Disclaimer: Nothing's mine but the plot! Enjoy and Review, por favor!

A/N: Chapter six is up! Now I've added Sei/Youko, if only BARELY, but there will be more where that came from! Read and review and enjoy as always!

Chapter Seven

Shimako sat in silence, holding a hot cup of tea in her hands after Youko drove the three of them back to the cabin.

PGBR

Flashback

"What happened?"

Shimako looked up slowly, her eyes widening as she saw Youko and onee-sama hurrying over to her, Sei with an expression of concern that was saved for the worst occasions. She must look worse than she thought. "Good day, onee-sama," she said quietly in a monotone.

"Shimako, what happened?" Sei was shaking her now before Youko pulled her off of the young Rosa Gigantea.

"Calm down, Sei," Youko dictated. "Shimako..." Shimako looked to the previous Rosa Chinesis, "I'd be lying if I said you didn't look horrible- what happened?"

Slowly, Shimako returned her gaze to the rosary that was still on the ground. Youko covered her mouth with her hand and Sei's eyes widened with shock. "What brought this on, Shimako?" she asked harshly. "What happened between you two?"

"Onee-sama...," Shimako murmured softly, gazing up at Sei with a look that she had only seen Shimako wear once before, when she was depressed by Sei's graduation. "Do you remember the girl? Kubo Shiori-sama, was it?"

And suddenly Sei knew exactly what had happened. "I thought Noriko was different," she muttered. "I thought..."

"No, no," Shimako corrected, "It didn't happen like that...you see, Noriko confessed...to me...and I couldn't think...I couldn't reply...and the nightmare..."

"The nightmare...?"

"I've been having a nightmare almost every night for a while...it's the same thing, over and over again...except I told her in the nightmare, and she would shove it at me with a look of disgust..."

Suddenly, she felt herself being grabbed by the shoulders and shaken, hard. "What did you say, Shimako?" Sei demanded- now she knew of her petite soeur's feelings for Noriko, but something wasn't right.

"Say...," Shimako repeated softly before gazing up at her onee-sama with wide eyes. "It was so fast- she told me, and then it was dangling before my face and the nightmare came back and...she was gone before I realized that it was different..."

"Goddamnit, Shimako!" Her onee-sama's outburst startled her, and she flinched against Sei's powerful grasp. "That's the one thing I ever wanted for you! The only thing I ever wanted for you was that you didn't go through the same thing I did and now here you are, doing it to yourself!" And then she let go, massaging her temples as Youko laid a hand on her shoulder. Shimako tilted her head- maybe...

"Where is she, Shimako-chan?" Youko's words startled Shimako- up until then, it had been as though she was dreaming, with only her and onee-sama. "Where is Noriko?"

"I...I don't know.

PGBR

Shimako swallowed heavily, wincing against the pain in her throat- she must be coming down with something. Shortly after leaving the temple with Youko and Sei, she had regained her senses and come back to the world, and the full impact of what had happened hit her. Hard.

And then the door burst open and Yumi entered along with Yamato and a sulky Sachiko and behind them... "Noriko..."

The black haired girl's eyes widened as she saw her onee-sama sitting on the couch and her eyes darted to the stairs. "Ano...thank you for taking care of me, Sachiko-sama," she stuttered before running up the stairs at a very unladylike pace. Shimako stood just as Sei walked into the room and, with a nod from her onee-sama, followed Noriko up the stairs.

"How was your day, Yumi-chaaan?" Sei asked as she jumped Yumi in the entryway and quickly stepped back because the look in Sachiko's eyes was something even Satou Sei didn't want to cross.

"It was great," Yumi said excitedly and Sei raised her eyebrows at Sachiko- obviously she had hidden her displeasure better than she gave her credit for. "What about you?"

"Ah, your onee-sama dragged me along shopping with her, Sa-chan," Sei replied, though it was aimed at the silently fuming heiress.

"Ara," Yamato stated, breaking the palpable tension and then instantly replacing it by flinging an arm around Yumi's shoulders. "Poor you."

"Himeya-san, I would appreciate it if you would let go of my petite soeur," Sachiko growled with barely concealed malice as she pulled Yumi away, one hand on her waist and the other holding Yumi's head securely against her shoulder.

The panicked expression in Yamato's eyes caused Sei to think back to Youko's words- it would be a difficult task to destroy the closeness that she had forced only hours ago.

A million thoughts were racing through Yamato's head- she had to save Yumi. There was only one more night and one day left of the getaway and if she could keep them from confessing for that long, she would be able to do just that.

PGBR

"Noriko-chan!"

"Please just go away," came Noriko's strained voice from the other side of the bathroom door. "I'll sleep with Yamato-san and Touko-chan tonight, just please leave me alone."

"Please, Noriko-chan," Shimako continued, her forehead against the door. "Just listen to what I have to say."

Slowly, the bathroom door opened to reveal a tear-stained Noriko leaning against the doorframe. "Then say it," she said quietly to keep herself from choking on the tears.

"Noriko-chan," she began, taking a step forward and taking Noriko's hands in hers, "I'm sorry."

Noriko opened her mouth to say something else but Shimako pressed a soft finger to her lips. "Please, let me finish." Noriko nodded slightly.

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything," Shimako continued. "I was in shock. I never expected that you would feel the same way, especially given the past week. The thing I needed to talk to you about...I was going to tell you how I felt, Noriko-chan. The last thing I expected was for you to take the words right out of my mouth and this," she continued when Noriko opened her mouth to speak, indicating to the rosary, "this is why I couldn't say anything. These dreams...these nightmares that I've been having...in every single one you've been there, returning my rosary. I hadn't even registered your words before it was right there, dangling in front of my face...I couldn't think and when I could it was too late. Please forgive me, Noriko-chan."

Shimako took a deep breath from the long speech and her eyes fluttered closed for a moment before she gazed back down at Noriko, who was speechless by this point. Slowly, Shimako knelt down, the rosary clenched in her hand, and rested her forehead against Noriko's, placing the metal cross in her palm. "Please accept my rosary once again," she murmured.

Noriko blinked up at Shimako, who was gazing at her intently with a look that told her that she was resting everything on Noriko. "O-okay," she said lamely, and twirled it back around her wrist as Shimako smiled brilliantly. "But...I can't just go back to being your...nothing," Noriko stated for lack of a better term.

"You were never nothing," Shimako replied, frowning. And then, with a small smile, "But if you meant just being soeurs...I don't think I can do that either." And she tilted Noriko's chin up with her ring finger and placed a soft kiss on her lips before pulling her into a tight embrace. "Just promise me you'll never run from me again." A single tear slid down her cheek as she remembered the pain of watching the one she loved disappear into the crowd.

"I don't think I could even if I wanted to," Noriko replied, and Shimako pulled back to see her frowning slightly, as if she were actually contemplating it.

"Noriko."

Noriko grinned at Shimako's pouting face before nestling into her arms again. "I promise."

PGBR

"Ara," Yamato stated with a grin like a lion's as Shimako entered the sitting room once again, pulling Noriko behind her. "And how was your day, Noriko-chan?" she asked, sidling up beside the dark haired girl and draping an arm over her shoulders. Touko rolled her eyes from across the room- she had stayed home, but knew enough to realize that Yamato was just trying to distract herself from some stupid mistake she had made with Sachiko and Yumi.

"Ano...it was good, Yamato-san," Noriko replied hesitantly from beneath Yamato's arm. Shimako subtly pulled Noriko back towards her, but Yamato held strong- with the current stress, it helped to focus on bringing out the 'Sachiko' side of Shimako. "But could you please let me go?"

"Yes, that would be nice," Shimako agreed coldly (it seemed that she wasn't quite as experienced at hiding her outer emotions as Sachiko was), and Yamato didn't miss Noriko's flinch beneath her arm. Now she was sure that something had happened. Pushing it to the very edge, Yamato didn't comply and instead plopped down on the couch with Noriko falling into her lap.

"Ah, but this is so comfortable," Yamato argued just as Youko and Sei walked into the room. Sei grinned as her eyes flicked from Yamato, her arms around Noriko's waist, to her own beautiful, composed petite soeur, who looked as if she would like very much to wipe the grin right off of Yamato's face.

From one of the armchairs, Yumi cringed- she had never seen Shimako like this, and quite honestly it terrified her. Sachiko subtly wrapped her arms around her petite soeur from behind, more relaxed now that Yamato appeared to have moved on to other relationships to destroy.

Finally, Sei took pity on her fuming petite soeur and pulled Yamato off to the kitchen to inform her that she knew of the gigantic mistake that she had made and how did she plan to fix it? Huffing, Shimako took Yamato's place on the sofa beside her petite soeur, obviously not threatened enough to reveal their secret to the Yamayurikai.

In the kitchen, Yamato and Sei were conversing in hushed tones, and every now and then their eyes would flit to the two red roses, the younger in the protective arms of the older, wondering just how much it would take to tear the two apart without pushing Sachiko so far that she would confess her love anyway.