Disclaimer: Nothing's mine but the plot!

Chapter Eight

"Yumi?"

Yumi gazed up at her onee-sama, taking a break from packing. "Yes, onee-sama?"

Sachiko waited for a moment, as if measuring the question out in her mind, her coal bangs falling into her face slightly. Do you still have feelings for that...that man? The instinctive question seemed a bit out of character for the beautiful, icy heiress, and she couldn't think of a better way to ask without giving away her true feelings?

But would it really be so bad...?

Given the level of adoration that Yumi already seemed to have for her more than flawed (but did she ever see it?) onee-sama, Sachiko was fairly certain that she would not be abandoned or shoved away but...somehow, it seemed that a gentle let-down would be even worse. As much as Sachiko hated to lose, she hated pity even more and she could just imagine the look in her precious petite soeur's eyes...

"I'm sorry, onee-sama, but..."

Or, what's worse- perhaps her mere loyalty and admiration would drive Yumi to accept Sachiko's feelings and even pretend to reciprocate...no. Sachiko couldn't tell her, not now.

"Onee-sama?"

Breaking out of her daze, Sachiko refocused to see Yumi staring worriedly at her. Being the lady that she was, it didn't take her long to come up with a flawless question in the place of the one that could have ruined everything. "I was just thinking that you look tired, Yumi," she said, smiling warmly at her petite soeur, who blushed crimson as per usual. "Perhaps we should go to bed a bit early tonight? We do have the trip back tomorrow."

"Y-yes, onee-sama!" Yumi said, encouraged by the warmth and, though she had yet to discover it, being Yumi, love in her onee-sama's sapphire eyes. It amazed her how at one moment her onee-sama's eyes could be like ice and the next they would melt into an ocean at the slightest notice...it seemed to escape her notice that the miraculous turnabout was triggered only by Yumi herself. "Ano..."

Sachiko sighed- would she really have to deal with Yumi's reluctance for the second night in a row? The previous night, it had taken her ten minutes to get Yumi to climb into bed with her instead of sleeping on the floor. "Please, Yumi."

Tonight, however, all it took was the slightest note of pleading in Sachiko's beautiful voice and a pained look in her eyes for Yumi to crawl under the warm covers beside her.

When Yumi woke up the next morning, she would instantly regret her immediate decision when she found herself curled up in her onee-sama's warm embrace, decidedly closer than she had been the previous night. She would be too horrified at her mistake and too preoccupied trying to wiggle free to realize that she herself was still on the far left side of the bed where she had been the night before, and being Yumi, didn't even stop to consider just how she had managed to squirm into the heiress's embrace and managed to wrap Sachiko's arms around herself.

PGBR

"Ah, Yamato-chan," Sei said, flinging an arm over the other girl's shoulder, "I must congratulate you on your uncanny ability to push two people just far enough to make the impossible completely probable before realizing your fatal mistake."

Yamato pouted slightly, puffing her cheeks out as Sei laughed at just how Yumi-like the girl could be.
"And what about you, Sei?" she asked in response. "From what I've heard, breaking them up just doesn't sound very much like you."

Sei's eyes darkened for a moment. "I've tried...believe me, I've worked my ass off trying to make that stubborn girl realize that Yumi is worth more than her pride. And I think she knows it, too. But she'll never go against her family- she feels as if she owes them too much."

"Owes them what?" Yamato exclaimed, thoroughly peeved. Her baby sister was worth more than a business deal any and every day of the year. "That attitude that makes Yumi feel like she's forever doing something wrong? I swear...I meant what I said yesterday, Sei-san. That girl is insufferable."

"But Yumi-chan loves her," Sei pointed out unnecessarily.

Yamato hung her head. "I know. But why her? Why the one girl who can break her heart?" Yamato felt herself go cold- if Yumi stopped smiling...if her baby sister stopped laughing because of that...that...

"Is this why you're so against them together?" A new voice resounded from the hallway, and Yoshino stepped out, her arms folded across her chest as she glared pointedly at Yamato. "Sachiko-sama's an ice queen- we all know that, believe me. She's also selfish and jealous and hysterical at times but have you ever even looked at her? I mean really looked at her? Have you seen the way she gets whenever someone threatens her position in Yumi's life? I would think you'd have been the first to notice, but apparently not. You're too thick for that kind of observation, aren't you? You're just mmph-!"

"I'm very sorry," Rei apologized as she held her hand over her cousin's mouth. "She tends to get very worked up when it comes to her friends."

Yamato nodded in acceptance and was about to say something before Rei continued:

"But I can't say I disagree with her on this subject. Her methods could use a little work," here she finally let go of a struggling Yoshino, "but do you know Sachiko-san well enough to judge her based on her standing with her family? It's true that she is loyal to them, but can you see the pain in her eyes when she hears Yumi call you 'onee-chan'? Have you seen how just looking at Yumi can knock the fire right out of her system? She's afraid, Himeya-san. She's afraid of losing her family because she doesn't hate them for molding her life for her- she's never known any different- and she's afraid of losing Yumi, even more so now that you've popped back into her life. Can you honestly see how much your little sister means to Sachiko? Because until then, you should hold back on your judgements. I apologize if I came off harshly, and once again for my cousin." She bowed for a moment before her arm was yanked towards the door by the exuberant Yoshino, dragging their luggage behind her.

It took Yamato a few seconds to comprehend the situation that she had just been bombarded with, but the Yellow Roses' words did make sense. But still... "This doesn't change..."

"No, it doesn't," Sei agreed. "But it will kill both of them- probably Sachiko more than Yumi- if you completely tear them apart."

"Then maybe just enough so that the boundary is firmly in view," Yamato mused. "Once we get back, I can set Yumi up with Hideo-kun, and then maybe Sachiko-sama will realize." She looked up, startled to see a very lion-esque grin splitting Sei's face.

"Maybe she'll finally realize," Sei continued, "that Yumi-chan won't- no, because she probably would, knowing Yumi-chan- that Yumi can't be hers forever if she refuses to make a move. That she's going to lose Yumi-chan for the few members of her family that actually value the company over her happiness."

"Where are you going with this?"

"If her feelings for Yumi-chan are actually, truly threatened for the first time, it just might shock her out of her...her..."

"Martyrdom?"

Somehow Yoshino had found her way back into the cabin to eavesdrop on the last of their conversation, her eyebrow raised as she filled in the missing word. Shortly after, Rei pulled her back outside with an apologetic look.

"Exactly."

PGBR

On the ride home, Sachiko rested her head in Yumi's lap in the nice, stable family car that was so perfectly contrasting to Sei's death trap. Touko sat beside the two, her head lolling against the windowpane after about half an hour of watching the two most important people in her life, silently wishing for them to end up happy because if they didn't, then she would be miserable as well.

In Youko's car, the ex Rosa Chinesis drove in silence while Rei stared out the window and a sleeping Yoshino clung to her arm. Even in sleep, it seemed as if the fiery girl feared that someone would steal her cousin away.

Yamato and Sei seemed to have recovered completely from their serious conversation a while back and were halfway back to Lillian only ten minutes into the trip, arguing over how fast the poor yellow bug could slow down if a police officer were waiting on the edge of the road. In the back seat, Shimako had one arm wrapped around Noriko's waist- the black-haired girl was clinging to her onee-sama tightly enough to cut off all circulation. Sei and Yamato had confronted the two immediately after they'd left the cabin about their relationship- Sei already knew, and it had barely surprised Noriko that Yamato did as well. Shimako silently fumed, put out that Yamato had provoked her on purpose the night before, but quickly melted as Noriko gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling her towards the car with a heightened sense of relief and dread.

None of them were prepared for the emotional roller coaster ride that Sei and Yamato had planned, and the fact that they were doing it for the sake of the two Red Roses would mean very little in the end.

ANGSSSSSSST O.O Thank you for reading, and I hope you keep reviewing and reading If You Leave Me Behind! Next chapter will hopefully be up shortly!