Disclaimer: Nothing's mine but the plot!

A/N: Possibly the last chapter unless I decide to do an epilogue! Please comment with your opinion!

Chapter Thirteen

On the day of the festival, it was time for Yamato to put her final plan into action, but she couldn't do it by herself, so she had called in some extra help from above.

"Hey, Yamato-chan!" The voice of the American faced blonde was unmistakable, and Yamato whirled around, pulling her into a dark corner of the school.

"Woah, I like you, but I don't like you, if you know what I-"

Sei's Cheshire Cat grin lit up the dark as Yamato whispered the master plan into the ex Rosa Gigantea's ear. "You couldn't have picked a better day, my criminal friend," she drawled, her eyes flitting back out to the festival. "Dearest Sa-chan's in a bit of a mood and her mother will be here to witness the whole shebang."

PGBR

It was true that Sachiko wasn't having the best day- that much was certain when she stalked backstage ten minutes late and began yanking on her costume with very little result. Eventually, a confused and worried Yumi was recruited to help when Sachiko began to enter 'hysterical mode'. Apparently, even in sickness Yumi had the unnatural ability to calm her onee-sama completely.

"Are you okay, onee-sama?" she asked in a concerned voice as she helped Sachiko into her costume, blushing the entire time and trying not to look at the vast expanse of porcelain skin before her. She zipped up the back of the costume carefully so as not to get any of Sachiko's soft, shining obsidian strands caught in it.

Sachiko sighed as she turned around to face her petite soeur, running her hands up and down Yumi's arms gently before mustering up an unconvincing smile. "I'm fine, Yumi," she said in her beautiful voice, but Yumi wasn't convinced. She knew better than to argue the point, however, remembering the last time she had tried to do so. She also had a faint idea of what had caused Sachiko to rush in with such a bad mood, and her eyes narrowed as she spotted Kashiwagi Suguru in the audience.

Honestly, she should have known he would be here- if not for Sachiko, then definitely for Yuuki, but the thought had simply slipped her mind during the strenuous rehearsals.

"Yu-chan?"

Yumi turned to see Hideo jogging up to her, looking quite handsome in his royal prince's costume. "What is it?" she asked, unaware of Sachiko's icy glare. Hideo, on the other hand, was facing Sachiko, and therefore felt the full force- which was just as well, as he couldn't imagine why it would be aimed at Yumi.

"It's curtain call in five," he said, ducking his head to avoid the sapphire gaze, which seemed even more malicious than usual. "I just wanted to make sure you were ready."

"We are."

Sachiko's cool voice came from directly behind Yumi, who jumped slightly as the heiress wrapped her arms around her petite soeur's slender waist. She was wearing a long, purple and black dress and a multitude of jewelery that brought out her striking beauty. Yumi blushed in her arms- didn't Sachiko realize how beautiful she was?

Hideo nodded, standing there awkwardly for a moment before pulling Yumi to him, desire burning in his eyes. She wouldn't know until later just how long it got him to get that exact emotion down. "Please, Yumi, just give me one more chance," he pleaded, his voice breaking. Behind Yumi, Sachiko's eyes widened in shock at having her love ripped from her arms. "You loved me before, you can do it again- if there's anything you don't like about me-"

And then he was stumbling back, clutching his burning cheek, bent over and staring up at a very pissed heiress. "Stay. Away. From. Yumi," she stated slowly, as if she were speaking to a kindergartener. "I don't know what happened between the two of you but it will not happen again."

Hideo swallowed- suddenly he wished he had made Yamato pay him. At least then his hospital bill would be covered after the next words that he had been instructed to say. "And why not?" he asked, hoping that his voice wasn't shaking as much as his legs, "Because as far as I can see, she doesn't belong to anyone else."

That did it for Sachiko- after two years, the push that she needed came from Yumi's childhood friend, the boy who had first taught Yumi what it felt like to love and the same boy who would teach the heiress what it felt like to lose. By this time, her eyes had narrowed to sapphire slits and her fists were clenched at her side. She was tired sharing and tired of losing everything that mattered. "She belongs to me." The second word came out as a growl as Sachiko pulled Yumi back into her arms and away from the poor boy who acted a villain to save his only love- his love, who had become another's princess.

Shocked at the scene before her, Yumi was rendered speechless as she felt her onee-sama's arms tighten possessively around her waist. Slowly, Hideo backed away, his arms up in mock defeat before he turned and ran towards the restroom.

PGBR

"Stage fright?"

Yamato's teasing voice rang out from the hallway, and Hideo stopped short, trembling and pointing a finger at Yumi's half sister, whose leg was propped lazily against the wall. "You...," he began, "you are dead to me." With those words, he darted into the bathroom, his hand over his mouth.

Sei's laugh could be heard from down the hallway as she walked towards the auditorium, her arm around Youko's waist. The latter was chastising Sei in mock annoyance, trying to pull away, but Sei only tightened her grip as they reached Yamato. "How'd it go?"

"As planned, from the green on his face," the brunette replied, wrinkling her nose. "The rest is up to Sachiko-sama."

PGBR

"O-onee-sama?"

Yumi stared up at Sachiko, who had grabbed onto Yumi's wrist as her petite soeur had made to follow after the poor, selfless Hideo. However, her childhood friend was completely forgotten as Yumi saw the first tear slip from her onee-sama's sapphire eyes. She was crying silently, her bangs falling over her face as if to protect her from view as she held onto Yumi's lower back, holding the girl hostage against her front.

Yumi bit her lip, completely lost before she did the only thing she could and wrapped her arms tightly around Sachiko's waist, burying her face in her shoulder.

"Don't..." The word was strangled with tears as Sachiko pushed Yumi away gently. Yumi stared up at her onee-sama, confused until the heiress spoke again. "Is he really so important to you?"

Yumi shook her head with conviction as she reached up and wiped away Sachiko's tears with her thumb. "I love you, onee-sama."

"Don't say that," Sachiko replied coldly, turning away and folding her arms over her chest. "Don't take pity on me. If you don't feel the same then don't pretend that you do for my sake."

"Feel...feel the same about what?" Yumi asked, ignoring Hideo's valiant reentry and Rei's cry that they had one minute to show time.

"Can't you see it, Yumi?" Sachiko's voice had strengthened, and she was gazing down into Yumi's eyes with a sadness that didn't match her tone. "How much I need you? How much..." She brushed a stray brown lock out of Yumi's eyes. "How much I love you?"

And then she closed the distance between them, moving (impossibly) closer and finally claiming Yumi's sweet lips in her own, her arms wrapped gently around Yumi's waist as she cherished the taste of the girl she had nearly lost.

Yumi felt the very fibers of her being melting away as the raven-haired beauty massaged her tongue firmly with her own, her cool hands moving from Yumi's waist to cup her face. She let herself sink completely into Sachiko's embrace as she basked in the love that she had longed for for so long.

And then it was over, and Sachiko was pulling back, resting her forehead against Yumi's, her sapphire eyes fixed on her petite soeur like there was nothing else in the entire world. Nothing but the two of them and the love that had finally been revealed.

Yamato watched from a corner of the back room, her eyes full of an indescribable emotion as she watched her sister...her baby pull Sachiko's head down gently, claiming her attention for herself once again. She watched as Yumi rested her arms over the heiress's shoulders and she watched as Sachiko smiled brilliantly as she once again captured the lips of the girl who had melted her heart.

And something broke inside her chest as she watched the way her sister allowed Sachiko to gather her in her arms- the way she leaned so completely on the heiress who had so nearly broken her heart. But Yamato swallowed and allowed herself to slip out of the auditorium. She had known all along that it would be hard to let her baby sister go- to watch Yumi give her heart so freely to the one who could break it.

But she strolled out into the hallway and stood outside the auditorium doors to wait for Kashiwagi Suguru, because she would do everything she could to ensure that it didn't happen.

For the rest, she placed her trust in the beautiful heiress who had tried to fool herself and the world with a heart made of ice.