MariMite
Stuck With You
The two girls sat in a comfortable silence as Sachiko thread her fingers in and out of Yumi's hair, weaving skilfully through silken strands whilst enjoying the feel of the satin-like locks as her fingers danced through them.
Yumi also seemed to be having a good time, as she kept emitting small noises of approval – a content sigh every now and then, a small moan occasionally as Sachiko's fingers proved how masterful they were.
And they should be, Sachiko thought with a bitter-sweet smile, what with all the paper work Father has me do in preparation for the take-over of the company.
Ogasawara Tooru, whilst a good man in many ways, could not quite grasp the face that Sachiko had eight years until she was due to inherit Ogasawara Industries. The plan at the moment was that she would go to college for two years and then get married to Suguru. After that it was a long and unhappy life serving as Suguru's wife. Sachiko was hoping to delay the wedding for as long as possible – marriage meant conception within the first year to the Ogasawara elders. That was one road that the raven-haired beauty did not want to travel down, and certainly not with her gay cousin.
Of course, that was a tad hypocritical of the young woman, but there weren't many other insults that she could use against the Kashiwagi. Immature? Not very often. Childish? That was the same as immature. A dunce? He certainly wasn't that. A playboy…? Well, if her assumptions were correct, then that he could be. Sachiko had heard from reliable sources that Suguru went to many love hotels and motels with different young men, only to leave in the morning with a very pleased smile on his face, like the cat who got the cream.
Anyway, the papers and documents of the Ogasawara clan stated that the heir would not inherit the corporation until the age of twenty-five unless the current leaders died. The papers also stated that the heir had to be married in order to claim the corporation. That last rule did not apply to men, which infuriated Sachiko a little, but she had no say over the matter. This was all decided for her. If she didn't marry Suguru then she wouldn't inherit the company which had been in her family for generations.
She was born to carry on the Ogasawara legacy. There was no other reason as to why she was conceived. To break the engagement with Suguru would disgrace her family's name forever, and she couldn't do that to her mother. No matter the reasons as to why Sachiko was born, she knew that her mother loved her dearly, and to see the look of disappointment on her face if Sachiko told her that the marriage was off… She didn't know if she could handle that. To honour her family and live a life as a caged bird, or to disgrace her family and spread her wings?
She didn't know which path to take.
Her heart was screaming to cancel everything Ogasawara-related and admit her love for Yumi, to live by her side if her feelings were reciprocated, and to be like any other woman in Tokyo. Her brain, on the other hand, was telling her that it would be an unrequited love and to forget about Yumi once the young girl finished school, to go ahead and marry her cousin to keep up the family tradition.
Sachiko mentally sighed. It seemed unfair to her for so much pressure to be piled onto a young woman of seventeen.
Yumi shifted, snapping Sachiko out of her thoughts. The younger girl wriggled slightly before leaving back completely and resting her head on Sachiko's right shoulder, her face tilted towards Sachiko's neck.
"Yumi?" Sachiko asked, blushing a little.
"A-Ano… you're pretty comfy," came the quiet reply. And judging by the warmth Sachiko could feel on her neck, Yumi was blushing too.
The two sat for a while more, enjoying being in each other's presence when Yumi mumbled, "Something's different."
"What was that?" Sachiko asked, not hearing Yumi's incoherent sentence.
"I said 'something's different,'" Yumi repeated a little louder. She leaned closer to Sachiko's neck and inhaled. Frowning a little, she pulled the collar of the older-girl's turtleneck down, breathing in once more. Sachiko's breath hitched at the contact, her cheeks turning red at the touch, and she had to contain a miniature moan as Yumi's nose nuzzled the tender skin of her neckline. She prayed to God that Yumi didn't hear the low rumble in her chest.
When Yumi looked up at her and was frowning playfully, it was apparent she hadn't. A tiny sigh of relief escaped Sachiko's lips. She focused her blue eyes onto the mock-offended face in front of her as the younger girl exclaimed: "You lied to me!"
A flawless cobalt eyebrow was arched at her, "Excuse me?"
"You lied to me!" Yumi protested, "You did put perfume on at that cashier desk, didn't you?"
Sachiko's jaw dropped a little in surprise. Maybe she hasn't lost all of her perceptiveness after all.
"Your face says it all, Onee-sama," Yumi continued, straightening her face out into one of perfect strictness. If her eyes hadn't been shining with mirth then Sachiko would have felt a little intimidated at the look.
"My face reveals nothing to you," Sachiko turned her head away playfully, sticking her nose in the air as if she was better than the younger girl, "peasant." She added as an after-thought.
"Au contraire, mademoiselle," Yumi smiled, "Your face is but a children's picture book to me. And this peasant knows French, so show some respect."
Sachiko laughed lightly. It really was much too easy for her to let down all of her defences when she was around Yumi. She would tease endlessly, making the younger girl blush with her words. She would have mock-arguments with her sœur, exchanging playful verbal attacks with her until one of them gave up and laughed. She would find herself acting younger and more immature, as if she were a fourteen or fifteen year old whose conversations with friends always included sexual innuendos. She smiled a lot more, and the icy walls around her heart were never present when Yumi was involved. She would feel the increase in her heart rate when she was near her, and on more than one occasion had thought that her little infatuation would get found out as it was thudding so loudly. In short, Sachiko felt alive.
"I'm terribly sorry for my lack of respect, Peasant-sama." The raven-haired girl inclined her head slightly, "Can you bring yourself to forgive me?"
Yumi struck up a thinking pose, placing a finger on her chin and tilting her head upwards as if the ceiling would provide her the answers. Sachiko's heart fluttered again in her chest, and gave a small spasm of protest as Yumi moved out of the embrace and sat cross legged in front of her.
"Hmm… no," Yumi smiled playfully, "I think you should be punished instead."
Punished... Sachiko thought, subconsciously licking her dry lips, I wonder what type of punishment she has in store for me. She blushed as many different images came to her. Then, realising what her brain had thought, mentally reprimanded herself for having her mind in the gutter. As she fought down the red hue across her cheeks she spoke, "What kind of punishment will this be?"
Yumi smirked, "Well, I was thinking about making you perform the Caramelldansen," she mused.
Caramell-whatty? Sachiko's brows knitted together in confusion.
"But I thought you wouldn't know what that was," she looked at Sachiko's face and smiled, "and I guess I was right."
"You'll have to show me one day," Sachiko suggested, curious.
"Mm, I will," Yumi nodded, "It's really fun and the tune is really catchy, but if you do it for too long you get stomach cramps — hey! Stop trying to change the subject!"
Sachiko held her hands up in front of her, "I did no such thing," she protested her innocence.
"Of course not," Yumi drawled playfully, "Heaven forbid the mighty Ogasawara Sachiko trying to talk her way out of something."
"You know, Yumi, you're being rather cheeky today," Sachiko noted, and smiled when she saw the younger girl's face freeze in a mask of shock.
"I-I-I'm sorry, Onee-sama!" Yumi stuttered, panicking, "I didn't realise, I didn't mean to offend you or anything, I mean--"
The raven-haired girl placed a finger on Yumi's lips, silencing any further apologetic rambles. "I was merely mentioning it," Sachiko said in a soft tone, watching how Yumi's eyes lost their frenzied state and returned to normal at the sound of her voice, "I wasn't reprimanding you."
"I'm sorry, I should have been more conscious of myself," Yumi murmured against Sachiko's finger.
"No," Sachiko answered, which made Yumi's eyes turn to her quizzically, "you should never have to feel conscious of yourself when you're around me, Yumi. If you had to force yourself to act differently around me than to other people, shouldn't that make me feel a little insulted?"
She said this in hushed tones, and moved her hand from the girl's lips to her cheek, cupping it tenderly.
"I… yes, you're right. Sorry," Yumi brought her hand up to Sachiko's, holding it to her cheek.
"Yumi…" Sachiko breathed, "What has brought this on? You have never been self-conscious around me before…"
"I…" Yumi looked away ashamedly.
Sachiko was worried. Had she done something inappropriate to Yumi to make her act that way? Why would she feel the need to be self-conscious, when Sachiko accepted her for everything she was and wished that Yumi would never have to change?
"Yumi," She said seriously, "have I done something wrong?"
The reaction was quick. "No, Onee-sama! No! It's not you!" Yumi protested, squeezing Sachiko's hand as if to doubly-reassure her.
Sachiko felt a little relief, but pushed it to the side for now. "Then what is it, Yumi? Everything is alright at home, isn't it?"
Yumi nodded and took Sachiko's hand from her cheek and held it, toying with her fingertips. "Yes, everything is fine. It's just… It's just that I have these… dreams."
"Dreams?" Sachiko asked, "What are they about?"
"I… They have mostly been about you," the younger girl mumbled, yet Sachiko heard.
"About me?" She asked quietly and a little dejectedly, frowning somewhat at the fact that she was the cause of Yumi's disturbance.
"Please let me explain," Yumi said quickly, noting Sachiko's upset. "I… It's…" She was hesitant.
"Yumi," Sachiko squeezed the girl's fingers in a hopefully reassuring manner, "Take a deep breath and tell me clearly."
Yumi did as she was told and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. Exhaling, her brown orbs were revealed and she spoke, "You leave me."
Sachiko blinked once. Twice. Three times. "My…" She murmured.
"You aren't actually there," Yumi continued, looking at the floor as she carried on, unconsciously gripping Sachiko's hand quite tightly. "There are people from the Yamayurikai there. Each time I'm in an enclosed space and don't know why I'm there, and then I hear Youko-sama, or Noriko-chan, and sometimes Touko. They say… horrible things that I know aren't true, but it's like I've become an insecure first year again. At the end, I just see you walking away, and no matter how fast I try to run towards you, I can't catch up." The brunette gave a small shudder that was barely noticeable, yet Sachiko's sharp blue eyes saw it, and a pang of pain shot through her chest.
"That's when I wake up," Yumi concluded, her eyes tearing up.
"Oh, Yumi," Sachiko squeezed her hand, "I would never willingly leave you. You know that, don't you?" She raised her right hand to Yumi's cheeks, wiping away the falling tears with the pad of her thumb.
"Yes, I do," Yumi said, but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
"Yumi, listen to me," Sachiko vaguely thought that what she was going to say next would embarrass the both of them, but chose to ignore that fact. "It would take far much more than words to take me away from you, Yumi." She frowned when Yumi still wouldn't meet her eyes. "Listen to me, Yumi, please," She almost pleaded, desperate to get her point across, "I want to be by your side." A red hue appeared across her nose as brown eyes snapped up to meet her blue ones, "Yumi, do you understand me? I want to be by your side forever."
"O-Onee-sama…" Yumi stuttered, stunned. Then her eyes misted over again and she threw her arms around Sachiko's neck, crying quietly into her shoulder. "It's-It's the same for me!" She spoke into raven hair, "I just want to be with you!"
Sachiko's mind reeled at the words. I just want to be with you! I just want to be with you! I just want to be with you! They repeated over and over in her head. She wants to be with me, she thought, and a beautiful smile spread over her face, she wants to be with me.
And then she caught herself. What was she thinking?! Her mind was overreacting, there was no way that Yumi would have meant what she thought she meant. She had just taken it the wrong way; they both meant different things when they said that.
She turned her attention to the object of her affection, "Yumi, don't cry." She pulled the girl away from her and once again wiped the tears away, "Don't cry," she whispered softly, stroking Yumi's porcelain cheek with the back of her hand tenderly.
"I-I'm sorry, Onee-sama. I seem to be very emotional today," Yumi murmured, staring into Sachiko's eyes.
"It-It's fine," Sachiko actually stuttered the sentence. The gaze which the brunette had fixed on her was so immensely intense that she had almost lost herself. The thing about Yumi was that she had the stare of a child. She could unabashedly stare at you for minutes on end and think nothing of it; she would simply be intrigued, hence why she did it. But the person on the receiving end of that stare would feel these intrigued eyes upon them, and it could make them uncomfortable; make them shift around in their seat uneasily, their eyes looking at the girl once then pointedly away, and then back again, to wonder what is she staring at? The kind of open gaze that could completely destroy one's defences; tear down any wall built up around someone's heart no matter how high the bricks went and no matter how concrete the cement was, leaving the person feeling that they have been stripped of all their outer skins, being left naked next to their weaknesses.
Yumi… My one true weakness…
As Sachiko continued to gaze back into Yumi's eyes, she vaguely noticed that her lips were dry. Unconsciously, her tongue darted out to moisten them, and she noted that Yumi's mesmerizing orbs left her own to look at her lips. Her heartbeat quickened. She stroked the soft skin of Yumi's cheek once more, lightly observing how the brunette leaned in a little to her touch.
Yumi was here - right in front of her, looking so utterly gorgeous with her tear-stained cheeks and her eyes racing with emotion. She was so close, and Sachiko was having great difficulty in stopping herself from leaning forward and closing the gaps between their lips. You've held back for a year, Sachiko, isn't it time you indulged yourself? Her mind tried to nudge her forward. I can't. I just… Her conscience attempted to steer her off of that path, yet struggled to do so.
Sachiko felt her eyes lid, and knew she wouldn't be able to hold off. Yumi, move away before I destroy our relationship! - A desperate plea in the back of her head. But Yumi couldn't hear Sachiko's thoughts, and stayed still as a statue, her eyes flickering from Sachiko's lips to her blue orbs.
The raven-haired Ogasawara leaned forwards a little, her tongue moistening her lips once more in an act of nervous anticipation. Then, her lidded eyes slid shut as she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to her sœur's, thinking only one thing…
Forgive me.
Oohoo. There we have it. Sorry for not updating sooner, an unexpected boyfriend crept into the picture. I've also decided not to say to people 'I should have the next one up soon' because it most probably isn't going to happen. So unfortunately, the chapters will come when they come.
On ze other hand, any grammatical/vocabulary/spelling errors in this chapter are completely down to me. As my Beta didn't respond for a week or so I decided to just go and put it up anyway.
Thankyou to everyone who reviewed the last chapter ^.^ you're all awesome. Thanks!