A/N: I know this isn't really original, but I still want to write it. And since this is an excapade, you have to expect that something like what happened in Excapade 1 will happen here, in different circumstances. Also, as I've said before, Excapade 2 isn't a continuation of Excapade 1.

Don't own MSGM characters, that's for sure.

And, read my 13th fic at your own risk!

"Excapade (A) 02: My Love, My Heroine"

---Arvendell---

Chapter 1

Ogasawara Sachiko stared at Fukuzawa Yumi's sleeping form in a mixture of love, protectiveness, and smoldering anger. Love and protectiveness because she truly cared for her, she was important to her, the most important person in the whole world. And she felt anger because of what happened earlier. If she didn't arrive on time, Yumi would have been…

She shivered as she shook her head to make those unpleasant thoughts away. However, no matter how much she tried to shake the thoughts and the feelings of dread and anger, they just wouldn't go away. Not when she could see the reminder in Yumi's face. Yumi's left cheek was beginning to turn blue with a bruise, and her hands had marks on them, too.

Sachiko clenched her teeth in cold fury. Those people would surely regret, if not regretting it now. If their friends, Hasekura Rei and Shimazu Yoshino hadn't stopped her, she would have hit those people with bare hands. She had never been angrier in her life than she had been earlier. And she had never felt scared in her life before like she did earlier.

Why?

Because earlier, something terrible almost happened to Yumi. More terrible than her current state with some parts of her body bruised and a few had turned black and blue.

Earlier that day…

Yumi was making her way towards the school gate slowly, quietly, and a little bit lonely. Sachiko had to leave early to attend some family business affair and thus, leaving her alone in her walked towards her home.

She was deep in thoughts when four other students came to her and greeted her. She greeted them back in surprise, which made the girls giggle. She smiled faintly, trying to hide her embarrassment. Her Onee-sama wouldn't like to see her acting silly if she was here. The thought of Sachiko made her straighten her back and chat with the girls in relaxed manner. Sachiko wouldn't like her looking not presentable.

The girls seemed to be nice, and soon, Yumi found herself giggling at their funny attitudes.

When they reached the gate, she started to say her goodbyes but one of the girls beat her and said, rather nervously yet she managed not to stutter, "Please, Rosa Chinensis en bouton, would you come with us even for a moment? It's my birthday today and I would be honored if you'd come with us and have something to eat."

Yumi was quiet for a moment, thinking. However, seeing the pleading look on the other girls' faces, she conceded.

"Alright. But only for a short time. I need to be home early today. And please call me by my name," she said, though in truth, she didn't need to be home early. She just wanted to, because if she would get lucky, Sachiko might call her later if her affairs were done early. However, seeing the pleasant surprise and the squeal of delight from the other girls, she thought that it wouldn't be so bad if she would join them for some time.

But Yumi's thoughts were wrong. For in her innocence and too nice attitude, she missed to notice the triumphant gleam in the four girls' eyes. They had planned this, planned it for quite some time now, and it was going perfectly well in their plan.

Later on, Yumi found herself in a two-storey house of the birthday girl. She wondered why the house was empty except for them.

"My parents aren't home yet. They will be back late," explained by the birthday girl at Yumi's unspoken question. "Please make yourself comfortable here, Rosa…I mean, Yumi-sama," she added sheepishly, a little twitchy.

Yumi looked around at the simple yet beautiful house. She frowned when she saw three of the girls whispering to each other while the birthday girl went, to what she assumed, as the kitchen. Come to think of it. She didn't even know their names. She flushed a little with embarrassment. It was really stupid of her to not know their names and yet here she was, sitting in a stranger's house. Maybe she would ask them once the birthday girl was back.

She glanced again at the three girls with her but when they noticed her looking at them, they smiled rather guiltily that made her frown again. Maybe they were guilty because they weren't including me in their conversation, she thought.

One of the three girls stood and said she would help the birthday girl so the other two were left and she chatted with them, trying to put them at ease at seeing their discomfort, which was really odd. They were the birthday girl's friends so why were they acting like that? Shouldn't she be the one who was supposed to be in discomfort and they were the ones that should be trying to put her at ease?

When the birthday girl and the other one came back carrying tea, cakes and cookies, the discomfort of the other two with her seemed to increase. She wanted to ask them why, but she worried that that they might get embarrassed, so instead, she said, "Wow, that looks so delicious."

The birthday girl beamed as she gave Yumi's part first. Once everyone had their shares, they just sat there, the four girls eyeing Yumi, making her uneasy.

"Um, shouldn't we sing a happy birthday first?" Yumi asked, trying to relax.

After the birthday song, Yumi felt a bit relaxed, but then everyone went quiet again. The atmosphere was slowly making Yumi back to feeling uncomfortable. Not knowing what to do, she picked her cup of tea and drank under the expectant eyes of the girls around her.

"It's delicious. Why don't you try it, too?" Yumi suggested. She wanted this to be done and go home. Never mind asking for names. She didn't like the feeling anymore, as if something unpleasant was going to happen, but it would be rude to just leave right away.

When the girls started to drink their tea and eat cake and cookies, Yumi felt a bit relieved, though at the back of her mind, there was a nagging feeling that wouldn't just go away. However, before she could think some more, she felt a little dizzy, and her hand felt weak, not to mention that they were trembling. She placed her cup of tea back on the table. The girls, who were watching her all the time, went to her side.

"Are you alright, Yumi-sama?"

"I'm sorry. I'm feeling a little dizzy and…"

"Maybe you should get some rest, Yumi-sama. Come, we'll take you to my room," the birthday girl said.

"No, I'm…" Yumi's protests died in her throat as she felt the girls held her shoulders and guided her upstairs.

A/N: I don't want to give names to the others, okay? And please don't get mad at me for what I'm doing/going to do with Yumi. I promise nothing worse would happen. I can't bear it, too.

07 May 2008