A/N: I didn't originally plan on uploading this but after encouragement from the Yumi-mun to my Sam-mun I had no choice, because gdi where is this ship in the archive?! I mean, really guys? Nobody ever even considered this ship before us? /sobs/ Anyway, hopefully this serves as a bittersweet introduction to the world of Yumantha.
Cracks
It was three days from Christmas when the news of Yumi's death reached Sam's ears. Of course, she was in shock, but deep down she had known for a while that things would end in this way.
The two had been happy for a while. It had been hard admitting that it was what they wanted, and even harder having to explain it to Odd… but disregarding the drama thathad brought, the two had been… happy. Sure, they'd butted heads, but that was the game they liked to play: the one with the sharpest tongue would win, and the one unable to come up with a witty reply would lose. Sure, Sam often won out (because growing up with three brothers had taught her to never back down), but she knew that wasn't what this was about.
Where there was a lack of communication, there was tension, and where there was tension, failure came shortly after. Perhaps they'd always been doomed to fail, perhaps not.
After all they'd been through, the ups and the downs, the kisses and the tears - in the end, Yumi had still chosen death over Sam. And that was the most painful part to bear.
"I wasn't good enough…"
Sam stood outside Yumi's house but didn't dare enter. Snow crunched on the ground beneath her feet as the sadness welled up in her chest, filled her throat. She knew that things hadn't always gone as well as she'd tried to convince herself they had; there had been cracks in their relationship that had yet to completely heal up, regrets.
Had they done the right things by leaving their past relationships behind to build a new one up? Did they meet each other's needs?
Yumi hadn't been happy in a while. Sam knew that. She told Yumi so many times that she loved her because she thought that was what Yumi needed to hear. The older girl would smile and say it back, but that smile wouldn't reach her eyes.
"Why didn't you just break things off?" Sam muttered, eyes blurring a little as she stared at the snow on the ground. "It would've been okay, I would've, I would've…"
She'd tried so hard to make things meet, harder than she'd ever tried with Odd, because Yumi was such a delicate thing under her tough exterior, and while Odd could bounce back, Yumi was a lot more difficult to put back together again. But Sam had tried. She'd stood beside Yumi, hands firmly clasped, and vowed whatever came their way, she would fix it. Whatever the two went through they'd come out victorious because that was the way it should be.
But of course, now, these things could never be fixed.
She pressed her forehead against the door, shoulders shaking a little, and closed her eyes as images flooded her head.
Yumi laughing, and smiling, and furious, and crying. Yumi's eyes, Yumi's hair, Yumi's mouth, Yumi's cheeks. The sound of her voice, the wetness of her tears.
"How did things end in this way…?"