A/N: Hello! Long time no see! I hope everyone is doing well.

Apologizing for the long absence should be one of the first things I need to do - I am sorry!

Although this story already has a written end, I felt as if it needed a bit more "meat", which culminates in this chapter - the longest of all chapters so far!

It turns out this is a long, bumpy and jumpy chapter - this is a disclaimer and another apology.

I also must warn everyone that another one of these "additional" chapters will happen again between chapter X and XI.

Lastly, Thank you everyone for reading this and Happy Holidays!

Whatever it was - Chapter IX

"And Yumi?"

"She must be running late…"

"I see…"

"I'll go order."

"Sure!"

There was nothing different with the way Sachiko looked that afternoon. It was just as if the woman was sitting at a Yamayurikai meeting: proper posture, perfect hair, carrying herself in a way only an Ogasawara could. Nevertheless, her aura felt brighter, lighter, any trace of aloofness erased from the heiress forever. All because of a certain brunette, owner of large dark-chocolate orbs, who couldn't keep her feelings from showing on her face and who had this strange yet wonderful ability to mollify the most hardened of hearts.

"Sa-chan and Sensei!" The kid behind the counter shouted, placing two paper cups on the pick-up area.

"Really?"

Sachiko stood up smiling at Noriko and without uttering a word the heiress quickly grabbed the drinks and brought them back to the table. She had told Noriko over and over again that she was going to be forever in debted to the soon-to-be professor for everything that she had done for her and Yumi. However, she had never promised Noriko she wasn't going to poke fun of her once in a while.

"How is your coffee?" Sachiko asked, after her first sip.

Noriko smiled, "It's delicious! Thank you."

"And how is your heart?"

"Sa-chan…"

Many moons ago, Noriko had asked Sachiko the same question. Many moons ago, Sachiko had given Noriko a very similar answer. Sachiko knew that prying would only cause the younger woman to ask for privacy regarding such matters – which was exactly her own request to Noriko in the past. However, having had developed a strong bond throughout the years and having gone through thick and thin with the help of the soon-to-be professor, Sachiko was still going to try.

"Although I don't want to admit, many things – some of which I never would like to know – reach my ears on a daily basis." Sachiko knew Shimako was the daughter of a Buddhist preacher even before Noriko did. Unfortunately, the connections the heiress had, were quick to disclose things in hopes to gain her trust. "Consequently, I knew about Shimako before Onee-sama told me of your encounter with her."

"…"

"Please, Riko?"

Life had funny ways to make Noriko go through discovery moments. One of those happened while Sachiko sat by the professor-to-be several years ago, sipping on the same drink of choice from the same coffee shop. Although, at that point in time, the dark cloud that followed Sachiko, stole any resemblance of humanity the woman had. The bags under her eyes, the disheveled tresses, the shaky hands, dry and cracked by wandering for too many hours outside in the cold Tokyo winter: Sachiko was not herself without Yumi's tenderness.

The red string of fate in which enveloped each and every member of the Yamayurikai had somehow brought Noriko to find Sachiko outside her favorite coffee shop the day before she was to leave Tokyo indefinitely. Noriko had left her phone at home with the excuse she wanted to see the city the way she used to as a child – one last time. Unbeknown to Noriko, the device was left to ring and buzz incessantly with calls and text messages from Youko and Sei pleading all the girls to look for a missing heiress…

"Riko and Sa-chan," Two cups sat on the counter, but Noriko didn't move. Something was wrong; she knew Sachiko wasn't one to walk around without a jacket in the midst of a quite cold winter.

"Riko and Sa-chan," Noriko finally grabbed the cups without ever taking her eyes off of the heiress, who sat quietly at a booth, wrapped in Noriko's winter coat. The brunette gave Sachiko her cup, and for some reason felt the urge to sit by the heiress and not across from the girl. Body heat, was Noriko's excuse.

"How's your coffee?"

"It is quite delicious, thank you."

"And, your heart?"

"Noriko-chan, what gives you the right to ask such a personal question?"

Noriko feared she couldn't answer that question. Feeling like a hypocrite for trying to help a broken hearted woman while carrying herself the burden of her own brokenness, Noriko was strangely committed to the idea that at least one of those hearts could be saved. She knew for a fact, at that moment, sitting shoulder to shoulder with the Ogasawara heiress that there was no salvaging her relationship with Shimako. The blonde had made it clear that there was no space in her life for Noriko. Sachiko, on the other hand, had Yumi and Yumi wasn't going anywhere.

"Yumi…"

"Excuse, me?"

Once upon a time, a blue umbrella was lost, dates were cancelled and with the combination of such unfortunate events, the faith of a certain brunette in humankind was fractured. Sei, even oblivious to whatever was happening between the Red Roses, had warned Yumi not to give up on Sachiko. Somehow, the former White Rose was quite sensitive to Yumi's feelings. Sei was also much observant of the inconsistencies of Sachiko. Noriko had heard many of Sei's theories about the Yamayurikai girls and the strength of the relationships they cultivated, and even through her own eyes, she could see that Sachiko cared for Yumi immensely. Nevertheless, the heiress was also unyielding when her family's private life was at steak. Still, Noriko felt the need to press forward. She had already lost the love of her life, if Sachiko's friendship was also lost during that battle, then be it. Noriko was going away regardless, would one more casualty really change the path the former Rosa Gigantea was choosing? She didn't think so.

"When your grandmother was sick and you had to cancel the dates you had with Yumi-sama… she told me she thought she had lost you to Touko forever…."

"…"

"Nijou-san, if there's something you want to say, please, be straightforward about it."

"You're…" Noriko had to clear her throat; even though she was once Rosa Gigantea, she was still in front of Ogasawara Sachiko, "You're too hard on yourself, I mean. And even harder on the people who love you." Noriko was sure that the behavior wasn't premeditated; Sachiko coped with internal turmoil by going into flight mode. Noriko knew that mechanism very well; Shimako was much like Sachiko as far as dealing with the inadequacies of feeling too much.

At that moment, taking a second leap of faith, Noriko felt like a martyr of love. Was a broken heart all it took for anyone to become a wise defender of 'what should have beens,' and 'what could have beens?' For the first time Noriko understood Sei's unabashed need to see love flourish. So, Noriko, enthralled with her own discovery, took a deep breath and went for it, "Sachiko-sama, if you are not willing to fight for the woman you love, then you don't deserver her love at all."

There, the truth was out; as clear as a mid-summer day in Tokyo. And Noriko didn't panic. She didn't get up and left Sachiko there, she didn't break the side contact with the heiress, nor did she flinch or tried to hide at any point. Noriko simply sat there, looking through the glass window, toward the empty street, drinking what was left of her coffee and waiting for Sachiko to digest those words that could have very much been the last she would say to the heiress.

"…"

"How bad does it hurt?" The words left Sachiko's lips hesitantly, much to Noriko's surprise.

There was serenity in Noriko's voice, a deliberate calm carried each word, methodical pauses separated every sentence, "Knowing that I will never see her face again hurts like hell. In all truthfulness, I thought I'd win the battle. It was always the way she looked at me that gave me hope. Even when she was telling me that she had made up her mind about joining the cloister, her eyes always told me otherwise. They told me she loved me. They told me to wait for her… I still cannot believe she's gone."

Everybody knew Noriko was mature for her age. Sachiko was learning at that moment of the incalculable depth within the young Rosa Gigantea's understanding of her own heart. Much like Yoshino's request for Yumi not to grow up too fast and leave the twin-braided en-bouton behind during the beginning of their friendship, Sachiko felt the urge to plead Noriko not to leave her behind in the quest toward the understanding of love and its effects; even after what was yet to come, "It hurts so much, Sachiko-sama, I don't wish this upon anyone… What you're doing to Yumi-sama just because of tradition, you should know, is killing her. Tradition is there to be re-written! Yumi-sama has done everything in her power to make you aware of how much she loves you and how much she'll suffer when you ask her to be part of dress fittings, of tea ceremonies, of dinners and cocktails and stupid crap that you rich people do before weddings!"

"Noriko!"

"I'm not done yet." It was a quiet whisper, but the conviction rang in Sachiko's ears much like a loud scream. "You asked how bad it hurts. I'll tell you how bad it hurts… Grab a razor, Sachiko-sama, and drag it across your ankle, then watch that cut bleed. Then every time it heals, re-open it, wash yourself off, cover the wound and try to pretend it doesn't exist, that it doesn't hurt every single time you take a step. Try to forget of the throbbing each night you lie in bed – there is no forgetting."

In Noriko's case, the throbbing was ever present within her chest. Each step she took around Tokyo was a reminder that Shimako's fingers would never find hers, that the blonde's hair would never accidentally touch Noriko's face when a harder breeze blew, that Noriko would never be able to make Shimako smile or laugh out loud ever again, that Shimako's voice would never reach Noriko's ears to tell her what scared the blonde, what made her mad, what made her happy.

"She's gone and I'm left with this broken heart. That and the memories of someone who never really loved me. Is that what you want Yumi to be left with?"

"Nori–"

"Sa-chan!" Suguru's voice cracked. Maybe it was the fact he was out in the cold for several hours; maybe it was just how his voice sounded when he wasn't trying to be an asshole; maybe he was really relieved he had finally found the heiress. One thing was for sure, Suguru wasn't happy. Truth be told, he would have liked for Sachiko to escape, to have kidnapped Yumi and run away from Tokyo. Perhaps that was really asking for too much, Suguru wasn't that lucky.

"Suguru-sama, what makes you think you can scream at Sachiko-sama like that?"

"Noriko-san, have you not checked your messages? Sa-chan left her home early this morning without saying a word to anyone. We were worried sick something had happened to her!"

"Noriko, it's ok!" Sachiko tried to tame the younger Rosa Gigantea.

"No, it's not!" Noriko once again whispered. "Suguru-sama," she continued, "Regardless of what has transpired in Sachiko's life, you have interrupted a very important conversation." The dark-haired girl held on to her cup with both hands and with the tranquility only a Rosa Gigantea had, she looked down to her cup before looking back up again, "To answer your question, no, I have not checked my messages since this morning as I was taking care of last-minute arrangements for my trip tomorrow."

"…"

"I will make sure that Sachiko gets home in one piece once we're done talking. You can trust me. I will drive her to the Ogasawara Mansion in a couple of hours. Sachiko will be home before dinner. Please, be sure to tell everyone she is safe and with me. And for now, I would much appreciate if you left us to finish what you have interrupted by barging in."

There was a long silence at first. Suguru looked at Sachiko, then Noriko, then back at Sachiko, but couldn't find words to rebuke Noriko's. Finally, he brought both hands to his face, rubbing his eyes, "I'll make sure everyone knows you're with Nijou-san." He let out a long sigh before walking away as he fished out his cell phone from his pocket and started to dial.

"…"

Noriko watched Suguru hold his phone to his ear and shake his head crossing the street toward his car. When he drove away she stood up, "Noriko, please."

"I'm not going anywhere, Sachiko-sama. I'm just ordering more coffee… and food. You must be starving."

"No…Riko…" The heiress smiled; a legitimate smile, with sincerity that reached dark-blue orbs and made Noriko's lopsided smirk bloom into a full grin. It was the first time in many days that the two women had felt warmth reach their hearts.

Sachiko sat at the booth and watched Noriko look at the menu written on the wall.

Please, Noriko, don't leave me behind.

A year had gone by since the first heart-to-heart between the former Rosa Chinensis and Gigantea. December's low temperatures had allowed the snow from mid-November to accumulate on the sidewalks across Boston, accentuating the deep hues of the dark-red brick buildings. Noriko had grown fond of the snow, of the older buildings, of the parallelepiped roads, of bad traffic, of the twenty minutes it took for her to walk from downtown to Chinatown.

Being away from Tokyo had its perks; Noriko was no longer haunted by the ghost of young girls clad in dark uniforms, adorned with sailor collars who flooded bus stops and train stations every morning and afternoon squealing, 'Gokigenyou, Onee-sama.' There was no fear of someone who knew the history of the Yamayurikai stopping the former Rose to ask questions about why she never took a Petit Soeur.

Although tumultuous in many aspects, Noriko's high school career was the time she harvested friendships that were bound to last a lifetime. One of said relationships started at a coffee shop, flourishing to the extent that a certain heiress had taken Christmas break off from family to visit Noriko for a week.

"Were you not able to think of anything smarter than that?" Sachiko flipped her hair and headed to baggage claim while Noriko still held the sign that read 'Ice Princess.'

"I thought you'd be happy to see I haven't forgotten, Sa-chan!"

Truth be told, Noriko's straightforwardness was ever so endearing to Sachiko, who had grown up amongst people who masked themselves, and to gain favors, had to treat Sachiko with less than candid smiles. Nevertheless, it was through those same people that Sachiko had heard about Shimako's change of heart about the cloister, though she had no intentions to disclose that information to Noriko during that trip.

More than anything she wanted to spend time with a happier Noriko, one who stood behind the heiress, eyes closed tightly, arms up high holding her handmade sign. As Sachiko fished her bag from the moving belt, turning around to find Noriko at that exact position, with a smile plastered across her face, under the sunlight that stubbornly beamed through the upper windows of the airport, Sachiko saw more than a first-year college kid standing in front of her. She saw a beautiful mess of a woman, broken by lost love, but with hope pouring from every inch of those wonderful bones and skin that together created a breathtaking creature. Human, not Maria-sama like, just human. And to Sachiko, that was the most incredible thing she had seen, because Noriko was simply Noriko.

"I am the Ice Princess. And now everyone in America knows that, thanks to you, Riko."

"Don't be so mean, Sa-chan!

The two friends got in Noriko's car and drove away; the idle conversation about the flight, college classes, and family kept them from touching much deeper subjects during the car ride. Nevertheless, both young women knew that sooner or later it would happen. Broken hearts brought them together, to avoid the topic was to deny the ties that kept those two hearts connected.

During the second day of Sachiko's visit, as the girls walk into Noriko's dorm room, Sachiko reached into her purse, pulling out a plane ticket, as she extended her arms offering the piece of paper to Noriko, she bowed deeply, "It would mean the world to me if you came to my wedding. Please, be one of my bridesmaids."

"…"

Sachiko stood there, silently waiting for Noriko's response. When the words came out of her young friend, she wasn't surprised at all, "More than anyone else, the only wedding I want to attend is the one Yumi is also a bride."

"We've discussed this before, Riko…" Sachiko stood straight, though she kept her arms stretched out, "Please, take it."

"You don't want me to be in that church when the priest asks if there's anyone against your marriage. I'm sure by now you know I will voice my opinion. You don't want a crazy woman's words interfering with this ridiculous farce."

Lean arms outstretched shook while tears rolled down Sachiko's face, "I'd want nothing more than for you to do that, Riko. I'd want nothing more than for anyone to do that. Please, take the ticket."

"Is that why you came all the way here for? To ask me to travel to Tokyo on a suicide mission?"

"…"

"Give." Noriko took a deep breath before taking the ticket from Sachiko's hands then brought the heiress into a tight embrace. "You're an impossible woman. Who else have you coerced into this?"

"S-Satou-san."

"Is this a Gigantea homicide you're planning?

"Rei said Yoshino also has plans of her own…"

"And you, Sa-chan?"

"You know more than anyone that I don't want to marry him."

"Sa-chan…"

When the week of Sachiko's wedding came around, Noriko boarded her plane hesitantly and as she saw the Tokyo lights, she felt her heart tighten. Nothing had changed from when Noriko left; the roads looked the same, the street signs were the same, the gingko trees stood tall, though every single Sakura tree was covered with pink and red petals. Sachiko had planned everything so gracefully, it was as if she had consulted with Mother Nature and scheduled the wedding for the perfect day of the blooming season.

Kanako parked the car in the garage and headed to Yumiko's home to let her know she had arrived and to introduce Noriko to the older lady. The tall girl was lucky enough to have met Katou Kei and Yumiko through Sei. When Kei moved out, Kanako took over the responsibilities of caring for the house and Yumiko as well.

"Noriko-san, you have traveled all the way here for Ogasawara Sachiko's wedding? You must be a good friend of hers." The older lady started.

"Yes, ma'am. We have become very close friends."

"Are you here to stop her from marrying a man she doesn't love?"

"Yumiko-sama!" Kanako's reply was nothing but a squeal.

"Kanako, I am old. Not an idiot. Between talking to Yumi and Touko, I have grown fond of this idea. I am sure Sachiko's grandmother, who was a good friend of mine would be proud of the person putting an end to this horrendous mistake."

"If all goes according to plan, Yumiko-san, I will keep this mistake from happening."

"Let's see which one of you ladies will make the move first. Touko-chan has been rehearsing her lines for the past year."

As Sachiko walked across the isle side by side with her father, Noriko couldn't help but notice Touko's fidgeting legs. She also found Sei, sittion on a pew in front of the bridesmaids, her eyes met Noriko's for an instant and she smiled. Yumi held her breath, trying not to cry while standing only a few steps from Suguru. When Sachiko took her final steps toward Suguru, Youko had already stepped away toward the sacristy, Noriko could hear the fading footsteps that led the older Chinensis sister to the second floor of the church.

Youko couldn't watch her Petite Soeuer marry someone she didn't love while the Yumi stood there quietly with tears in her eyes. The elder Red Rose had promised she wouldn't do anything crazy, she had told herself that she was going to let things happen as they should. She had told Sei she wouldn't meddle, and had lost Sei because of that decision; however, at that instant, Youko couldn't handle everyone's cowardice. As she approached the corner that housed the old church's organ, another somebody had already turned it on and was working on hooking the proper cables so the sound would resonate through the speakers.

Clad in a black dress, a single braid draped on her right shoulder, Todou Shimako smiled at Youko, "Gokigenyou, Rosa Chinensis."

One way or another someone would have said something during that wedding. One way or another, Sachiko wouldn't marry Suguru and Noriko was happy that love was going to win at last. Nevertheless, at the same time that Noriko felt her heart swell up with happiness for Yumi, when Tooru's words bounced off of the church's walls, she also hurt deeply by realizing that she would never be on the receiving end of the miracle of second chances…

"There are so many questions I want to ask her. But I have no idea where to start." Noriko's answer to Sachiko's question wasn't what the Ogasawara heiress wanted to hear. Nevertheless, Sachiko didn't really know what exactly the perfect answer would have been. She knew Noriko suffered for a long time – Shimako's absence had carved a large scar in Noriko's heart.

"When you talk to her, Rico… know that sometimes people do things because they don't see a way to escape fate. Without you and Sei, and Onee-sama, and Touko and everyone else, I wouldn't be able to have Yumi." Although Sachiko's heart went out to Noriko, she also understood why Shimako did what she did. "I think she has learned her lesson, Rico. I can't ask you to forget what she did to you, but I'd like to ask you to at least listen to what she has to say. I am sure she will end up answering many of these unknown questions you have."

"I can't promise anything Sa-chan. I'm not even sure of what to think… I'm jus—"

Sachiko looked down at the phone that had interrupted Noriko, picking it up and showing the caller ID that read 'Ogasawara Yumi' to the soon-to-be-professor, and Noriko nodded.

"You're extremely la—"

"S-slow it down, Yumi. What's wrong?"

Silence.

"I see. We'll be there as soon as we can."

Silence

"I love you, too. Everything will be okay…"

Sachiko dropped the call as she grabbed her purse and stood up. "Yumi is in the hospital with Yoshino. We need to go."