Author's Notes:
Hi, everyone! It's me again!
To all those who reviewed the preview, thank you very much! You gave me the courage to continue writing this story!
I would just like to give some clarifications, this story focuses six years after the current time line in the anime so the preview is mostly just a flashback, and the scenarios in the poem will be present in this chapter. This chapter is only a prologue of the real story but please read it unless you don't want to know what happened six years ago. But the real conflict will not be stated here, it will be stated in later chapters so please read and review, I want to hear your comments; it gives me courage to write since I'm only new to this!
Like other fanfics:
"..." means talking,
'...' means thinking, and
Italics means flashback
I know that this is only a prologue but because this would be so long if I only make it into one chapter, I'll cut it into two parts. Here's part one and I'll upload part two soon! Sorry for any delay!
Disclaimer: I still don't own Marimite...
Prologue of 'For A Tainted Eternity' (Part I)
The dark clouds hovering over Lillian Girls' Academy are disastrous. It will only take a few more minutes until a heavy down pour and thunderous roars will occur. But this scenario is of no importance to Ogasawara Sachiko and her petite soeur, Fukuzawa Yumi.
A strong wind blew making Sachiko hold herself from the coldness unlike the girl in front of her who stands immobile. 'Yumi...what do you want to tell me?...Why are you taking so long to tell me what's been in your mind these past few days?...It's killing me...this silence...Please...talk to me,' the older girl thought as she moves closer to the younger girl, closing the gap between them.
Yumi turns around and faces her grande seour, this movement startled the said girl but she smiles from the gesture her petite seour did. Yumi reaches out to hold her onee-sama's hands. In that moment their eyes met, sapphire and mocha eyes were locked in each other's gaze, both were trapped within each other's emotions, words were not needed to comprehend the gazes they hold. Sapphire ones show that of pure love, concern, worry and regret while that of mocha eyes show hurt and longing. Frightening lightning strikes as the heavens started to cry.
"Onee-sama..." the girl with mocha eyes started, she was trembling, not from the cold wind or from the heavy pouring of the rain but from the riot within her, the flooding of her emotions, "...I'm sorry...good bye..." Tears were present in those mocha eyes as she said these words. The younger girl then started to run away from the older girl as if afraid from the events that would happen next. She ran away as fast as she could.
Sachiko was shocked; she does not know why her petite soeur would say those words. 'This is not true,...right?...Yumi wouldn't leave me,...will she?...I did everything for her, didn't I?...or have I really done anything for her?...am I just a nuisance for her?...' Another strike of lightning dawns the nearby grounds and a clap of thunder can be heard. Reality struck Sachiko; Yumi was running away, running away from her without even telling her the reason. She took the only reasonable action; she ran after her, Sachiko ran after Yumi.
The rain was clouding Sachiko's vision but she didn't mind it. The only thing on her mind was that she needs to go after her petite soeur; she needs to go after Yumi. She spotted Yumi's figure just ahead of her so she picks up her pace. A moment more, the current Rosa chinensis catches up to her bouton. Sachiko reaches out to grab her soeur's hand but as she was about to get a hold of it, she trips on a nearby puddle. Sachiko desperately looks up to the figure slowly vanishing in front of her. The younger girl was far from her now. She wouldn't catch up to Yumi. 'Yumi...why?...why are you doing this Yumi?...I can't go on like this...don't run away...'
Sachiko still slowly picked herself up but soon falls again to the ground. She was shocked to see both her hands and feet had chains, locking her in place. She struggled to be set free from the binding chains but it was futile, she couldn't get them off.
The scenery around her slowly faded into darkness leaving the only heir to the Ogasawara fortune all alone, nothing can be seen around her except for the blinding darkness, nothing can be heard except from the deafening silence. Sachiko fell into distraught.
The darkness around Sachiko was truly frightening. Her thoughts then only revolved around her onee-sama, Mizuno Youko, her friends from the Yamayurikai, and her petite soeur, Yumi, leaving her. She felt loneliness and the thought that the only person she ever truly cared for left her made it even worse. 'Why?...why?...what did I do to deserve this?...Yumi, tell me…is it because I didn't have the courage to tell you I lo-…'
R R R I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I N N N N N N N N N N N G G G G G G G G G G G ! ! ! ! !
The alarm clock rang waking up a very tired Ogasawara Sachiko. 'I hate this dream,…I hate the thought that Yumi will leave me just like that without even telling me the reason…but this dream…I've been having it since…that day…since two days ago…I've been having this…nightmare…' the long haired girl thought as she prepared herself for another day at school.
The sun was shining brightly over the Lillian Girls' Academy grounds. The students were in a hurry towards their classrooms. Any moment the school bell will ring stating the start of classes and they did not want to be late, everyone was except for a certain Rosa chinensis.
'What am I worrying about?...that dream wouldn't come true even if I wished for it!...Yumi wouldn't leave me…I know she wouldn't do that to me…' she thought as she was taking her time walking in the school ground.
As the long haired girl was almost in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary, she spotted a familiar pig-tailed girl. 'Yumi? Aren't you a bit late?...wait…is that…are you crying?'
Yumi drifted to school absent-mindedly. She was so deep in thought that she didn't mind the calls that the other students gave to the Rosa chinensis en bouton. The said girl was thinking about the incident that happened two days ago, she also thought if the decision that she was about to take was the right one.
The girl soon founds herself in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary, out of habit, she started praying. 'Maria-sama, I am totally at lost! Please, help me, I don't know what to do anymore! I can't go on like this! Please help me make a decision. If…if I see her, the person who I love and hate at the same time, this moment, that would mean I will continue with my decision. If I see her, it means that fate wanted me to continue with my plans. But if…if I don't see her I will no longer go on with this, and my fate is to continue the life that I have now.' As Yumi prayed, a single tear trickles down her cheek.
With that done, Yumi opened her eyes. She was shocked to see the person who she hated to see that moment. 'Maria-sama, why…why is fate so cruel?!' Yumi saw her onee-sama looking at her with so much concern. She smiled at her grande soeur and strides towards her not loosing that angelic smile on her lips.
"Good day, onee-sama!" Sachiko was startled by her soeur's actions, 'Weren't you just crying a minute ago?' The long haired girl thought, but nevertheless she smiled at her petite soeur's personality. "Good day, Yumi." Sachiko wanted to say those words with the same enthusiasm as Yumi but it gave off a bit of her weariness. "Onee-sama, are you feeling alright? You don't look so well. Have you been eating well? Or did you get enough sleep? You're staying up late, aren't you?" Yumi said with worry as she grabs the older girl's hands. Her mocha eyes looked earnestly at those sapphire ones, showing pure love and worry for the other girl.
Sachiko smiled at the younger girl, she truly likes the way her soeur shows what's on her mind through the expressions she have on her face. She was like an open book the first time they saw each other a year and a half ago, and to the present day, she still was like the way she was before. 'Pure and innocent…like an angel…never to be tainted by the anything on this earth.' Sachiko thought with a smile.
"Yumi, I'm fine. You don't need to worry, just a little tired from too much studying. I have an upcoming exam this week and I need to study my lessons." Yumi released a sigh of relief but soon held on to her onee-sama's hands tighter. "Onee-sama I know that studying is important for you but I wish that you take better care for yourself. You don't know how much I worry about you; I don't want to think about some scenario where the current Rosa chinensis suddenly fainting due to fatigue." Yumi said giggling slightly.
The younger girl suddenly drops her playful expression and now holds one of pure seriousness. She lifted her grande soeur's hands towards her cheek and snuggles close to them. "I really thought you were over-exerting yourself, onee-sama. Please don't make me worry like that. I…I…I…"
"Yumi?..." Sachiko said as she looked at the girl in front of her. She was surprised to see the younger girl on the verge of tears. Rosa chinensis lightly swept her hands away from Yumi's grasp and placed them lightly on the other's shoulders, lightly shaking the younger girl. "Yumi, are you alright? I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me or is there something bothering you? Does anything hurt, are you dizzy? Yumi, please tell me what's wrong?!"
Upon hearing these, Yumi dove straight to her onee-sama, burying her face to the other girl's uniform. "Onee-sama…I…we….Onee-sama!..." The petite girl suddenly started crying. 'Onee-sama, why? Why do you have to show yourself now of all times! I know I made that decision, that if I saw the person I both love and hate at the same time…if I saw you this moment, I would go on with my decision...And you showed! I have already made up my mind but still…I...Onee-sama I don't want to…I don't want to…'
Sachiko felt the grief within Yumi's weeping, she brought the younger closer to her. The older girl hugged her petite soeur, placing one of her hands around the smaller girl's waist as the other lightly pets her head, wishing that these things would help ease her soeur's pain. 'Yumi…what's wrong?...Can't you tell me?...I hate to see you in this kind of state…it hurts me…you don't know how much it pains me to see you in so much grief!...please…stop…'
"Yumi…don't worry…whatever it is…whatever the thing that is bothering you…I won't go anywhere…I'll always be here… I always will be…" Sachiko said, her voice echoing with her concern for the younger girl.
Hearing this, the younger girl started to settle down within her onee-sama's grasp. This eased a bit of Sachiko's emotional turmoil. And as Yumi settled down, she brought her arms around Sachiko's neck and raised her face a bit towards her onee-sama's ear. Sachiko shivered from the contact between her ear and Yumi's breath, a blush lightly forms upon her usually stoic face.
"I'm…sorry…good…bye…" Yumi breathed more than whispered. Slowly, she removed her arms that slung around the older girl's neck and paced a little backwards. Tears were once again forming within those mocha eyes. She bowed slightly and started to run towards the school building. Although running is not allowed in Lillian Girls' Academy, Yumi didn't seem to mind as her whole being seemed to be engulfed by her emotions.
Sachiko stood there, motionless, staring at the younger girl, watching her petite soeur slowly moving farther away from her. 'This is not happening!...' she thought as the school bell rang, stating the beginning of classes.
End of Prologue of 'For A Tainted Eternity' (Part I)