Disclaimer: I do not own MSGM or the characters. All such honors belong to Oyuki Konno.
The very first time she had spoken to Sachiko Ogasawara it had been in front of the statue of Maria-sama. Sachiko-sama had stopped her that warm morning in early fall to adjust the collar and scarf of her uniform. Since that morning, and for the past ten months, she had pretty much lived and breathed "Sachiko". Over that period there had been any number of times she had believed that she was so far beneath her onee-sama, or that her onee-sama wanted nothing to do with her, that it would have been better if she had never been stopped that morning.
Now, after everything that they had been through together, after Sachiko had finally told her that she loved her, after Yumi had finally told her onee-sama how much she loved her in return, Yumi had had the temerity to believe that there might have been some kind of future for the two.
Those hopes had been thoroughly destroyed the previous evening when Sachiko had informed her that she had every intention of going through with the sham of a marriage to Suguru Kashiwagi, all for the sake of her family. She believed that the debt that she owed to her family was so much more than she could ever repay that it was only logical and right that she do as they bid her and marry a man that she not only does not love, but who is incapable of loving her in return as a husband should.
It did not matter that Suguru was gay. It did not matter that Sachiko did not love him nor did he love her. It did not matter that it was Yumi that Sachiko loved and that Yumi loved her in return. None of it mattered when balanced on the scales of her duty to her family. No matter how much Yumi argued with her, her position was firm and she would not be swayed. Even with tears in her eyes, Sachiko would not turn her back on what she believed to be her "solemn duty".
Sachiko had left her last night and made her own way home, leaving Yumi crumpled at the feet of Maria-sama, tears in her eyes and her heart breaking. It had been almost an hour before she had finally made her way to the bus stop and to her home. She had gone straight to her room and flopped on her bed and cried herself to sleep without even changing her clothes.
When she awoke the next morning, it was with a firm determination to have it out with her onee-sama one last time, and she had called Sachiko early and requested that she meet her at the statue of Maria-sama.
As Yumi walked down the cobbled path towards where she could see her onee-sama waiting for her she almost lost her nerve, but one look at the soft and loving eyes of her grande soeur was enough to strengthen her resolve for one last attempt.
"Good day Yumi," Sachiko called gently to her as she approached.
"Good day onee-sama, I hope the morning finds you well," Yumi replied.
"Of course, it is such a wonderful day," Sachiko replied as a proper lady should. It was exactly what Yumi expected from her onee-sama – and it was the final nail in the coffin.
"Onee-sama, I would like to ask you one last time: Will you consider dissolving your engagement and eventual marriage to Suguru Kashiwagi-san and be with me instead?"
"Yumi, I thought we had finished this discussion last night," Sachiko replied with a sigh of exasperation, "of course I could never consider such a course of action. As much as I would wish otherwise, it is simply not possible for me to go against the wishes and desires of my family."
Yumi nodded her understanding. "I had to give you one last chance onee-sama," she said, "it was the only right and proper thing to do."
It had been in front of the statue of Maria-sama that Sachiko had first spoken to Yumi. It was, therefore, the only place where she could do this. Yumi placed her book bag on the ground beside her. She then raised her hands to the collar of her uniform and reached inside and grasped the weight that had hung around her neck for almost ten months. She brought forth the rosary that Sachiko had given to her the evening of the school festival the previous year, again right here in front of this very statue, and stepped forward. She reached out and grasped the hand of her grande soeur for the last time and placed the rosary in her suddenly shaking palm.
She looked up into those sapphire eyes that had just moments before been filled with love and saw that they were now filled with confusion, doubt, pain, and fear. Sachiko's mouth hung open in a very un-ladylike manner and Yumi could not tell whether the girl was breathing or not. Nor did it really matter to her.
"I know you well enough Sachiko-sama to know that you would want to know why," Yumi informed her as she stepped back and reclaimed the handle of her book bag and picked it up. "I honestly cannot give you an answer that you would find satisfactory except to reiterate the same things I said to you almost a year ago. No matter how much I admire you, no matter how much I have come to love you, no matter how much joy you have given me, I have my own pride and that pride will not allow me to take a back seat to anyone else. Certainly not Kashiwagi-san.
"You may say that I am first in your heart, but that is a cold and lonely place and I don't want to live there. I can't. I need to live inside the warm and loving heart of someone that sees me as the most important person in her life, just like I saw you up until last night. You are and have been my most important person, but that has to change. My pride and my heart cannot accept anything else.
"I'm very sorry Sachiko-sama, but please know that I wish you well in your life and in your marriage." Yumi bowed low, turned, and headed slowly down the cobbled pathway toward her classroom leaving Sachiko standing there with tears in her eyes and a rosary dangling from her suddenly nerveless fingers.
-oo-
As usual, the news that Yumi had returned Sachiko's rosary to her was all over the school by lunchtime. Instead of picking up her book bag and heading to the Rose Mansion, a place she would never step foot in again, she took out her lunch and headed towards the back of the building to the stoop outside the backdoor where she had often eaten lunch with Shimako. There in the shade of the ginkgoes and the one lonely cherry tree she ate her lunch in peace.
She had whispered the news to Yoshino as soon as she had arrived in the classroom that morning and had immediately had to put her hand over the excitable girl's mouth to keep her from screaming. She promised to tell her everything, but not until after classes were over and the cleaning duties had been performed. By that time she expected to be accosted by Mami-san of the Lillian Kawaraban and she would only have to tell the story once. She knew Mami well enough to know that she would not print the entire tale, only that she and Sachiko had jointly decided to part ways; that there were irreconcilable differences between the two. Sachiko would certainly agree to that part of the story. It was, after all, the truth. Anything to be said after that was up to Sachiko-sama.
She waited until the second bell was just about to ring to head back to her classroom. It was more important for her not to run into anyone than it was for her to be a minute or two late for class. The rest of the day passed quietly. She was receiving frequent glances from her fellow classmates throughout the day, but she knew them all and they had come to love her enough that they could tell that she was in pain and not prepared to talk about it. She put off anyone from outside classes that tried to talk to her at the afternoon break and almost made it through her cleaning before Yoshino and Mami showed up at the classroom door having quickly finished their own duties.
The other girls in the class took pity on her and allowed her to leave early. She thanked them and picked up her book bag and led her two friends back to the back of the building where she had eaten her lunch. She walked over and looked up at the spreading branches and green leaves of the ancient cherry tree. Yoshino and Mami followed her in silence, although she could tell that Yoshino at least was about to explode.
Yumi turned and sat at the base of the cherry tree. The other girls took their cue and sat as well. Neither girl said a word, allowing their dear friend to find her own words in her own time. When Yumi finally started speaking, she started her tale from the first time she had ever heard Sachiko's voice. She told them of the time she had met Suguru Kashiwagi at the rehearsals for last year's production of Cinderella. She told them what Sachiko had privately told her in the greenhouse regarding her arranged marriage to the boy she had learned was gay and would never be able to lover her as she deserved. She told them of all of the trials and tribulations that the two had gone through over the next nine months, and she told them how she had come to love Sachiko not only as a soeur, but as a woman. She told them of Sachiko's recent confession of her own feelings for Yumi just after her grandmother had died . . . and she told them of the discussions the two had had just the previous evening and again this morning.
She reminded Mami that she could not print any of what she had just told them, only that the two had come to a mutual decision to part ways. With tears in her eyes, despite how angry she was with the Rosa Chinensis, Mami agreed that the whole story would stay just between Yumi and her friends and had no need to be broadcast throughout the school. She was not like her own grande soeur, Minako Tsukiyama, who would publish any gossip that found its way to her ear, often without verifying its truthfulness. Mami had come to love Yumi enough as a friend that she would never do something like that to her.
Yoshino was also appalled at Sachiko's decision, but had learned enough over the time she had known the prim and proper Rosa Chinensis that no amount of yelling would make any difference in the world. All she could do was pace and stomp her feet at the stupidity of the girl that was supposed to be the head of the Yamayurikai. She was angry enough that she wondered if she could even be in Sachiko's presence that afternoon at the upcoming meeting in the Rose Mansion. She gave serious thought to simply heading home with Yumi rather than attending the meeting, but Yumi asked her to please go to the Rose Mansion and tell her side of the story to the other girls. She would certainly be available to them after today if they wanted to talk to her. They were, after all, still her dear friends. She just could no longer be a member of the Yamayurikai or Sachiko's soeur.
Yoshino understood and promised to tell them after Sachiko had left for the day. She also promised to let her know whatever Sachiko said regarding Yumi's absence, but Yumi waved it off saying that she really didn't care to hear it. Yoshino nodded and the three girls hugged each other and went their separate ways, with Yoshino heading to the meeting and Mami heading to the Newspaper clubroom to type up Yumi's side of the story before she confronted Sachiko and asked for her own side.
Yumi picked up her bag and headed towards the front gate of the Academy. Although she saw many students along the way, none were callous enough to stop her and demand an explanation. It seemed they took one look at her face and decide to leave her alone. She stopped in front of the statue of Maria-sama and for once simply looked at the stone face of the mother of Jesus Christ. She couldn't bring herself to pray to the Madonna that day, maybe not for a long time, so she just turned and made her way through the gate, to the bus stop, and onto the bus that would take her home.
She had not shed one single tear the entire day, nor could she remember having smiled. She idly wondered when, or if, she would be able to feel again.
-oo-
By the time Youko heard the news, Sei was already on her way in her yellow Beetle to pick her up. Sei had burned her ear through the phone with the language she used to describe Sachiko's stupidity. Youko couldn't blame her.
The two former Roses pulled up in front of Yumi's house just before eight o'clock that evening. Youko had convinced the rest of the Yamayurikai to hold off and wait until they had had a chance to talk to Yumi directly. The poor girl didn't need a bunch of pissed off roses traipsing into her house nor did her parents. Yuichiro and Miki were good folks. They had raised a bright, gentle, and loving daughter that any parent would have been proud of.
Youko pressed the button on the intercom next to the gate in the low brick fence that fronted the house. She recognized Yuuki's voice and announced herself and Sei along with a request to have a few minutes of time to speak with Yumi. She could hear Yuuki and Yumi whispering in the background and then the front door opened and Yumi came out. She walked to the gate and opened it, but instead of allowing the two former Roses to enter she stepped out and invited them to walk with her.
"I don't know what you want of me Youko-sama, Sei-sama," Yumi said as they walked towards the children's park at the end of the street, "If you've heard the whole story then I have nothing else to say on the matter."
"That's cold Yumi," Sei commented quietly.
"I'm sorry Sei-sama, but I have to protect myself," Yumi sighed, "I've fought and argued until I was blue in the face, and it made no impression on her. She refused to change her mind. I gave her one last opportunity this morning and she turned me down flat. She is determined to do as her parents tell her and marry Kashiwagi-san. I had no other option than to do what I have done."
"I didn't come here to try to get you to change your mind Yumi-chan," Youko said as they headed towards the swing set and Yumi sat down, rocking back and forth slowly as two older girls stood looking down at her.
"Whaaa?" Sei asked, flabbergasted that Youko would not be meddling in the affair as was her usual want.
"If what Yumi-chan says is true then I can't fault her for returning Sachiko's rosary, Sei," she explained quietly, looking into Sei's eyes and trying to get the blonde haired girl to understand. "Sachiko is knowingly and purposefully throwing away Yumi's love without any regard whatsoever. You of all people should know exactly how Yumi is feeling right now," she whispered.
"Ah, shit," the former Rosa Gigantea cursed, running her hands through her hair and shifting her weight from foot to foot, "I was just thinking how we could try to get them back together. I'm sorry Yumi-chan. I wasn't thinking straight."
"It's alright Sei-sama," Yumi said with a tiny smile, her first of the day, "I know you mean well. You always do. It's just that there is nothing that you can do now. Sachiko-san made her choice."
"You know that the Yamayurikai still needs you Yumi-chan. There is no one else that can give them what you can," Youko tried to appeal to the younger girl.
"Sachiko will find another petite soeur soon enough," Yumi replied. She didn't have to add to replace me. It didn't need to be spoken out loud. "Nor do I have any plans to sever my ties to the other girls. They are my friends and I would hope to keep it that way. And I have no problems lending them a hand outside the boundaries of the council, but I will never step foot inside the Rose Mansion again. It holds too many painful memories for me."
"Fuck, fuck, fuuuuck," Sei screamed into the night, unable to contain herself any longer. "I just can't believe that stupid bitch is going to throw away her one chance at happiness. I just can't understand the way these girl's think. How can she believe that that misbegotten family of hers is more important than her own life?" She kicked a rock that went flying through the grass until it smacked into the bole of a tree with a loud crack. Yumi cringed from the taller girl's seething anger. She didn't want to be around the next time Sei met up with Sachiko.
"More importantly, Yumi," Youko went on quietly after glaring at her friend, "is there anything we can do for you? You know that we will always be there for you whenever you need anything. Despite the gross stupidity of my petite soeur, I still consider you my little sister, rosary or not." Sei nodded her head emphatically in agreement with Youko's sentiments.
A few tears started to pool in the corners or Yumi's eyes at this obviously sincere declaration by two people she both trusted and respected. She knew that the other girls in her class would stand by her, but to have the former Rose's say they would remain friends with her; it was more than her overwrought emotions could take. The tears started flowing and wouldn't stop. Youko knelt down and gathered her into her arms and that was all it took. Yumi threw herself into Youko's embrace and finally broke down, releasing all of the pent up emotions that she had kept bottled up inside since that morning. Sei held her from her other side and the two supported the pigtailed girl as horrendous sobs wracked Yumi's body and she howled out her pain. The young girl that, until that morning, had been the Rosa Chinensis en Bouton wailed and shrieked into Youko's breast. Youko and Sei only held her tighter and whispered calming words of love.
They stayed that way for a good while until Yumi finally started to hiccup as the tears began to slow and the sobs to subside.
"Yumi," Youko whispered, "you will always be my little sister. Don't you ever forget that."
"Mine too," Sei echoed. "Whatever you need, whenever you need it, I will be there for you Yumi-chan. I promise."
"Thank you. Thank you both so very much. I don't know what I would do without my friends," Yumi said while wiping her eyes. They helped her to stand and she went up on tiptoe to give each of them a kiss on the cheek. "I love you all so much."
"And we love you Yumi-chan," Sei said, grabbing her hand, lacing her fingers with her own.
Youko took her other hand and the three started their walk back towards Yumi's house.
"Try to get a good night's sleep Yumi-chan," Youko advised as they stood once again before the Fukuzawa home, "I won't bother trying to tell you it that will all be better in the morning, but I can tell you that you will get through this. If Sei can than anyone can," she giggled while Sei cuffed her shoulder.
"Watch it girlie. I know where you live."
"Then take me home," she replied.
The three girls hugged once more and promised to talk again soon. Then the two former Roses watched Yumi until her door closed.
"Pick me up again tomorrow at two o'clock Sei," Youko told the taller girl as they got into the car and buckled up. "There is something I have to do."
Sei turned and looked at her dearest friend in the entire world and was frightened by what she saw on those darkened features. "Don't do anything you will regret later, Youko," she cautioned the black haired beauty that never did anything on impulse.
"I won't," Youko replied in a cold voice that sent a shiver of fear down Sei's spine.
-oo-
At three o'clock the next afternoon Sei and Youko entered the second floor meeting room of the Rose Mansion interrupting the meeting that was about to begin.
"Onee-sama," came from two different voices as both Shimako and Sachiko voiced their surprise at the unexpected visit. When Shimako saw the look in Sei's eyes she cringed in her seat. Sei went to her and grabbed her hand along with Noriko's and pulled them out of their seats.
"Come on ladies, we need to give these two a few minutes alone," she explained as Youko stood with her arms folded across her chest staring at her petite soeur. "You too," Sei said as she looked at Rei and Yoshino. "Let's go get some fresh air."
Yoshino looked like she wanted to stay and watch the fireworks but Rei quickly grabbed her arm and shook her head. The two yellow roses left their seats and followed Sei out the door leaving Sachiko and Youko alone.
"What is this all about onee-sama," Sachiko asked her grande soeur, a look of confusion in her eyes as she took in the older girl's body language and angry disposition.
Youko saw what she wanted and moved towards the raven haired beauty that was the idol of Lillian Girl's Academy. She reached out her right hand and gently touched the rosary that she could just see hanging around Sachiko's neck. The brilliant piece of jewelry shone as she raised it into the afternoon light flowing through the meeting room windows.
"I would never have believed that you could be so stupid and heartless," she said softly to her petite soeur. "I thought I taught you better. Obviously I was wrong."
Sachiko's eyes widened in fear as she saw the look in those of her grande soeur.
"I believe that you have something of mine," Youko said with regret as she raised her other hand and gently reclaimed from the younger girl's pale neck the rosary that she had given to Sachiko over two years ago.
"Onee-sama?" Sachiko desperately pleaded.
"Not anymore Sachiko-san," Youko replied as she turned and walked to the door. She placed a hand on the doorknob and stopped, looking back one last time at the young, beautiful, and cowardly girl that had once been her dearly beloved petite soeur as the girl with the sapphire eyes finally started to cry. "Not anymore," she whispered to herself.
She opened the door and walked out, closing it softly until she heard the snick of the latch. She walked slowly down the stairs, for once thankful for their loud creaking. It helped to drown out the crying from the room above. When Youko got to the front door she opened it and turned around one last time to take a look at the place she had spent so much of her high school life. Like Yumi, she didn't know if she would ever be able to set foot inside the building again.
Shaking her head she quietly closed the door behind her and went looking for Sei and the others.