly getting embarrassed, rubbing her nape.

"let's just both agree that we're ty at expressing our feelings and 'hated' each other to get attention." 

sakura nods in agreement because it's foolishly the truth, they were both hopeless dimwits when it comes to feelings. 

an announcement interrupts them right after, saving them from yet another awkward silence. yena looks around the field before letting her eyes rest on sakura.

"so... what now?" she asks, unsure if this is where she should ask the japanese to be hers or not.

but then sakura panics, still ashamed of her own audacity and speed walks to her things. "...i-i'm going home." 

sakura's stuttering only makes yena's heart pound, this timid side of sakura has her slowly but surely falling deeper.

before sakura could grab a hold of her bag however, yena dashes past her and takes it into her own hands, holding it high up albeit they're technically the same height.

"choi, what the hell?! give it back!"

"not until you agree to be mine!"

if sakura had known yena would be this cocky after accepting her, then she probably shouldn't have kissed her and instead leave her to rot in despair. (is she joking? no one can tell.)

yena starts running towards the direction of the school gate with her precious bag while cackling, leaving sakura running after her tail.

"you stupid duck, i'm going to roast you!"

.

extra: patching each other up right after.

"stop flinching loser."

it's awkward feeling the cashier's eyes on them, they're sitting on a bench just outside of a pharmacy close by their school. yena's being a whiny idiot, and sakura's cheeks are flaring every time she notices the cashier giggling from the corner of her eyes. the sight of the two of them bickering must have really amused the female cashier because when they first entered the pharmacy, the lady looked like she was dying to go home (excluding her worried expression seeing the both of them covered in minor injuries).

"it stings!" yena cries out when the ointment grazes her jaw, kicking her legs feeling the sharp sting. 

annoyed by yena's constant wailing, sakura deliberately presses the cotton against the scrape on her jaw for a split second. yena instantly retracts her head back, scowling at sakura.

"hello? i'm hurting too!" sakura exclaims, pointing to her elbows and knees which were covered with bandaids.

truth to be told, she wasn't satisfied with the way they were messily plastered on her skin, especially the bandaid on her collarbone (courtesy of yena). the duck had reasoned terribly that her injuries were stinging too much that her hands trembled in the process of patching her up. sakura merely grunted at her excuse, didn't mention the way yena looked somewhat nervous when sakura shifted her collar, exposing the bruise that had blemished her skin to let yena tend to it.

this duck is a ert. sakura concluded then.

"this is the worst first date." yena purses her lips, face falling in disappointment. 

"no one said this was a date." sakura deadpans, finally plastering the bandaid on yena's jaw.

"...do you want it to be?" yena wriggles her brows, mischief written all over her face. 

her slick tone and pure confidence (shamelessness) has sakura internally malfunctioning. she became too embarrassed— obviously not used to this, that kept opening and closing and her whole being turned rigid like a broken sim.

and because sakura ultimately didn't know how to respond to something shameful yet heart fluttering, she ends up heading yena right on the forehead accidentally without thinking. you couldn't imagine how the cashier reacted seeing their foreheads suddenly colliding.

"d-don't stare at me like that!" sakura yells beforehand.

yena's shrilling yelp comes after, shocking some of the passerbys who gave them weird, disapproving looks. however, yena was too busy suffering from dizziness and throbbing pain to give a damn. she smacks her palm against her now scarlet forehead, kicking the air once again. sakura isn't known for being a good header for nothing.

"MIYAWAKI! my head is not a soccer ball!"

the both of them became dizzy afterwards, yena even had tears pricking at her eyes due to the intense pain. then you have sakura who's still more bothered by yena's greasiness than the stinging pain on her own forehead.

that's another bruise added to their collection of unnecessary, avoidable injuries.

it was unfortunate for the two of them, since they have to attend school the very next day aching from head to toe. 

rather than their usual race to class in the morning, sakura and yena appeared trudging their way to class instead, looking like zombies. 

"you look stupid today." 

"thanks, you too."

that was their first greeting to each other as they entered their classroom. they ignored the many pairs of eyes looking at them with silent questions, wondering what the hell happened to the energetic, competitive duo today in particular. 

sakura and yena lazily makes their way to their seats, immediately melting on their respective tables as they sat. 

"i am utterly concerned with the amount of bandaids my eyes are looking at right now." chaeyeon appears next to yena's table, grimacing as she analyses her two (barely alive) friends.

"i have one on my , count that too."

chaeyeon struggles to decipher if yena was joking or not.

chaewon frowns at the sight, shaking her head with a short sigh. she knows that yena and sakura are rivals, she wonders why she's even surprised.

"how the hell- forget it. i'm not even gonna bother questioning."

chaeyeon bends down to tap yena's cheek, then proceeds to tap the plastered spot on her jaw with curiosity. yena squeaks and slaps her hand.

"did you two have a sudden deathmatch or...?"

"they got suspended from soccer and fought each other yesterday." hyewon sounds out from behind them, and it's not surprising that she's casually munching on a bread in her seat next to the window. 

hearing hyewon speaking out the painful facts, sakura and yena mirthlessly let out airy chuckles at the thought of being temporary banned from their second favourite happiness (because let's face it, they're each other's first).

"oh god, they're laughing. they've gone insane."

~