That morning Yumi found herself rested lying on a slightly damp, salty pillow. She got up and out of bed, opened the door and walked to the front porch. Dawn was just waking from the cold night and the fall chill was in the air. Yumi crossed her arms to keep warm and breathed deeply in the crisp air.
For a moment their Yumi almost forgot her dilemma. Did she feel genuinely for Sano? Did she even truly experience love with Shishio if he saw her fit for sacrifice? She didn't know, she didn't know anymore. The tears in her eyes burned from the gust of the winds. Now was the time she needed to decide what she wanted. Now was the time she would decide if she'd hang onto Shishio's memory or find new ones with a man that made her laugh and feel loved and looked after, Sanosuke.
The red sun broke through the horizon and if felt like something overcame Yumi at that moment. She closed her eyes at the light and smiled gently. She was in need of guidance and it seemed earth was there to help her.
"I don't know what to do. Please if anyone or anything out there can help me please send me a sign! Please anything!" she cried.
More tears were surfacing and Yumi impatiently wiped them away. She almost felt foolish at her useless attempts. She quickly turned back into the house and into her room and shut the door quietly. Sano looked down in disgust with himself, feeling responsible for Yumi's torment, standing behind the wall of the kitchen close enough to see and hear Yumi's pains.
He had to do something. He wouldn't let her feel so helpless because of her jerk of a lover before and himself. He sighed heavily with guilt and walked modestly to Yumi's door and slid it open enough to see her crying on top of her futon.
Yumi heard the door open and quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and regained her composure.
"Sagara? What do want here?" she asked quickly.
"Yumi...I'm sorry about yesterday," he said as he sat on a mat in front of her looking down to the floor.
Yumi looked down on him too feeling sorry for his grief, "No Sano, it...it was my fault I was expecting too much from both of us. I thought I could get over Shishio easy and you'd be an easy catch."
Sano gave a little chortle at that and became quiet again, "Yumi I...it's not like I don't like you its just that..." and here it came the very sentence that came straight from the very truth of Sano's heart that even he wasn't entirely aware of. He looked up into her eyes; those once sparkling dark orbs now dull with worry and heartache. If he'd do anything for this girl, it'd be to make her eyes sparkle again full of her spirit.
"...Yumi I love you," he whispered and those words felt Yumi like skin against silk.
She leaned over to him and smiled delicately and Sano, being relieved the most intimidating part was over, smiled too. So there in the light of the morn with the shadows of the room slowly disappearing was where Yumi and Sano first took in each other with no shame, or hidden plans and they felt like one. The peace you feel when you're with the one you want to spend forever with and just melt into one another. No other thing on earth ever made Yumi feel like the way she did at that moment, words are useless to describe the contentment she felt and the turmoil within her subsiding. For once in her life she felt like she belong to something. For once in her life she felt loved.