Yumi lay awake in the darkness of her bedroom staring at the ceiling and the rectangle of yellow light that was coming from the street lamp outside her window. She was still somewhat in shock with the results of her blood tests from the previous day. The doctor had tried to explain exactly what it was that was wrong, but she seemed to have lost everything that he said after she heard the word "leukemia". It explained the lethargy she had been feeling recently as well as the bruising and the slow healing of the cut on her shin that she had received over two weeks earlier. It also explained the recent aches and pains she had begun feeling in her joints after spending too long sitting or standing in one place.

She had been surprised when she had seen Watanabe-sensei sitting on her couch when she, Yuuki, and Sachiko had entered the house. Sachiko, seeing the doctor, had suggested that she leave, but Miki had grabbed hold of her hand before she could turn.

"You are as much a part of this family as anyone, Sachiko-chan," she said with a just a hint of a smile, "and you are my daughter's most important person. I wouldn't think of excluding you from this. After all, it was your phone call that tipped us off that there may be a problem in the first place. No, you need to be here and, more importantly, Yumi needs you to be here."

Sachiko had relented and allowed Miki to drag her to a place on the couch next to Yumi. Yumi had immediately grabbed her hand and entwined her fingers with her own. Sachiko gave her a look that told her just how much she loved her and, impulsively maybe, leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. Yumi had been surprised that Sachiko would do such a thing in front of Yuuki and her parents, let alone a stranger, but Sachiko had simply squeezed her hand once and then held on tight. Yumi's parents knew of their relationship and, after some initial concern, had been fully supportive of the two. It was just one more reason she adored her family.

Yumi did remember the doctor saying that he had a friend, someone he had gone to medical school with and who was a frequent golfing partner, who was the Head of Hematology at Tokyo University Medical Center. He had already contacted the man who had immediately agreed to see Yumi the very next morning. The test results and a complete copy of Yumi's medical file had already been couriered to the hospital.

Both doctors had recommended a newly approved treatment that was extremely aggressive but had achieved a sixty percent or better success rate in all of the clinical trials. Watanabe-sensei had also thanked Sachiko for her alertness and quick thinking. As a result he thought that they had caught Yumi's condition in the very early stages and that the chance for a full recovery was high.

Yuuki had even offered to be tested as a potential bone marrow transplant donor if it was ever needed.

Yumi turned onto her side and stared out the window thinking back to that calm, confident, and totally unselfish offer and the tears that she had somehow kept dammed up inside started to gently flow down her cheeks and across her nose. It started just as a sniffle and a soft whine but seemingly without any transition she found herself sobbing, unable to control her breathing or the sounds emanating from her throat.

Who was this that seemed to be screaming in her room? Who was it that was crying out into the night about the unfairness of it all? Who was it that was pounding the wall beside her bed, putting dozens of fist-sized dents into the drywall? Who was it that was sobbing uncontrollably until her parents and Yuuki came running through her bedroom door? Her mother and Yuuki gathered her into their arms and tried to keep her from thrashing about and further injuring herself. Yumi's father purposefully tangled her feet in her bed sheets so she couldn't continue to kick at anything or anyone that came into reach before he finally ended up having to sit on her legs.

It was over an hour before she finally cried herself to sleep. She still tossed and turned until she started dreaming of Sachiko. Her grande soeur and lover was dressed in a long evening gown of the deepest sapphire blue and her long, silky hair was shining in the night. Looking down at herself, Yumi realized that she was wearing the light blue gown that she and Sachiko had picked out for her the previous weekend. She lifted her hands and felt her own hair as it fell softly and freely to her shoulders with a very slight wave.

It was dark except for the light that shone down on the two of them. She could see neither walls nor ceiling nor floor, but a thick, soft and warm mist played about their ankles. Sachiko held out her hand and Yumi shyly took it with her own. Music started to play from somewhere in the background as Sachiko took her gently into her arms and started leading her around the open space, holding her close as they danced to the soft, swaying music of a small orchestra. Yumi couldn't determine exactly what the song was nor did it really matter to her. She was in the loving arms of her Sachiko, dancing slowly across the floor and there were tender and loving smiles on both of their faces.

Yumi allowed herself to fly freely. It had been so long since she had danced with Sachiko. Probably since the Yamayurikai production of Cinderella her first year at Lillian; before she had become Sachiko's petite soeur; before she had become Rosa Chinensis en Bouton; before she had finally become Rosa Chinensis after Sachiko had graduated. She reveled in the closeness and touch of her lover, and laughed in delight as she was led from one dance into another, a warm, gentle breeze flowing through their hair as they moved and spun to the music.

This was all she had ever wanted; all she had ever needed. To be in the arms of the woman she loved more than anything else in the world.

A small smile creased her sleeping features as her family looked on with sad eyes.

"What are we going to do," Yuichiro asked his wife.

"We are going to everything we can – everything we have to – to support her and help her get through this. That is what we are going to do," she answered firmly but softly so as not to awaken her finally sleeping daughter.

Yuichiro nodded and looked over at his son who still held onto one of Yumi's hands. That grip had finally loosened from its original death grip. Yuuki nodded in agreement. "Whatever we have to do," Yuuki echoed his mother.

And she dreams she's dancin' around and around without any cares

And her very first love is holding her close and the soft wind is blowing her hair

The meeting with Oono-sensei, the Head of Hematology at Tokyo University Medical Center had gone about as Yumi had expected. He had reiterated everything that Watanabe-sensei had told her the previous day regarding the proposed treatment, although this time she listened more carefully. The plan was to initially run some differential diagnostic tests to validate the specific form of leukemia and then, based on the results, the aggressive use of specific chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiation treatments. In the worst case, if there had been no major relief of the disease and its symptoms, they would then look into the possibility of a bone marrow transplant; however, if everything went as he expected it to Yumi should expect to live a long and healthy life with very little chance for relapse.

The differential tests were scheduled for that very afternoon and Yumi and her parents were on their way back home by early evening to await the results. Sachiko was waiting on their doorstep when the taxi dropped them off. Yumi ran and threw herself into Sachiko's arms and started crying again. The two girls went tumbling into the grass.

"Sa-Sa-Sa, chi-chi-chi," Yumi stuttered in her misery while Sachiko smoothed her hair and mumbled soothing words to her.

Yuuki came up the walk and looked down at the two primary girls in his life. "I guess you're 'Sa-chi' from now on," he said looking at Sachiko with a small smile.

Sachiko glared at him for a moment before simply shrugging her shoulders. "I don't mind; at least it isn't 'Sa-chan'," she said quietly as she continued comforting Yumi.

Yuuki knelt down by his sister. "Come on Yumi, time to get up," Yuuki whispered, "you don't want to make a spectacle of yourself in front of the neighbors," he finished.

Yumi immediately started hiccupping as she tried to control her crying and, with Yuuki's and Sachiko's help, got back to her feet and headed towards the front door. Yumi gave out a weak giggle, "'Sa-chi'? I kind of like that."

"I will get you one of these days Yuuki," Sachiko warned the boy that, she suddenly realized, she considered as close to her as any brother could be. She ended up finishing her warning with a warm smile, totally negating the stern words. Yuuki grinned at her and, on the spur of the moment, rubbed the top of her head.

"Sure you will. You and who else? Suguru-san? Don't make me laugh."

Sachiko stopped in the doorway about to kick her shoes off, looked at the young man, and couldn't help herself; she broke out laughing. There was just something about these Fukuzawa siblings that so endeared themselves to you that you ended up loving them. And despite the devastating news of the day before she was, for the moment, happy that it was so. She could think of no one better to help her look after Yumi than her younger brother.

The next two-and-a-half months were sheer hell for Yumi. Twice each month she underwent a radiation treatment while once every week, typically on a Friday so that she had an opportunity to recuperate over the weekend, Yumi found herself in a local medical clinic, strapped to a chair with bags of fluid attached to tubes and needles sticking out of her. Even with the assistance of an antiemetic she found herself throwing up most of the weekend and tired the rest of the week. She probably missed two or three days of school out of every week during that period. Luckily fall and winter classes for high school seniors were mostly no longer compulsory as students prepared for college entrance exams. Teachers were available to those students that found the need of their assistance in preparing for exams, but since Yumi had applied for and was fully expecting to be accepted to Lillian University, she was not missing much academically.

Another side effect of her treatments was that she ended up having to be much more careful and aware of how she moved in her surroundings and, therefore, was much less accident prone as a direct result of having to ensure that she did not damage her skin. The chemo treatments caused her to bleed more easily so having a cut or scrape became a serious issue for her. Finally, with the coming of winter, she had to be a lot more cognizant of staying bundled up and eating and resting properly since her immune system was compromised even with the use various immunotherapy drugs including Polysaccharide-K which someone told her came from some medicinal mushroom!

The biggest issue she had early on was whether or not to tell her friends. It had been Sachiko and Hiromi-san that had finally convinced her to let everyone in on the secret so that they could do what they could to help her and watch over her. Sachiko especially wanted to ensure that as many people as possible were watching out for Yumi when she could not be there herself, which was essentially any time she wasn't in class.

Sachiko had basically moved out of her mansion and into Yumi's room at the Fukuzawa's. She made sure that she was there if Yumi or Miki needed anything whatsoever. Her parents, Sayako and Tooru, had both promised that the full might of the Ogasawara Zaibatsu was at their disposal with absolutely no expectation or anticipation of any return favor or loss of face. As far as they were concerned Yumi was their daughter as much as she was Yuichiro's and Miki's and they wanted to do everything they could to ensure her quick return to health.

Having Sachiko with her almost 24 hours a day was the one benefit to the whole episode as far as Yumi was concerned. How they could become even closer than they had been Yumi had no idea, but they did. By the end of the first week of December Yumi honestly felt like a married woman – and she loved the feeling. From everything she could tell, and from their quiet talks together as they shared a bed at night, Sachiko felt the same way. They agreed that once Yumi felt better and was on her way back to health the first thing they would do was find a convenient apartment and move in together.

The morning of December 23rd started out as a typical Friday morning in the Fukuzawa household. At least it was typical inasmuch as it started out like any other Friday morning that they had "enjoyed" for the past two months. Sachiko had slipped out of bed making sure that she did not wake the still slumbering Yumi before she headed out for school. Since Yumi had her chemo sessions on Friday's Sachiko usually let her sleep in.

Later, as Yumi slowly came awake, she felt a bit groggier than usual, but otherwise normal; at least as normal as could be expected. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair before she had to cover her mouth to cover the yawn that was desperately trying to escape. Unfortunately, her nose tickled immediately and she ended up sneezing. With her eyes finally open, she glanced at her hand and froze where she sat before she turned her body so that she could look down at her pillow.

When Yuuki got up and headed for the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, he heard the quiet sobs coming from his sister's room. It wasn't the first time he had awakened to hearing her softly crying and it broke his heart every time. Instead of heading to the bathroom he turned around and headed for his parents room. He knocked quietly and, after hearing nothing, he slowly opened the door, making sure that they were still both in bed before he fully opened the door and stepped into the room.

He went to his mother's side of the bed and gently shook Miki's shoulder, quietly calling her name until her eyes finally opened.

"Mom, Yumi's crying again. You better go see what's up," he informed her, making sure that he did not wake his father.

"Mmm, ok, I'll be right there," his mother answered sleepily.

Yuuki left the room and continued on his aborted trip to the bathroom to start to get ready for school. Miki grabbed the robe out of the closet and pulled it on before heading towards Yumi's bedroom.

She heard Yumi's soft sobs as she approached the door. Something was different about these. Yumi had awoken many mornings crying quietly. She wasn't even sure herself why she cried those days, but she refused to take the antidepressants that the doctor had prescribed. Today's sobs however, at least to Miki's finely tuned "Mother's Ears," had a definite reason behind them. She held her breath as she quietly opened her daughter's door and took in the scene.

SaraBeth is scared as she sits holding her mom

Cause it would be a mistake for someone to take a girl with no hair to the prom

For just this morning right there on her pillow was the cruelest of any surprise

Yet she cried when she gathered it all in her hands, the proof that she couldn't deny

SaraBeth closes her eyes