A/N:This is a Rosa Gigantea-heavy chapter. The blonde Rosa Gigantea! I feel as if I cannot tell Noriko's story without dabbing into Sei's first. Their hearts - at least the way I see them - are heavily interconnected.

Thank you for reading!

Whatever it was - Chapter V

Noriko's eyes peaked at Kanako for a split second before she covered them with her blanket once again, and as she drifted back into sleep she couldn't help but inhale the deep aroma of freshly brewed coffee coming from the kitchen. With such magnitude, the scent that roared the morning anew was also quick to reach Sei's nostrils, and the woman, ever so gently untangled the legs and arms that cuddled a former Rosa Chinensis possessively throughout the night. Youko didn't fight, knowing that like many other occasions, Sei would get her way no matter what – it was only a matter of time. The blonde, free from Youko's arms, immediately missed the warmth that the dark-haired woman provided. Though as if possessed by a higher force, Sei pushed herself off the couch and stepped onto the floor.

"EEEP!" Whimpered a very sleepy and still slightly intoxicated voice.

"Riko!" Sei whispered.

"Noriko?" Youko also squealed as she sat on the couch she shared with Sei that night.

Noriko sat up on the floor and watched the two women squirm, "Yeah?" she finally questioned.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Sei asked.

"Sleeping… What else would I be doing here?"

Youko stood up and walked toward the kitchen, "Why?" she asked, then opening a cabinet door and retrieving three mugs the woman proceeded to pour coffee and sugar into them. All the while Sei sat back on the couch, silently watching Youko's every move as she handled the coffee situation.

"Nana is in Rei and Yoshino's room, and I didn't want to bug Sachiko and Yumi or Kanako and Touko," Noriko finished, standing up and walking to the dining table where Youko had placed the coffee mugs she had stirred. Sei also grabbed her mug, taking a sip of the much anticipated liquid even before sitting by Noriko.

"Noriko…." Sei started, but Noriko was quick to stop the blonde from continuing,

"Do you guys remember what happened the last time you tried to pull this nonsense?"

"…"

Noriko took the silence as a yes, then continued, "Does everyone know?"

Sei said nothing but the shake of her head and the smirk toward Youko spoke for the both of them.

"How long?" Noriko asked.

"Three years," Youko answered.

"Three years!" The dark-haired girl whispered exasperatedly, lifting her hand and holding up three fingers. "Oh. No. No. No. No. No way!"

"…"

"The reception, and everyone was there, and Youko was there, and…" Sei took a deep breath and looked at Youko, "I want to be happy, Noriko. That's the bottom line. I've always known that Youko had this extraordinary capability of mending my heart. But I was always so absorbed by my own sorrow that I never really paid attention to everything else that this woman is capable of doing to it." Sei had for so long been engrossed by the brokenness of her heart that she had closed her eyes –and her heart – to anyone that had romantic intentions toward her. "For the longest time I refused to see that Youko," Sei pointed at the woman across from her, "is actually my heart. When I was done looking at my scars and feeling bad for myself, I finally looked up and she was there."

"Whom did you tell?"

"Rei and Yoshino," Youko responded.

Noriko shook her head, "That's it?"

"For now," Sei responded as Sachiko stepped into the kitchen, walking straight to the coffee pot, "What's for now, Satou?" the Ogasawara heiress probed.

Sei looked around the table, then back up to Sachiko and answered with a smirk, "The fact that I have been making sweet love to your Onee-sama for the past three years and you had no idea."

"Sei-sama!" Yumi couldn't help but blush at the absurd words coming out of Sei's mouth.

"Onee-sama?" Sachiko looked at Youko with questioning eyes, "What's going on?"

"I'm afraid you have heard it correctly," Youko answered calmly.

"Heard what?" Yoshino questioned as she and Nana sat at the table by Noriko and Rei joined Sachiko.

Yumi's eyes grew large as she answered her friend's question, "That Youko and Sei are going out again!"

"Oh, that?" Yoshino replied nonchalantly.

" Yoshino!" Yumi countered.

"What? Are you guys seriously surprised?" Yoshino asked.

"Surprised about what?" Touko questioned, also making her way into the kitchen with Kanako in tow.

Sachiko handed Touko a mug, then while refilling Kanako's she started, "That Sei and Onee-sama - "

"Are sleeping together?" Kanako interrupted.

"Kan-chan!?" Touko gasped.

"What? Did you not know? I've seen them make out almost every time we went out together, for several years now. And this morning I couldn't tell whose legs were whose when they were on the couch… I figured everyone knew…"

"How long?" Touko asked.

"About three years." Sei responded.

"So since the… Oh my lord, were you guys… in our wedding?"

"Those were happy times, Touko-chan!" Sei replied

"Tell us how it started," Noriko asked flatly.

"Yes. Tell us, Satou," Sachiko said, pulling a chair and sitting by the kitchen island, quickly being joined by Rei who had served Nana and Yoshino before pouring herself a cup.

"Youko?" Sei looked for approval.

"I don't mind."

"Well. It's kind of a long story…"

Noriko put her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her clasped hands, "I don't have any plans for today," she said matter-of-factly.

"Okay…. Well…"
"…"

"Sei!" Youko scolded the woman, "today!"

Sei quickly adjusted herself in her chair and started, "Ok. So, Youko is a difficult woman to please, if you guys couldn't tell by now, but she sure knows what she wants in life and she makes sure she voices her opinion about her wants."

Sei's story began with the night Shiori left her waiting at the train station. Youko and her Onee-sama had rescued her, stuffed her face with cookies and taken her to Youko's house. Nothing could cure a broken heart faster than sugar and late-night movies.

In the middle of that night, Sei tapped Youko on the shoulder and she agreed to go on a walk with the blonde. It was a cold and windy night, the trees stood there, stripped from their leaves, as bare as Sei's heart felt at that particular moment. The two friends walked a ways and sat on a bench by a light that flickered on and off. "I think our silence spoke a tremendous amount about what was going on, not only in my heart but also in Youko's. That night, Youko was the one who broke the silence first," and at that moment Sei wished with all of her heart for Youko to take back the words that ran out of the haven-haired woman's mouth more like a rant full of rage than anything remotely close to a love declaration.

Sei chuckled from across the table, anticipating what she was about to do. Leaning forward to where Youko was sitting across from her, she pointed a finger at the dark-haired woman like she was about to admonish her, then she raised her voice, "I know you're hurting and she didn't have the right to do that to you. She doesn't deserve your love and all the tears you've shed. She wasn't capable of seeing how amazing you are, Sei… I know this is too soon and I might be making a huge mistake right now, but I see you. All of you."

Sei withdrew her finger from Youko's face, sitting back on her chair, "To this day I still tell her that 'I love you' would've been a better option." For years, Youko wisely repeated that 'I love you' would've been the beginning and the end of everything. Many moons later, Sei had finally understood the implications of that declaration at such an early stage by Youko, especially under the circumstances building up to the quite bold – and somewhat ambiguous – confession.

Sei told Youko that it was too early for her to think straight about anything, "and that I was lucky to have her as a friend – what I stupid, stupid move, right?"

Youko went on to date a few people before she graduated from Lillian and Sei… didn't. "Well, I crushed on Yumi for a millisecond there, but then realized I needed someone to actually whip me into shape and not pat me on the head when I was being a hysterical brat," Sei finished, looking at Sachiko and smiling. "I really didn't date anyone till Kei."

Accepting Katou Kei's advances was Sei's way to cope with the fact that Youko had turned her down during their freshman year of college. "The funny part is that out of all places, it happened on Lillian grounds…. Remember that fair with Kanako's dad and all of that? Yeah… so, after all of that happened I walked Youko to that Sakura tree that's squeezed between the gingkoes, and boy that tree was blooming beautifully. Out of all the years I spent at Lillian I had never seen that tree so full of petals. I thought… you know, the last time we had talked about feelings was winter, and my heart was withered like the trees that surrounded us that night, so I was excited to actually notice the new season and the colors that it actually sprung." Youko and Sei sat under that Sakura tree yet again silently and yet again Youko was the one who spoke first: 'I'm getting married,' Sei's heart exploded inside her chest. The blonde's lips quivered and her jaw locked in a failed attempt to hide the pain. Her eyes, on the other hand, betrayed her when they filled with tears that trickled down her face. Sei wanted to die – again.

Youko went on to clarify some things: who and when and how the announcements would be handled and all the major details of the ceremony. When Youko was done Sei stood up and helped her up, "and as she stood in front of me, I kissed her… because I knew that no words coming out of my mouth at that moment would either make sense or stop her from doing what she wanted to. Youko gets what Youko wants, after all." Needless to say, she pushed Sei away saying things that opened Sei's eyes even wider to the fact that she had grown to be a coward… "She also said things like, 'I couldn't wait for you forever,' and 'stop messing with my heart,' and 'please, don't make this more difficult than it has to be.' Normal Youko sayings… Nothing too out of the ordinary, you know. You guys have probably heard some good sayings come out of her mouth one time or another…"

After the damage was done, Sei started to walk away, "but then she grabbed me, swung me around and kissed me! I kissed her back, thinking that was her way to say goodbye to me, and truthfully, I was more than okay with that, because at least the woman had the decency to bid me farewell properly…" Regardless, Sei walked through those Lillian gates empty handed and broken-hearted yet again…

Youko watched Sei take a long sip of her coffee, taking advantage of the brief pause to ask her friends if they needed a refill, "Anyone need more sugar or milk?" The dark-haired woman added, feeling for a moment as if a Yamayurikai meeting was taking place. Hearing replies from Yoshino, Touko, as well as Sei and Yumi, Youko brought the sugar and milk to the table then the coffee pot, re-filling everyone's mugs.

Sei decided to continue while she watched some of the girls add sugar and milk to their drinks, "As soon as I stepped through those gates I called Kei and she told me to come over… She made me tea and listened to my stories and was someone I could rely on at that time, so I decided to give that relationship a shot. I didn't want to miss out on things because I was scared or thought I wasn't ready anymore, you know…

Sei woke up early the next morning so she could go back to her dorm, shower and pick up her books before her first class. She stopped by the coffee shop across from Lillian to grab a cup of coffee and when she was on her way out, she saw the newspaper with the wedding announcement on it. "You know… when I heard it from Youko, there was something inside of me that hoped she was just making it up to get back at me for being an idiot through all of those years, but actually seeing it written on the paper…written on the entire stack of newspapers… that's a complete different feeling." She lifted all of them and looked at each one just to try soaking the information in. Sei was late for class that morning, "… and then I didn't even bother going to class the next day. Yumi called me that night and we talked for a little bit. I never really thought I'd be on the same boat as her, and out of a sudden there we were, mourning a love that had died because we were terrified of trying to give life to it."

The biggest difference between the two friends was that Yumi was strong and stood by Sachiko's side even though her heart was killing her. Sei withdrew from Youko. "I didn't answer her calls, text messages, e-mails… I even pretended not to be in my dorm room several times when she decided to stop by. Then I basically hid in Kei's house for months and wouldn't leave till late at night."

Kei didn't mind and Sei was thankful for the brunette's understanding. Fall turned into winter with a speed Sei couldn't fathom. Then winter gave way to spring and spring became summer in a blink of eyes. In the middle of that summer Kei finally said that she needed space. Sei thanked the woman for taking care of her, then up and left, spending a few weeks in Italy with Shizuka, then another month at the Todou shrine, "you know, cleaning steps and sweeping dead leaves."

When Sei decided to come back to the city, she contacted Yumi and they met up for tea, "Noriko also came along and I thought I was ready to go back to school and just live life… and that's what I tried to do. Fall rolled around and I decided to be normal again. You know, it was time."

Two months had already passed and Sei was walking out of class, getting ready to go get lunch when a very familiar voice stopped her on the hallway. "My heart dropped to my stomach. I did the math in my head quickly and realized that we were, give or take a few weeks, six months away from the wedding."

The realization didn't settle well with Sei's stomach, "and I actually had to rush back into the classroom, straight to the trashcan, where I lost my breakfast." After rinsing her mouth out and finding a piece of gum at the bottom of her backpack, Sei followed Youko to the cafeteria and the two estranged friends sat there, facing each other and pretending to enjoy a can of tea in silence, till once again Youko spoke first. "She told me that she tried to get a hold of me multiple times the past several months, that she was worried about me, that she thought about me a lot and finally that she loved me. Blew my mind, this girl. So I grabbed her by the hand and took her to my dorm, and…"

"Sei! They don't need to know what you did," Youko interjected.

"Ok…Ok!" Sei chuckled.

Youko called the wedding off around the same time Sachiko started to make plans for hers, "and that weighed heavily on both of us as we knew very well about Sa-chan and Yumi." Sei and Youko started to disagree on a several things regarding the quite chaotic situation the entire Yamayurikai was invoved in. Sei couldn't handle being quiet, though Youko, out of everyone, decided that meddling would have made things even more unbearable. "This woman! I told her I couldn't watch that situation and I think I felt responsible in a way for Yumi's loss of hope. I became distant and told Youko it was better if we separated."

The couple broke up the day before Sachiko's wedding, going their separate ways for a while. Although, Sei had promised she wouldn't keep Youko away anymore. Youko was the first person Sei asked for help when she tried, very unsuccessfully, to make Noriko stay.

"In a way I am happy I failed. Noriko went on to become an amazing woman; beautiful, smart, well-read… Ok, I'm getting off track here… So, I dated, she dated, we all dated which takes us to the Matsudaira-Hosokawa reception... Well, which takes us to the week before the Matsudaira-Hosokawa reception, when we took a quick trip to Boston."

"What the –" Yoshino started but was quickly silenced by Rei's hand, so Sei could continue, "Well, Sa-chan had a meeting in Sapporo and Yumi was stuck kissing some investor's ass, so the only red rose available was Youko, and who could've been a better translator for this beautiful woman, than me?!"

"But Youko-sama speaks English fluently," Nana said.

"Ah. I didn't say she needed one."

"Sei…" Youko sighed.

"Okay… Okay… So, we all stayed at Noriko's, and Youko got to be one of the witnesses and when all was said and done I really missed spending time with my best friend…"

When the trip to Boston had come to an end, Sei thought about Youko day and night. "Her smile never left my mind. She held my hand only once during that entire trip, and the places her fingers touched made my skin burn for days." Sei called Youko every day during that following week, though they were both busy with work and weren't able to see each other till their friends' reception.

"The wait almost killed me and if that wasn't enough, I started to shake when I saw her. Do you guys remember what she was wearing?" From the blue dress to the high heels; from the small and delicate bracelet to the small earrings, Youko looked stunning and Sei was dumbfounded just looking at her. When Youko closed the distance between them, standing in front of Sei with a smile that could brighten that entire room, the Blonde's heart melted! "She hugged me, and I was paralyzed. I thought… How could I have let someone like her walk away from my life? You know… we had disagreed about things that we thought were fundamentally important, but had we not, maybe Sachiko and Yumi wouldn't be together today. I wanted to shake those two, Youko wanted to wait. Like always I was impatient and reckless and I had lost the woman I loved because I couldn't be still…"

And there Youko was, unwrapping her arms from around Sei's shoulders when Sei grabbed her by the waist and brought Youko near her once again. Youko gasped, "I'm pretty sure I squeezed her a little too tight, but even so, she didn't say a word." Youko patiently waited for Sei's eyes to slowly travel across her face, imprinting every detail of it in a corner of the blonde's memory that was reserved for Youko and Youko alone. She waited as Sei photographed with her mind the dark specs that floated around the center of Youko's eyes, her perfect nose, her laugh lines, and finally the lips that once belonged to Sei.

That time Sei was the one who broke the silence, 'I love you,' the blonde finally said for the first time after so many years… Youko grabbed Sei by the hand and dragged her into the kitchen; there was food everywhere, trays overflowing with cups filled to the brim with wine and champagne. In their frantic rush, Sei spotted a walk-in fridge and she propped it open with a chair before dragging Youko in. "I leaned her against a million bags of lettuce and… I…kissed… her." Sei kissed Youko with passionate longing, and with a voracity from years of waiting – for the right place and the right words and the right time, when 'right' was just a word, irrelevant when love was supposed to surpass those superfluous excuses. "It was amazing… but brief because a waiter walked in on us… so we walked around the venue and ended up in the parking garage, and since none of us had driven that day, we settled when we found the limo." Sei finished with a very impish smile, getting up from the table and announcing she was ordering food right when her stomach grumbled loudly, like a dying frog, much like Yumi's did in the Rose Mansion years upon years ago.

A/N: I have accidentally broken one of my writing rules - to never re-read a chapter that has already been posted - and the punishment I get is having to re-upload this chapter. Fortunately I had realized what I had done after the first paragraph, so the only change is the correct spelling of the word 'occasionally.' I apologize for any other misspelling errors. 10/7