It'd be kinda cool if I actually owned MariMite, but I don't!

Chapter VI. A different way of handling things

Looking at the immense building, Yumi wondered why she was here again. She could not exactly remember how she had gotten here either; the only thing she knew for sure was that she was standing in front of Sachiko's 'house', dressed up neatly in a white casual dress—which was, in all honesty, absolutely not her style. So that got her wondering too.

Busy with pondering about all the mysteries, Yumi did not notice Sachiko approach her quietly. She jumped up in surprise when she heard a soft chuckle coming from almost right next to her ear.

"Really, Yumi, you've been standing in front of my house for ten minutes already. Won't you come in?"

"Huh? Oh, hello, Sachiko-san," said Yumi, looking at Sachiko, still feeling confused. "Yeah, I was standing here, but I didn't know what I had to do, ring your doorbell or walk away. I don't even know why I'm even here."

Sachiko raised an eyebrow. "Don't you remember? We were supposed to have tea together."

"Wha..?" Yumi managed to stop the snort threatening to leave her. "Why the heck would I want to come all the way here to have tea with you?"

"Yumi, stop acting so silly," Sachiko said, but her voice was surprisingly friendly and warm. Somehow that made Yumi feel suspicious. "You said you wanted to learn more of the ways of a lady. Yesterday we went shopping for a new garments together—I do love the new dress you're wearing now—and today we're supposed to have tea together."

Yumi first stared at her dress, then she noticed the cute shoes she wore—they were not as much as horrid, but still unpleasant—and then she switched her gaze to Sachiko, her look screaming a mental confusion she had never experienced before.

"Yumi, what's the matter?" Sachiko asked worriedly.

"What's the matter? What's the matter?" Yumi wildly looked around, feeling awful goose bumps all over her body. "I don't understand why I'm here, why I would want to learn more of your ladylike ways! I mean, that has been the issue, right? That you wanted that, but I didn't!"

"Oh, Yumi." Sachiko still sounded as warm and friendly as before, and it drove Yumi nearly mad. Wasn't that girl supposed to throw a fit now because of her 'unladylike' ways?

"All of those issues have vanished when we became soeurs," Sachiko continued. "How can you forget the lovely ceremony we had? It's only been a week. You said, then and there, that you wished to be a true Lillian student, to be my soeur, and then we vowed to never quarrel again."

"Oh HELL NO!"

Yumi was panting, as if she had run a couple of kilometres, and abruptly looked around, like a deer that's being chased by a hunter. She was lying in her bed, and her room was dark and quiet. Yumi took a deep breath, wiped the sweat off of her forehead and silently thanked the gods it had only been a dream. She sat herself upright, her back leaning against the wall, and tried to calm down. This was what thinking too much before falling asleep could do to you. She didn't think she would be able to handle it if Sachiko wanted to turn her into a lady in her dreams too.

After the driver of the limo had taken her home, Yumi had immediately put on her pyjamas and had gone to bed; yet sleep had not enveloped her within the following few hours, on the contrary; she had stayed awake for a very long time, thinking about the evening, re-thinking the events that had happened at the party, analyzing everything until the thoughts eventually tired her out so much she had fallen asleep.

And now she was awake once more, not up for falling asleep and ending up in a nightmare again. She kicked the sheets away and got out of bed. She wasn't up for staying there and let her thoughts wander around about the previous evening again, either. Instead, she sat herself behind her desk and pulled out a shabby-looking sketch book—the last present she had received from her deceased grandmother. She flipped through the sketch book until she reached the point where the blank pages began, and started to draw. Not anything grand, just sketches of images in her mind, but she felt her heartbeat slow down instantly as soon as her pencil touched the paper, and she continued drawing like an hour or so. She often did so when she was in some sort of emotional distress, and it allowed her to feel more calm and collect her thoughts more clearly.

After she had finished, Yumi looked at the result. She had drawn the facade of Sachiko's mansion, or at least the parts of it she could still recall from her memory. She felt completely calm now, and she had made a decision while she had been busy drawing. A strong sense of determination wafted over her, and a smile was formed on her lips. It was great to feel herself again.

The first thing Yumi did the following day, was to stand on the lookout for Sachiko. She had even woken up early to make sure she could get to school early, instead of making it barely on time like she usually did. That seemed rewarding, as Yumi didn't have to wait too long before she could distinguish a familiar figure amongst the other students getting off the bus.

"Good morning, Sachiko-san," she greeted as soon as the person was close enough to hear her.

"Gokigenyou, Yumi." Sachiko sounded slightly less stern as usual, at least that was what Yumi was thinking.

"Could I talk to you for a second?" Yumi asked. Sachiko looked a bit surprised, but nodded and followed Yumi to a deserted path where they could talk in private.

"You know, I've been thinking this weekend," Yumi immediately began as soon as they were alone, "that it's time you learned something about my world."

"Oh? Yes, that might be true," Sachiko replied calmly. "I assume Saturday's events have caused you to think that?"

"Of course!" Yumi eyed the other girl for a moment, sensing that something was different about her, but Sachiko wasn't acting any differently, so she couldn't exactly say what it was she thought was so different. Perhaps it was all just her imagination.

"I have had the 'pleasure' of experiencing your world," she continued, "so it is only fair you got to see where I come from."

"How do you mean exactly?" Sachiko said, a light frown visible on her face.

"You'll see what I mean in due time. The only thing I need to know now, is whether you're free this Wednesday after school?"

"I believe I have no plans made then," Sachiko answered. Her expression stood thoughtful. "Are you planning to take me somewhere?"

Yumi nodded. "Yeah. Let's meet up at the gate after school. See you then."

So on that Wednesday after school, the two girls found themselves on a bus on its way to Tokyo downtown. Yumi, even though school had finished, had refrained herself from loosening her sailor collar and pulling the shirt out of her skirt, but that was simply because she wasn't in the mood for a discussion with Sachiko. Instead, she had simply loosened her hair. Her mannerisms, however, were the same as always, and she was sitting next to Sachiko in a very unladylike fashion. Not that she was very aware of that, though.

"Please close your legs," she could hear Sachiko say to her after a while.

"Huh?" Yumi turned her head to see Sachiko staring at her legs, or at least, at the point where they were supposed to be, as they were covered by the long uniform skirt.

"I can see you're sitting with your legs open. Please close them, as the way you're sitting now is profoundly masculine, thus highly inappropriate for a girl."

Yumi rolled her eyes. This was so typical for Sachiko all right. "You're the only one who can see that. So basically, I'm not doing anything that tarnishes the good name of the school because no-one can see the way I sit. So what's the big deal?"

Sachiko's eyes narrowed and her cheeks turned just a tad paler, if that was even possible, but she didn't reply. Instead she sighed softly, as a hiss, and turned her attention to the front of the bus. Yumi turned her head to look out of the window again, focusing on nothing else but the scenery outside.

"Care to explain now where you're taking me?" Sachiko said after a moment of silence. "You have made it clear that this would make me become more knowledgeable of your world, to use your own words, but it is hard for me to form an idea if I do not know where we are going to now."

"Ah yeah, I guess," Yumi replied without turning her head. "We are going to my old school."

After about an hour and after taking several different busses, they reached a white, tall building behind a fence in a fairly quiet street.

"So this is it. My old school," said Yumi casually, pointing at the building. It felt a bit weird to see her previous school again, although she hadn't left it that long ago.

"I see..."

There were some students hanging out in front of the building, but otherwise it was fairly deserted.

"Why have you brought me here, Yumi?" Sachiko asked, eyeing the students who were now looking at them.

"Because I want you to see the school I've attended for middle school and the first year of high school. It was this school that greatly shaped me to this person, the person you know," Yumi answered, looking at the goggling students as well. Well, they were standing out pretty much in their Lillian uniforms. She recognized some of the faces vaguely, but she didn't really know any of them.

"I understand. But why? School has ended a while ago, not many people will be around here at this time." Sachiko took a few steps to the school gate and examined the grounds from behind the fence next to the gate.

"No, not yet," Yumi replied, following behind Sachiko. "But any moment now, these grounds will be swarming with students again." And indeed, after those words had barely left Yumi's mouth, the bell rang, and after a few minutes the front door of the school opened. A group of students, mostly boys, made their way outside towards the open school gate. Yumi noticed, much to her content, that most of the students' uniforms were pretty sloppy-looking, and certainly so according to Lillian standards.

"This," said Yumi, averting her eyes from the crowd and turning them to Sachiko, who was following the spectacle like she was a sculpture made of ice, "are all students who have been in detention. I have no idea whether detention is given at Lillian—I would actually really doubt it—but here at this school, it's a common thing. They'll put you in detention whenever you do something bad enough to be put there. It's mostly boys, as you can see." Yumi nodded her head towards the students passing them. "A lot of boys in this school just seem to be so irritatingly brain-dead."

"Hey, Fukuzawa-san!"

Yumi jumped up in surprise at hearing her name, and she was pretty sure she knew who the person calling out to her was, too. She turned around to look for the source of the voice, and so did Sachiko.

A tall, handsome boy with a pale complexion and pitch-black hair that reached to his shoulders detached itself from the stream of students passing the school gate. He could be seen as the male equivalent of Sachiko, Yumi all of a sudden realized in amusement. Only, the personalities differed greatly.

"Well what'dya know. Fukuzawa-san." The boy grinned in a way that was supposed to be cool, Yumi assumed, but failed miserably.

"Hey, Sasaki-san," Yumi said dully. She hadn't really considered that this person could have also been in detention, although meeting him here wasn't all that surprising to her.

"Whatcha doin' here? You're not attending this school anymore, now is it?"

"Duh, of course not. Can't I be here when I want to?" said Yumi impatiently. She was feeling annoyed by her old fellow student already. The boy, however, wasn't listening to her anymore, but he had turned his attention to Sachiko, moving closer until he was standing right in front of her.

"Whoa! And who might this hot babe be? Hey there, honey, my name is Sasaki Hikaru. Nice to meet you," he said in what was probably supposed to be a seductive voice. Yumi rolled her eyes and sighed loudly, while Sachiko made a face as if she was staring at something incredibly dirty.

"Back off, Sasaki-san." Yumi stared at Hikaru with her arms crossed in front of her chest, and burning eyes.

"What's the matter, Fukuzawa-san?" said Hikaru in a bored fashion. "I'm just trying to make acquaintance with this lovely girl here, so it's none of your business. So, what's your name, sweetheart?" he asked Sachiko.

Sachiko was standing before him absolutely rigid, still with that expression of disgust on her face. When she didn't answer, Hikaru reached an arm to touch a strand of her hair, but before he could do so Yumi had slapped his arm away. Then she pushed him away and came to stand between him and Sachiko.

"I said, back off!" she said now with more vigour. "Go play your stupid games somewhere else, maybe at a place where only losers like you would come?"

"Whoa, what the hell?" Hikaru seemed a bit angry now. "What the hell is your problem, Fukuzawa?"

"You're my problem, if you haven't noticed yet," Yumi replied, starting to feel angry as well. "Stop being so annoying and just walk away."

"Me? Annoying? Hell, I'm not even doing anything wrong! What, are you jealous that I'm more interested in this girl than you?"

Yumi let out a barky laugh. "Jealous? In your dreams, maybe! I just want to save Sachiko-san the annoying experience of having to deal with you!"

"Oh, how damn noble of you!" Hikaru shouted sarcastically. "What are you, her girlfriend or something? Get real! If she doesn't like my company, she can say so herself!"

"Well, she doesn't know yet how irritating you will turn out to be, so I'm trying to spare her that!" Yumi shouted back. Now she was really pissed.

"What are you going to do, huh? Punch me again?" It was Hikaru's turn to emit a barky laugh. "Hey, which reminds me! I heard this rumour that you got kicked out of the school because of that, is that true?"

Yumi froze, and she clenched her fists. Her eyes narrowed to tiny slits. "You really do want to be punched again, don't you?" she growled.

"So defensive all of a sudden, Fukuzawa! So it's true, huh. Glad I could be of some service to this school!" taunted Hikaru. Both him and Yumi seemed to have forgotten Sachiko's presence as they were staring at each other with as much repulsion as possible.

"Who knows. Or maybe I just felt like transferring schools to be far away from the likes of you," Yumi retorted, feeling how her fists itched to deliver some punches again.

"Yumi." Yumi felt how a hand was gently placed on her shoulder, and she turned her head in surprise. She had completely forgotten Sachiko had been standing behind her all this time. Her expression was gentle as well, and Yumi suddenly had to think about the Sachiko from her dream again. The expression turned cold, however, when the girl turned her attention to Hikaru.

"If the way you previously acted towards me is the way you usually address a girl, then I won't have a hard time believing you shall end up alone when you're older," she coolly said. "The way you speak and act, why, it is not even worth for me to react on properly!"

Both Yumi and Hikaru stared at Sachiko with their mouth and eyes wide open; Yumi because she was shocked yet oddly amused by the way Sachiko was trying to handle the situation in her usual uptight manner, Hikaru because he was probably trying to decipher what on earth Sachiko had just said to him.

"Say what?" Hikaru managed after a while, breaking the silence that had followed upon Sachiko's intermezzo.

"What's the matter?" asked Sachiko, raising an eyebrow. "Do you not understand the simplest of Japanese? I do wonder how you were able to reach high school that way."

Yumi, still in a state of stupor, had to keep herself from bursting into laughter. So was this Sachiko's way of dealing with annoying pests?

"What the hell?" Hikaru awoke from his moment of confusion, and his face turned angry again. "Did you just insult me?" He clenched his fists and took a step forward, but Yumi was quick to react and took a step forward herself, halting him with her arm.

"Back off. This is the third time, Sasaki," said Yumi in a low voice, her eyes wearing a menacing glint. "Do you remember how last time went? Last time I was actually still pretty nice to you. Want to know what can happen if you persist now?"

Hikaru huffed and took a step backwards. "You were lucky at that time, catching me off guard. Trust me, this won't be a replay from last time!"

Yumi grinned mockingly, and with the hand of her stretched arm motioned Hikaru to bring it on. "Want to try out?"

"Yumi," she heard again, this time the voice sounding more urgent.

"Don't worry, Sachiko-san," said Yumi without turning her head. "I've got this right under controle-"

"No, Yumi," Sachiko interrupted. "A teacher is coming. Let him handle this."

It was now that Yumi noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that several students were standing in half a circle around her, Sachiko and Hikaru.

"Fukuzawa-san!" she could hear someone shout from the school grounds. Yet again, a familiar voice.

"Oh, hello there, Watanabe-sensei!" Yumi shouted back, seeing her former homeroom teacher running towards them.

"I'll let you handle this further," said Yumi cheerfully when he reached them.

"What's this?" he asked, looking from Yumi to Hikaru and back. "I've been told by several students that there's some trouble in front of the school gates. But why am I not at all surprised to see you're involved again, Sasaki-san? Although I am surprised to see you here, Fukuzawa-san, picking out a fight at your old school!"

Yumi shrugged. "I'm not doing this on purpose, just for the record. Sasaki-san was acting all annoying again, sensei."

"What the heck? I didn't do anything wrong, you were just blowing things out of proportion, Fukuzawa!" Hikaru responded angrily. The teacher quickly came to stand between them, but then it was Sachiko who spoke up before Yumi could.

"Our deepest apologies," she said, her words intended for the teacher. "It was never our intention to come here and start a fuss—what happened now was a simple quarrel that has nevertheless regrettably grown out of proportion. Again, we apologize that our coming here has lead to this hassle."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I came here and had to see Sasaki again," Yumi added, not able to keep her mouth. She really needed to practice on that.

"Enough, Fukuzawa-san," said the teacher sharply before Hikaru could react. "And who might you be?" he asked Sachiko. "And what has been your part in this?"

"This boy," she answered, pointing at Hikaru, and Yumi almost snorted when she realized the contempt in Sachiko's voice, though she was probably the only one noticing it, "was trying to have a conversation with me. Yet the way he spoke and acted did not please Yumi at all—nor was it pleasant to me, if I may add—so she took defence over me, perhaps a bit too vigorously, which Sasaki-san took offence in, yet she was only trying to help me. I hope you will not blame her that."

The teacher didn't react for a while, until he sighed loudly and slumped a bit. He shook his head. "Even when you don't attend this school anymore, Fukuzawa-san, you give me trouble. How am I supposed to deal with this?" he said, but here was no annoyance in his voice.

"Sorry," mumbled Yumi, feeling a bit ashamed that she had caused this hassle for her ex-teacher, who was someone she very much liked as a person. After all, he had been one of the very few who had understood that Yumi wasn't acting brutal all the time just for kicks.

"Well, I can't give you detention or anything, but you, Sasaki-san," the teacher said, turning his attention to Hikaru, "you seem to like to cause even more trouble this year than the last! How many warnings haven't you received already?"

"W-What?" Hikaru stuttered furiously. "This is not my fault, you know!"

"I wish to speak to you now, Sasaki-san, inside the school," the teacher continued calmly but firmly. Then he turned his attention back to Yumi. "You two girls can go now. Nothing bad has happened, so there's no reason to keep you here. It's not in my power anymore to punish you anyways. Okay, show's over, everybody go home!" he shouted to the crowd of students still following the spectacle.

Sachiko bowed her head to the teacher and Yumi muttered a silent 'thank you' before the two quickly walked away, several pairs of eyes still following them until they were completely out of sight.

The two girls didn't speak nor look at each other until they were sitting next to each other in the bus again. It was Yumi who broke their silence with giggling all of a sudden. Sachiko looked at her questioningly.

"You...you were actually pretty funny back there," Yumi managed to say in between her giggles. "The way you were dealing with Sasaki...it was so you!"

"What do you mean?" Sachiko's voice was trembling a bit, and Yumi noticed only now that the girl was in fact looking somewhat shaken up.

"You know, the way you talked to him was the way I imagined you would deal with stuff like that," she answered. "But hey, are you alright there, Sachiko-san?" she asked worriedly. After all, Sachiko had most likely never experienced a situation like that, while Yumi had practically learned to live with them.

"Yes. I...I am fine, simply feeling a bit...upset about what happened," she answered softly without looking at Yumi. Then she added, still without looking, "I was afraid that boy would turn violent on you...and hurt you."

Yumi didn't know how to react on that. She was so stunned by those words that she could not say anything nor do anything but look at Sachiko with her eyes wide in astonishment. Her eyes widened even more when Sachiko abruptly turned her gaze on her, her face standing ferocious.

"What were you thinking?" she said vehemently, her voice almost a shriek in Yumi's ears. "Were you honestly intending to go into a fight with that boy? Did you not realize that he could have easily hurt you?"

"Huh?" Yumi was totally taken aback by the abrupt change in Sachiko's mood, and had a hard time coming up with words. When she didn't say anything Sachiko continued, still with much force.

"You may be confident in your abilities, but he's still a boy, much taller and much stronger than you! You'll really get injured if you jump headstrong into situations like that!"

"W-Wait a minute!" Yumi whispered franticly, finally founding her voice back. Why on earth was Sachiko so angry with her? "Sasaki-san is really a weakling, there's no way he would've been able to hurt me in a way!"

"You silly girl," Sachiko responded immediately, surprising Yumi to the point that she wondered whether she had heard correctly. "How could you know that for sure? Ah, but that's not the point here! You should think before you act!" Sachiko abruptly stopped and shook her head in a tired fashion before looking Yumi in the eyes again.

"I'm sorry," she whispered softly. "I did not mean to lash out to you like this and call you a silly girl, I...I was just worried about you, that's all. In a way, I'm very grateful that you helped me there."

"... My pleasure. And apology accepted," Yumi said, feeling very calm of a sudden. "I don't really mind you calling me a silly girl. I actually like this side of you better. I think it makes you more human," she added with a weak smile.

"I'm not really up to jokes right now," Sachiko muttered wearily.

"I wasn't joking." Yumi smoothed her skirt, delaying what she wanted to tell Sachiko. The silence stretched on for a while, as Sachiko too seemed to be at loss for words.

Yumi finally cleared her throat, demanding Sachiko's attention. "Thank you," she said earnestly, "for explaining everything to Watanabe-sensei." She felt immensily grateful that Sachiko had not spoken of her part in the argument in a disapproving way to the teacher. "I was never really good in calmly explaining everything to teachers when it came to stuff like that. It would've saved me a couple of times of detention if I could."

Sachiko broke out in a smile, and Yumi thought she detected a strange glint in the girl's eyes. "Oh? Were you that much of a troublesome student then? Actually, that doesn't surprise me that much." Sachiko's voice didn't sound as strict as most of the time, but it was actually sounding pleasant somehow. Was that girl teasing her?

"Hey!" Yumi had given Sachiko a playful punch on the arm before she had realized it, but the Rose didn't seem to have minded. "Like I said, if I could just keep my head cool, I could've been saved a lot of detention! It was not like I always wanted to get into trouble," she mumbled, remembering all her times in detention. "That school is just full of idiots, as you have seen."

Sachiko giggled softly, which contradicted the stern expression she was trying to pull off, yet when she spoke again, her voice was as serious as it could be. "I do believe you, Yumi. How must I say... You don't seem the type who would seek such trouble simply for the sake of hurting someone. Though you've given me a hard time already, it's not quite the same."

It was weird to hear Sachiko speak of her like they had known each other for a long time already, Yumi thought. Yet she was glad the older girl didn't seem to think so badly of her, after all.

A smile appeared on Sachiko's face again. "Well, that boy was rather annoying, if I may say so myself. Who knows," she added with that same odd glint in her eyes Yumi had never seen before until today, "if it hadn't been for you, I might have even resorted to physical retaliation myself."

After staring at Sachiko for a few seconds, with Sachiko staring back at her, Yumi started to laugh. It was not one of her usual barky laughs, but it was a true laugh, laughter caused by something amusing in a happy situation. Heck, it wasn't even that funny, still she couldn't stop laughing. She wondered when the last time was that she had laughed that way.

"Ah, I can hardly imagine that," Yumi hiccupped in between her laughter.

Sachiko chuckled, and the rest of the way home somehow passed in a pleasant atmosphere.

Only when she was at home, when she finally found herself in the quietness of her room again with time to collect her thoughts, did something begin to gnaw Yumi. And that night, sleep would only envelop her when it was almost time to wake up again.

A/N: Gokigenyou! What to say? Eh... Oh yeah, thank you for making it through another chapter! I had fun writing this one (because I got to make Yumi stand up for Sachiko and herself in an 'un-Yumi-like' way xD). Next chapter should normally be a more introspective one, and one from Sachiko's POV. The whole chapter or a part of it, don't exactly know yet how it'll turn out. Maybe I'll be able to update this month still, otherwise it'll have to be the next. ;)

Thoughts, opinions about the chapter/story are most welcome, as you probably already know by now. ;D I'm not really someone who reacts on every individual review, but know that they are always most appreciated!