I miss my favorite pairings, so I've decided to try and start another story…this is xXLiStLesSXx, by the way, I got tired of the name…although I get the feeling changing my name has taken away whatever reputation I had as well :/

Summary: Graduation is fast-approaching for Sachiko and Rei, while the younger Roses have battles of their own to fight- Yumi is prematurely mourning the loss of Sachiko from her life due to her impending marriage to Suguru, while Shimako is tormented by growing feelings for her seemingly-oblivious petite soeur. However, on the other end of the spectrum, Touko suffers from unrequited feelings towards her onee-sama, while Noriko harbors a hidden love for Shimako, one that she hides by distancing herself from her onee-sama more and more. In the midst of so much turmoil, both inside and outside of their young hearts, is it even possible for anyone to end up happy?

Please review!

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Promise Me Forever

Prologue: Through the Lens of a Camera

iAtethePoisonedApple

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It was a normal day in the Rose Mansion- at least, any oblivious onlooker might come to that conclusion.

Takeshima Tsutako, however, was far from oblivious.

She had watched these girls grow, watched them mature as they battled their way through high school with the immense burden of the Yamayurikai duties weighing them down; watched them transition from carefree schoolgirls to the pseudo-royalty that ruled Lillian Jogakuen.

And, perhaps most importantly of all, she had watched as they all slowly (but surely) fell to absolute pieces for each other.

(She could, of course, say that they had merely fallen in love with each other, all of them, but the words could hardly address the severity and complexity of the situation.)

Even now, standing in the corner of the council room, going practically unnoticed by every eye the silent room around her, despite having made an appointment, Tsutako was hardly upset by the slight. Because if there was one thing that she loved, it was people-watching, and the silence of the Yamayurikai spoke more about the girls than anything they could manage to put into words ever could have.

Because even now, even in this brief moment of absolutely nothing, Tsutako could look around the room and observe this extremely complex love web, and she knew she could never, ever call what was happening merely 'falling in love'.

First (always first), Tsutako's eyes snapped to Yumi, as if taking a mental picture of the girl. A year ago, she wouldn't have been able to catch the plucky brunette being silent for more than a few seconds, be it out of spoken words or clumsiness. But now (now) Yumi was merely staring at the small stack of papers that she was supposed to be signing, her writing hand still. Her face was relatively expressive at the moment, changing every few seconds from what Tsutako assumed to be a daydream- at least it was until she glanced up at Sachiko, and it was as if she'd forgotten everything around her. Her lips formed a lovesick smile and her eyes shone once again, something that was becoming rarer and rarer as the upcoming events wore on her.

Tsutako smiled slightly, unable to help herself- at least Yumi would always be the same, at least a little bit.

Her gaze moved to Sachiko next- she could hardly help but to follow Yumi's absolutely enthralled gaze. The raven-haired heiress was more difficult to read than Yumi- it was the fact that she wasn't really that much more discreet than Yumi that caused the photographer to raise an eyebrow. There was nothing, no change visible to the untrained eye, but Tsutako hardly stopped there. Upon closer inspection, the photographer noted that, when Sachiko's gaze met Yumi's, it was almost as if an electrical current had shot between them, and Sachiko's pupils positively blew as she held the gaze of her blushing petite soeur. Besides her eyes, her expression was positively blank, devoid of all thoughts or emotion.

Of all the Roses, Tsutako honestly believed that Sachiko may have fallen the hardest.

And then there was one last Chinesis- one who wasn't even pretending to work as she scowled darkly at the not-so-subtle scene unfolding before her. This one- Touko- had been a particular pleasure to watch. An unconventional cliché, really, a rare treat. She'd started out as a bratty girl who wanted nothing more than to claim Sachiko for herself, and now the tables had turned on her entirely. Touko had gone from a real hatred of Yumi to falling head over heels for the future Rosa Chinesis (but hadn't they all?), and Tsutako merely had to look into the girl's eyes to see how much this was all confusing her. It really was painfully obvious- she was supposed to hate Yumi, so why had she accepted the rosary? And why did she find herself glaring at her beloved cousin for reasons she couldn't quite understand?

As if on cue, Touko blinked out of her scowl and frowned, her eyes riddled with an almost palpable confusion, and Tsutako felt her heart go out to the girl. It really was the worst feeling in the world, wanting something but having no idea why you want it or why it hurts when someone might be taking it away.

And Sachiko would take Yumi away, Tsutako was positive of this- even if she never disobeyed her family, even if she went on to marry and have children with Kashiwagi Suguru, Yumi would love her unconditionally and forever.

Speaking of unconditional love…

Rei and Yoshino.

Tsutako smiled in amusement at the very thought. She was fairly sure the entire school knew of Yoshino's feelings for Rei- even though she didn't wear her emotions painted across her face like Yumi did, it would hardly change things if she did. Yoshino voluntarily made her feelings clear, especially when it came to her (irrational?) fear of anyone stealing her onee-sama and cousin away.

Glancing away from the two cousins, who were currently arguing about nothing in particular, Tsutako's gaze landed on the last pair of soeurs, who were somehow closer than their chairs allowed.

Shimako, Tsutako thought, was probably the most difficult to read of all the girls. She was perhaps the most beautiful girl the photographer had ever seen- long, chestnut-brown hair and large gray eyes and a petite figure. But as with Sachiko, the giveaway was in the eyes- those gray eyes that always seemed so far away became focused around her petite soeur, and, at the moment, were tracing Noriko's every move when she was so sure nobody was looking.

And it seemed that quiet, independent Shimako lost the ability to keep her hands to herself around Noriko as well; at times, Tsutako swore Shimako was channeling Sachiko as she continually found the silliest of excuses to touch Noriko, even a little bit. And Tsutako could count on one hand the number of times she had seen one person be so impacted by another- around Noriko, shy, mild-mannered Shimako could easily shift into the role of an over-protective onee-sama, keeping her petite soeur close to her with a (sometimes) figurative arm around her lower back, as if she were afraid Noriko would slip through her fingers otherwise.

And Noriko.

The rambunctious girl in question glanced up from signing papers, staring and staring at Shimako until the brunette met her gaze, and then flashed her a brilliant, cheesy grin. When Shimako blushed and returned the gesture with a small, sweet smile of her own, Noriko's eyes lit up, her features melting into true content at her accomplishment.

Fierce, loyal, free-spirited Noriko was completely and absolutely devoted to her soft-spoken onee-sama. If Shimako was in a room when Noriko arrived, the younger girl would immediately gravitate to her side. If Shimako appeared to be upset about anything at all, Noriko was there, acting as the shoulder for Shimako to rest her head on. But for all the attention she paid Shimako, Tsutako would bet her camera that Noriko was the most oblivious of all of the girls when it came to her onee-sama's feelings for her, even more so than the ever-fretting Yumi.

Tsutako's gaze returned to the room at large, and she realized that her presence had yet to be acknowledged. She could hardly find it in herself to blame them, though- for as outwardly quiet as they were, they were all still teenage girls, teenage girls with fragile hearts and confused minds, minds that were constantly screaming for them to do one thing, while their hearts demanded they do another. And that alone, Tsutako thought, was probably loud enough to drown out a single person's presence in a silent room.

And they were all falling.

Falling faster towards the end of these charmed school days, falling faster in love with each other, and Tsutako left the room quietly, vowing to return another day, and hoped that they would be able to see what was so obvious to her before somebody got hurt.

Please review if you want this continued~ way I see it, there's no point in posting if I can't tell if people are enjoying it, right?