A/N: It's been a while, but here is another chapter. I really appreciate the response that I have been getting on this story. It amazes me that everyone is still reading even with there being weeks and months between updates. You are all awesome!
Disclaimer: Maria-sama ga Miteru is the creation of Konno Oyuki. Konno-sensei retains all rights. This poor writer makes no claim of ownership and is receiving nothing but enjoyment for writing this.
Ten Years Later
Chapter 10: How Soon is Now?
Shimako
Staring into mirror in her apartment, Shimako could not fight the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Yumi had found a sitter for Yuuichi and they were going to go out drinking for the first time as single women. She was quite aware that this could turn out to be more of a date than just two old friends hanging out. Her conversations with Yumi on facebook and the phone had been getting progressively more flirtatious and had been deeper than any they had in high school. 'It makes sense,' she laughed to herself. 'We are both adults who have loved and lost.'
A shadow crossed her face as Noriko's image appeared in her mind. Her soeur's last email had been sensitive to her feelings, but conveyed a sense of happiness and contentment that brought remembered pain. She angrily dabbed her eyes and said, "No more thinking about that! I need to move on with my life too.' Looking in the mirror, Shimako was more pleased with the playfulness that caused her normally serene eyes to twinkle. She tossed her light chestnut-colored hair, and fashioning her fingers into an ersatz gun, Shimako pointed at the mirror, and her best idol imitation fired off a round, giggling, "Watch out, Fukuzawa Yumi, here I come! God, I'm such a dork!" She was laughing as she gathered her purse, cell phone, and car keys. Her heart was light as she went to see an old friend.
Sachiko
As much as she usually dreaded schmoozing clients, Sachiko was in a really good mood as she led the party from Wells Fargo Bank into Minato-cho for a business dinner at Nobu Tokyo. Her father had as low an opinion of American businessmen as his father did; seeing them as nothing more than drones to make money off of. Sachiko had not met many Americans so she reserved judgment. It's not like her father nor her grandfather were great judges of character. They were merely fortunate that most of the men that they did business were as weak as they judged them to be.
Those thoughts were far from the young executive's mind as she charmed the men, giving them hope that the Ogasawara were going to back their new Japanese initiative. She knew that her Grandfather had already chosen to back the RBS because the Scots were almost servile in their presentation (I cannot imagine that a true Scot would humble himself like that). The Americans were far more confident, and were not showing the level of humility that would get the old beast to change his mind.
No, Sachiko's beautiful dark head was full of her former soeur. Logically, she knew that Yumi had not said that she was giving her another chance, but she did leave the door open. This was as much as she could realistically dream of because Sachiko knew that had it been Yumi that had broken her heart and not vice-versa that she would never have forgiven her. Ogasawara never forget a wrong. It's built into their genetic history. This fact did touch an ironic bone that no one knew that she had that she was praying for something from Yumi that she herself would and could not give. While the leader of the doomed American expedition was expounding the virtues of partnering with them, Sachiko was lost in the memory of Yumi's beautiful eyes, staring at her, filled with love.
Unfortunately for the heiress, her reverie was abruptly smashed as one of the Americans, mistaking her dreamy look for attraction to him, put his hand on her knee. While she had grown out of the irrational fear of men that had plagued her adolescence, it did not mean that she liked men touching her, so she turned iciest, most lethal death glare on him. The man quickly removed his hand and excused himself to return to his hotel, probably to change his soiled pants. She thought viciously, 'No one outside of my family but Yumi will ever be allowed to touch me again!' Sachiko stood, bowed, thanked the Wells Fargo party for their time, and announced that she had a child that she needed to spend some time with. With a look of defeat, the Americans moved to allow her to leave. She walked quickly from the restaurant without giving them a second thought, the Ogasawara way.
Still angry when she reached her chauffeured Mercedes GLK350, Sachiko instructed the driver to take her home. On the way, she decided to call Yumi to see if they could meet. The raven-haired mother desperately wanted to see her reflection in those chocolate orbs and maybe, just maybe again feel the warmth that they used to hold. After three rings, Yumi's cell went to voicemail and with a small voice, the now-quite depressed former Rosa spoke into her phone, "I miss you, Yumi. I miss you so much that it hurts. I miss what we had before I allowed my family and my fears for you tear us apart." Tears began to flow from her sapphire eyes, "I was a scared eighteen year old girl who didn't know how to fight for love. I do now. If I had a time machine, I would fly back to the past and tell the old monster to go to hell. My arms ache for you. You were the only source of light in my life, and I feel like I am dying without you. That sounds selfish, doesn't it? You used to love the selfish and hysterical me unconditionally and truly, but now I'm a mother so I cannot afford to be so self-indulgent. I love you and I will do anything to prove it to. Just name it and unless it is asking me to kill Yumiko, and I will do it. Yumi please give me a chance to love you the way that I should have ten years ago." Now sobbing in a manner that no noble woman should, she closed her phone and prayed to Maria-sama for forgiveness.
Yumi
After having dinner and a couple bottles of sake at café near Yumi's house, she and Shimako decided to go dancing. They called a cab and went to the Hello! Project Club. It was a club that Shimako and Noriko had been to on a double date with Rei and Yoshino a couple of years ago. Yumi smiled as her friend/date(?)'s eyes lit up while she described the Hello! Project idols that she had seen there and how cute the girls were there. Yumi had not known that Shimako was such an idol fangirl. It was, the young architect had to admit, quite adorable.
In the taxi, Yumi learned everything that she ever wanted to know about s/Mileage, C-ute, Berryz Koubou, Juice=Juice, Buono, and of course her favorite group, Morning Musume. It was fun seeing another side of a long-time friend. It was the most lively that she had ever seen the Angel of Lillian act.
They finally arrived at the club and Shimako went to check in with the bouncer, who smiled broadly and waved them through. The people in line started cussing about line jumpers. Yumi asked, "How did you do that? There were people that were waiting for a long time to get in."
Shimako laughed, "Tsunku-san, the producer and president of Hello! Project has been attending ceremonies at our temple since he was little. His family has been a part of it for generations. Besides, Niigaki Risa is my cousin."
Even Yumi knew who Niigaki Risa, a former leader of Morning Musume, was. She squealed like a teenager, asking "Can I meet her? She was always so pretty on TV!" Yumi was not a big fan of girl bands, but she did watch all the music programs when they were on because she loved watching the dancers.
Shimako felt a bit of jealousy at hearing her cousin praised as attractive and began to pout prettily, which made Yumi giggle, "Aw, you're cute too, Shimako-chan! It's absolutely adorable when you put on that face!" As Yumi watched the kindergarten teacher blush at the compliment, a languorous warmth began to grow in her abdomen. She thought suddenly, 'Am I really getting these feelings from Shimako-chan too? Don't tell me that I've become a fickle person.'
Yumi tried in vain to hide the blush that she knew was warming her face. Seeing that look helped her date recover from her own embarrassment and emboldened her to lean over and asked with a sultry voice, "Shall we dance, Sexy Yumi-san?" Shimako led her out on the floor as Brainstorming by Morning Musume was blasting through the powerful sound system. She began to further seduce her date by rubbing against now-speechless Yumi in an extremely suggestive manner.
Sputtering, Yumi yelled, "What the hell are you doing, Shimako-chan?"
"It's called dancing, Yumi-san," Shimako laughed. "Dance with me!" She chuckled as her friend tried to shake off her shock and began to dance with her.
A couple of songs later, Yumi had gotten used to Shimako's antics and decided to pay her back in kind. With mischief dancing in herbrown eyes, she waited until Lillian's Angel moved her head close enough and she licked her date's ear, causing her to shriek. It was now Yumi's turn to laugh. Shimako looked indignant for a moment and then began to laugh with her. Suddenly, Shimako leaned in and kissed her gently, and was shocked when Yumi began to return the kiss.
When oxygen deprivation forced them to separate, Yumi looked in Shimako's eyes and saw something. She wasn't sure what it was, but it stirred an emotion inside her that she hadn't felt since she was dating Sachiko. 'She wants me,' Yumi thought. 'Would it be bad to return her feelings? No, I'm single. She's single. What's to stop us from going out?' A pair of icy sapphire eyes answered that question, 'Oh yeah, Sachiko-sama said that she wants to get back together. Should I forgive or should I take this chance?'
Coming down from the kiss high, Shimako, despite the strobe lights in the club, saw the war being waged in her date's eyes. She grasped for Yumi's hands and pulled them to her chest, "Don't think too much about this, Yumi-san. If we are meant to be, then nothing, not even Sachiko-sama can come between us. We have both just ended a relationship so we should not rush anything," she paused, looking in Yumi's eyes. "I really like you, Yumi-san. I may even be falling for you, but if we push ourselves too much, we might break." She smiled and led her date to their table. "I need a drink, how about you, Yumi-san?"
Yumi kissed the young teacher on the cheek, "Thank you so much for caring for me Shimako-chan. Perhaps I am thinking too much. It keeps me from pushing you down and having my wicked way with you like I want at this moment."
"You don't have it in you, Yumi-san," Shimako laughed. "Besides the pie that's fully baked tastes the best."
Yumi pouted, "Meanie. One day I will show you and it will rock your world." The two women laughed and enjoyed some strawberry daiquiris. They kissed several times during the remainder of the evening and finished the date with a drunken make out session in the back of a taxi.
The next morning, Yumi awoke to the mother of all hangovers and a cell phone ringing off the hook. Groggily, she answered, "Fukuzawa Yumi."
The voice on the other ended sounded like she felt, "Yumi, can you really not forgive me? Is Toudou-san better than me? I love you more than anyone else does or can."
"Sachiko-sama," Yumi responded with her head pounding. "It is 6:30 AM on my day off. I have a hangover and do not feel like putting up with your hysterics right now. Please let me sleep until I need to go collect my son from my parents and I will meet you for ice cream and listen to you."
A still ragged, but more hopeful voice asked, "Yumi, do you mean that? Why don't we meet at the Coldstone Creamery near the Lillian campus around 2? I'll bring Yumiko!"
"Sure, whatever Sachiko-sama, good night…" Yumi's voice trailed off as she fell back asleep.
Sachiko
To say that Sachiko was happy as she hung up with Yumi would be an understatement. She was gliding on air through the mansion, eliciting a snarky comment from her husband. "Someone had a good phone call. Did it include some phone sex?"
Sachiko mumbled, "I wish," and turned to confront her husband. Summoning every ounce of Ogasawara disdain, she responded, "I was nothing as crude as that. It's just that I finally got a promise for Yumi and her son to meet with Yumiko and I. I am not going to let this chance get by me!"
Suguru nodded approvingly, "Go get her, Tiger. Go get her before Toudou-chan seals the deal with her. Alice sent me some pictures that one of his friends had emailed him from the Hello! Project club last night. I won't show them to you because I want you to fight for the love of your life."
"I fully intend to not let her go again," Sachiko said with determination. "The biggest mistake of my life was to let the old monster scare me away from Yumi. I want to show her how much that she means to me and how empty my life has been since I broke up with her in my cowardice. Her life went to hell afterwards as well. I have a lifetime's worth of making up to do, and I pray that today is the first step. There is no way that I am losing to Shimako-chan. I was Yumi's first love and her first kiss. Shimako's likely still in love with Noriko."
The blue-eyed prince snorted, "I wouldn't take that too much for granted. Toudou-chan was getting really frisky with our girl at the club and Yumi didn't exactly push her away. It may have been the alcohol, but who knows? Get out there, humble yourself before her, and if you have to kneel to beg her forgiveness then do it. The reality is, that Toudou Shimako's biggest advantage of you is that she's not you. The other impediment to getting Yumi-chan to pick you is our marriage, which I have had papers drawn to dissolve. I am strong enough in both the Kashiwagi and Ogasawara conglomerates to beat the old bastard at his own game. I am tired of living this lie and so is Alice. Are you?"
"Of course I am, Suguru-kun," she retorted. "The only good thing to come out of this farce of a marriage is Yumiko."
Suguru favored her with a genuine smile, "On that my dear soon to be ex-wife, I most heartily agree. My only wish is that our daughter would be as lively and vivacious as her namesake. Unfortunately, our marital skirmishes have turned her to how you were before a certain pig-tailed girl came in and shook the foundations of who you are."
"That's why I want Yumiko to meet her so badly," Sachiko said thoughtfully. "Yumi is like a mirror in which one can see the parts of themselves that they do not wish to see. It would be good to get her around Yumi."
Suguru clapped delightedly, "Yes! She can be taught!" They shared another companionable laugh, noticing that this was happening more often. Their marriage might be ending, but they were well on the way to restoring their friendship.
Meanwhile
In the palatial Ogasawara family seat, a maid nervously rapped on her master's door. When she heard no answer, she quietly walked into the room and upon seeing Kentaro's still form, she screamed, "Call an ambulance!"
To be continued…
A/N: I am so sorry that it took me so long to put this out. I hope that everyone enjoyed the Yumako fluff. Next chapter will give us a glimpse into what a blended Sachiyumi family would look like. Until then, Peace!