A/N: I know it's been long but I can't write Yumi as an IC character. I've done this over and over but something is missing. She's annoying as hell but I can't write that side of her :(

Anyway, it's all thanks to band called 'Leevi and the Leavings' that I was able to write this. Their songs are… well inspiring but the lovesongs are… Well, not very romantic.

seyan: I know that setting them together was risky but I'm glad to hear that you liked Sei and Sachiko's past. Youko's time will come. I still have something reserved for her and Sei. Also something in this chapter (she's probably quite OoC...)

Honulicious: Well, if I'm honest, I think that Sachiko is straight who has a crush on Yumi because of her personality or something.. At least in canon. Quiet ones have at least ten skeletons in closet and insane granny in the attic. (at least we say that here). ^^ Sorry to disappoint you but this is just pointless drama and Sachiko has to wait for the next chapter.


The Difference between Light and Darkness


Yumi brewed the coffee as usual. This time she remembered her onee-sama's gentle yet absolute instructions and used icy cold water, as cold as possible. When she put the coffee powder back to fridge her onee-sama walked in as calmly as ever. Her face didn't betray her, it was impossible to notice irritation and confusion if you couldn't read her actions really well. The way she let her gaze wander around the room, stopping somewhere between the two eldest of the yellow rose family screamed annoyance.

Yumi noticed this; she had received the end of her onee-sama's wrath more than once so she knew where to look. The serenity on the blunette's face was a bit too serene, forced. Yumi hid in the kitchenette, staring the coffee maker to kill time. Why Sei couldn't be in the room to anger Sachiko to the point when she released her anger? Yumi didn't want to do it herself because Sachiko was scary when she was this mad.

A drop after drop the almost black fluid filled the can and the brunette fell in a certain state of hypnosis. Her surroundings vanished and Yumi's thoughts circled around her onee-sama and Rosa Gigantea. She was more than little jealous of how well Sei knew Sachiko. And if she was completely honest, she was afraid that Sei might steal Sachiko from her for Yumi knew that she was no match to the flirty blonde.

After all, Sei knew Sachiko so much better. What was she, a first year student, compared to someone who probably was Sachiko's childhood friend? Sighing Yumi forced her attention back to the coffee. Her thoughts were too depressing for her own good.

"What'cha doin'?" Yumi almost jumped as she heard slightly unfamiliar voice of the Rosa Chinesis. She hadn't really talked a lot to Youko who was behind her.

"Huh?" Yumi stared her onee-sama's onee-sama who imitated Sei's weird accent. Or should she call Rosa Chinesis her onee-sama as well? Now that she thought of it, she really had no idea.

"Sei is right for once, your facial expressions are fun," the raven-haired girl said smirking.

"Uh…?" Yumi blushed quite red, she had no idea what to say. She had always portrayed Rosa Chinesis as calm and polite leader, not a less-perverted version of Sei.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you. Actually I came to ask a favor," the girl went back to her "normal" mode, calm and collected lady. "I think me and Sei were bit hard on Sachiko earlier so…"

Yumi stayed silent as she had still nothing to say. Youko seemed a little nervous.

"Uh, so forgive her if she takes her anger out on you and tell me. You see, as your onee-sama my responsibility to take care of both of you, right?" Youko looked at Yumi, waiting for the reply, confirmation.

"Oh, and one more thing…"

-x-

"Morning," Sei greeted happily the yellow rose group. They replied but Sachiko didn't even look up which wasn't really surprising. Sei was used to the blunette's moody behavior and the cold anger was better than open war. Besides, Sachiko was Youko's petite soeur which meant that the raven haired girl would protect her even against Sei.

She looked around quickly, Shimako wasn't there yet and the light brown haired girl wouldn't probably come. Sei didn't mind it, Shimako was free to skip the meeting if she wanted. They had an agreement to not judge each other's actions. Shimako wasn't allowed to say a word if Sei skipped a meeting or two and vice versa. Sei would just give a brief summary of what had happened.

In fact, she could have had her time with Youko outside but the raven-haired girl was not in the same position. She had a reputation to live up to, although Sei had sworn to persuade Youko to skip a few classes before they would graduate. But not now because the festival was coming.

"So shall we start?" Rei asked.

"After Youko is done with Yumi-chan," Sei agreed. "Oh, they're ready…"

The two members of Chinesis family brought coffee and tea.

"Looks like we can begin," Eriko said cheerfully, she had seen horribly empty expressions on the girls' faces. It was eerie.

"Since we're not going to do any play, we have different kind of activity," the head of Foetida family said calmly. A choir of opposing comments followed than announcement. A play was a tradition.

"Why?" Sachiko blurted out more aggressively than she had intended.

"Ah, just because…" Eriko trailed off. She glared at Youko and Sei who both ignored her. Sei quickly hid her smirk behind her cup. "Perhaps you wanted to take the main role, Rosa Chinesis en bouton?"

"Hell no! I just want to know why you forced me to… act in the Cindrella and now forget the tradition," Sachiko said. She had almost mentioned the bet.

"For the same reason as always," Eriko said flatly. No one asked what was the 'same reason as always', not even Sei who loved to push the limits. She turned her attention to Sei. "Are you still going to do the exotic food café?"

"Of course. And I've got a special treat for you," the blonde grinned. "It's very special dish, you know, taking a can of it in the plane is banned."

"I get it," Eriko flinched. "So the horror-theme is taken. Any other suggestions?"

"How about gravlax or lutefisk? I could cook few dishes and let you guys decide which are the best," Sei suggested innocently and ignored the comment about horror-theme.

"Translation?" Youko asked cautiously. She had been victim of Sei's exotic cookings a couple of times before.

"The first is salmon cured in salt and the second is air-dried whitefish." Sei's grin widened when she saw the shocked or queasy looks on her friends' faces. "Also I could do some…"

"We don't want to hear, Sei," Eriko said sternly. "Shall we continue? And Sei, you're banned to say anything."

-x-

Sachiko listened to the conversation but she couldn't concentrate. Her letter to Yumi was in her bag – just few centimeters away. The same thoughts bugged her as before. What if Yumi rejected her? What if someone else saw the letter? Should she just have ignored Sei's advice and kick the blonde to the moon? Probably yes, because the blonde didn't leave her alone. Sachiko knew that Sei was still feeling guilty of what happened between them, and she wasn't going to do anything for that. Sei wouldn't like it.

The blunette sighed. She knew Sei so much better than Yumi. Why was her own petite soeur such a mystery? She couldn't really read Yumi's expressions. Of course she noticed when Yumi was embarrassed or confused but she didn't know why Yumi was feeling what she was feeling. When they were together and their hands accidentally touched, they both pulled away and Yumi blushed. Maybe she was afraid that Sachiko would be freaked out, maybe she liked Sachiko back.

She wasn't an idiot so she knew that Yumi looked up to her. Anyone, even a blind, could see that. Sachiko just wasn't sure if Yumi's feelings were more than innocent admiration.

"Sachiko, what do you think?" Youko's sudden question brought her back to reality.

"…I'm not sure…" Sachiko muttered. She had no idea what they were talking about but her answer was neutral enough to be good answer for anything. Her onee-sama didn't push more and she was allowed to think of her situation.

First, she had decided to give the letter to Yumi. It was pain to write so she wouldn't let the effort go to waste. Still, she had few problems. She had to stay lady-like, cold and confident. But… she couldn't see Yumi's face because her letter was obviously love letter. She didn't want to leave it somewhere either. It wasn't… it didn't feel right.

Sachiko swallowed a sigh and pushed her thoughts out of her mind. She could dwell on those thoughts later.

-x-

Yumi walked next to her and their hands almost touched. It'd be so easy to grab Yumi's hand, pull the brunette to a kiss or something that happened in romantic movies or sappy books. She wouldn't do something so cliché. The bare thought was disgusting. She wanted to be better than others, do something exotic and all. But she wasn't Sei either so flashy tricks with white horses were out of question.

What was she good at? Well, she did well in school but she wasn't really good at anything. She wasn't good at painting, and she sure as hell wouldn't sing a serenade. Eww! That was way too un-ladylike. Maybe… maybe she could actually be ladylike? Do everything gracefully, formally?

That might actually work… Just like with Sei…

"Hmm… what has happened, onee-sama?" Yumi asked curiously looking at Sachiko, who was really happy. The brunette had no idea why, as their meeting was nearly a catastrophe. The plans for the festival were still left open.

"What do you mean?"

"You look very happy, onee-sama," Yumi said blushing slightly and Sachiko saw an opening. She had been in this kind of situation before.

"Maybe because everything is going well," Sachiko said mysteriously and made sure that her hand brushed Yumi's.

The brunette's cheeks got a reddish shade and Sachiko grinned very Sei-like in her mind. Meanwhile Yumi was trying to analyze her onee-sama's actions. She was uneasy, especially because Youko's words played in her mind non-stop.

"Oh, and one more thing…"
"Yes?"
"Tell her how you feel. She's not the best human mind reader so she probably has no idea." Yumi blushed but said nothing. She didn't want to deny her feelings, not after she had finally accepted them, but she couldn't confess them to Rosa Chinesis either.
"I know… I used to be the same. If you can't tell her in daylight, darkness helps. You don't have to see her face then," Youko continued friendly.
"Are you talking about Sei?" Yumi asked quietly.
"We're quite obvious, aren't we?" Youko laughed and took the tea pot. "So, shall we go?"

"You still there, Yumi?" Sachiko asked leaning slightly closer to the brunette – this was a trick she had learnt from Sei.

"Ah, onee-sama!" the brunette stepped back looking surprised.

"What is it?" Sachiko asked happily. If she was a anime character, she'd be doing pirouettes while speaking, no matter how out of character it was. Because she wasn't she just smiled happily, the smiling mask covered her nervousness.

"Are you alright, onee-sama? You're not Sei dressed as Sachiko, are you?" Yumi inquired cautiously and put some distance between them.

"Of course not!" the blunette replied. She was marvelously confused because of her petite soeur's behavior.

"Then don't act like you are!" The brunette shouted and ran away without a warning leaving extremely confused Sachiko behind.

-x-

Yumi stopped in front of the statue of Virgin Mary. This was the place where all had begun so it had become a secret but not so good for hiding spot to the brunette. Virgin Mary listened always her worries, even the ones she couldn't share with her friends… or onee-sama.

Now she was here because of Sachiko. The blunette had acted so… weirdly. Yumi didn't mind angry or impolite Sachiko, those two sides were essential parts of her dear onee-sama but this Sei-like girl had been only scary, distant, in a lack of better word.

Sei was natural when she was flirting, she was like that with everyone but Sachiko had been cold, counting person and Yumi didn't like that. The Sachiko she knew was a caring person even though she didn't show it often.

Tears burned her eyes and she willed them away. Sachiko had been like that only a couple of minutes and she just couldn't stand it for some reason.

"Please, Virgin Mary, give me back the Sachiko I like," she whispered quietly.

-x-


A/N2: You'll get the next chapter soon if I manage to add the Youko/Sei scene that was supposed to be 4th chapter now. If not, you have to wait ^^

I've used Swedish/Norwegian names of gravlax (Swedish) and lutefisk (Norwegian) because even Wikipedia didn't translate them in English.