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A/N: Hopefully this chapter will be a little more exciting than the previous one! Please keep reading and leaving reviews! =D

Chapter Ten

Yumi arrived to Lillian an hour early as planned, out of breath from the run to make it there on time with the rest of the Yamayurikai. Yuuki would arrive a little bit after her because he had needed to prepare a few things for the meeting, and Hideo was coming with him.

"Good morning, Yumi."

Yumi turned and smiled up at her onee-sama, who was looking down at her with a look that said it all, if only she wasn't too blind to see it. "Good morning, onee-sama," she replied brightly.

Sachiko sighed as she took in Yumi's somewhat ruffled appearance, though she had gotten used to it by now and took a step forward, her lips just a breath from Yumi's hair as she straightened out her petite soeur's ribbon. She suppressed the overwhelming urge to pull Yumi impossibly closer and allow their lips to meet, though the fact that Yumi had halted all breathing didn't do much to help the situation.

From a few meters away, Yoshino sulked- why didn't she and Rei ever have unbearably sweet, flower-explosion moments? Beside her, Rei was completely oblivious to her cousin's less-than-innocent thoughts as she stared at the gates, waiting for their escort to arrive.

Shimako and Noriko were sitting on a bench close by the statue of Maria-sama, Noriko resting her head against Shimako's shoulder. She never had been a morning person, and on top of that, she had been up until well after midnight worrying about her beautiful onee-sama around all of those men. It wasn't as if she didn't trust Shimako- she did, with her life, even- but they hadn't exactly specified their relationship at this point and being surrounded by the handsome students of Hanadera was certainly not going to speed matters along.

Shimako was pleasantly oblivious to the inner turmoil that her petite soeur was facing as she ran her fingers absentmindedly through Noriko's hair, basking in the sweet sensation of her beloved sleeping against her. It had been agreed that only true members of the Yamayurikai could attend the meeting, so the threat of Yamato was safely tucked away for the time being.

"Good day. We are here to escort you to our school and ensure that you are all comfortable," Yuuki's voice rang from the gate, and Yumi felt her onee-sama tense beside her. Sachiko wasn't afraid of Yuuki, but she hadn't failed to notice the plural pronoun. "I am the student council president, Fukuzawa Yuuki, and this is your other escort, Kobayashi Hideo. We are pleased to make your acquaintance."

There was silence for a moment- Yamato's comment about Yumi's 'past love' had been all but forgotten and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that this was the very same boy. However, appearances must be kept, and Shimako took the lead once again. "Thank you for escorting us," she replied graciously, smiling at the two boys. Yuuki blushed but took a wary step back as he was met with Noriko's glare, and Hideo didn't seem to have heard Shimako's words.

"Hey, Yu-chan," he said as he walked over to Yumi and gathered her into a tight embrace. "It's been forever!"

Against her better judgment and instinct as Sachiko had become rigid at her side from the moment Hideo had been introduced, Yumi giggled. "It's been two days, Hideo-kun."

"Feels like forever," he replied lowly- he had missed his best friend dearly during his time in America, and had come to realize that his feelings were no longer platonic with a little help from everyone's favorite matchmaker.

Sachiko's eyes narrowed dangerously at the exchange. She had promised herself that she would not do this, even if he did return- promised herself that if he made Yumi happy then she would be happy for that reason alone. But it wasn't enough, and she had known that from the beginning. It should be enough to see her adorable petite soeur happy, even if it was with another, but it wasn't. It should be her standing there- her arms around her Yumi. Unable to keep quiet for any longer, she broke the silence between the two. "I believe your duty is to escort us to your school," she said icily in the tone she reserved for men and anyone who dared to be more intimate with Yumi than she herself was. "Not to flirt with my petite soeur."

Hideo took a step back, his eyes wide with shock. He knew of the soeur system, but was not aware of just how deep the affection seemed to run. Then he glanced over at Rei and Yoshino who were arguing over a few of Rei's over-populous fangirls, to Noriko and Shimako, who were seated close together on the bench. "Sorry," he murmured, though he was more afraid than offended.

"We should get ready to go now," Yuuki said, rescuing the situation. "If you'll please follow me..."

Tuning out of her brother's speech, Yumi glanced up at her onee-sama, whose sapphire eyes had frozen over as per usual, but today it seemed like there was something more behind the ice. Sachiko didn't return her petite soeur's gaze- if she did, she knew that her mask would crumble as it always did when she was faced with those loving, mocha eyes that never seemed to run out of admiration for her onee-sama. She knew she was being selfish, but she just couldn't bear the thought of Yumi being stolen from right under her nose. But she also knew that in the end, it was what Yumi wanted- what made Yumi happy that would determine her own happiness. If Yumi really did want Hideo-kun, then Sachiko would never be able to bring herself to keep them apart.

Yumi looked down to her feet when Sachiko avoided her gaze, her emotions dancing across her face as usual. She knew it was stupid, but she couldn't help it that she wore her heart on her sleeve, especially when it came to her beautiful, sapphire-eyed onee-sama. When Sachiko was hurting, so was Yumi, especially since she was one of the only ones who could tell when she was. To a stranger, happiness and sadness was the same for Sachiko, but to Yumi, those beautiful eyes said it all: narrowing when she was angry, freezing over so as to protect her from being hurt, and when she was happy...the pure love and kindness in her eyes made Yumi feel as though she was falling in love over and over again.

So really, Hideo stood no chance against Rosa Chinesis- anyone could see that, with the way Yumi expressed her emotions so boldly. Anyone, that is, except for the one who needed to- the heiress who had grown up locking her emotions away and therefore was at a loss when it came to reading the emotions of others. Sure, she could understand simple emotions, like when Yumi was happy or sad, but she had problems with everything in between.

PGBR

"Welcome to Hanadera," Yuuki and Hideo said in unison as the Yamayurikai entered the council room. Just as before, the entire room was full of boys, including Alice, the girl in a boy's body. Sachiko visibly cringed, but kept her posture as she took a seat across from the Hanadera student council, pulling Yumi down beside her. She knew that there was no hope for her if Yumi loved Hideo, but she needed her petite soeur by her side as she faced her fear in mass to prevent another embarrassing scene.

Yumi's eyes widened at Sachiko's sudden strength as she felt herself being forced into the chair beside her, but scooted a little closer to her onee-sama, recognizing the gesture. Sachiko took Yumi's hand tightly in her own beneath the table, mirroring Noriko's actions as the many male eyes fell upon Shimako as she had predicted.

"We look forward to working with you on this project," Yuuki stated as he took his seat. "We were thinking of a traditional festival, and perhaps a play towards the end. What were your ideas?"

Noticing Sachiko's distress and Shimako's bashful, apologetic face as Noriko clung to her, Rei took charge. "Actually, we were thinking along the same lines. Cinderella has been a classic, but perhaps a different story would be a nice change."

After about half an hour, the two councils made a decision, choosing Sleeping Beauty, another fairytale that most people knew of and could incorporate both schools equally. After much strategizing, Yumi was chosen as the princess over Shimako, who had been the other major choice as Sachiko had played the lead role in Cinderella and had a major aversion to men. The main objection had come, of course, from Noriko, who had pointed out that Shimako was very soft-spoken, whereas Yumi was louder, so naturally, she should be the choice. Shimako had kept quiet, gazing down at her petite soeur with a quiet smile, well aware that Noriko was completely unconcerned with the success of the play.

Yumi objected to the choice at first, given that she wasn't a good actress at all, but an encouraging smile from Sachiko was all she needed to hang her head and reluctantly agree.

Yuuki was the original choice for the prince, but after Yumi had been chosen, nobody really wanted to put the siblings in such an awkward situation. Sachiko was fine with the original decision, seeing as there was absolutely no possibility of romance between the two, but of course she didn't mention this aloud and watched tensely as the Hanadera boys conversed amongst themselves.

"We've decided that Hideo-kun will play the prince," Yuuki finally said, winking imperceptibly at Yumi. "Yumi-chan will be much more comfortable with the romantic scenes and that way, it isn't as though she'll have to play opposite a total stranger. Is that alright with the Yamayurikai?"

Having stifled a protest, Sachiko sat up straighter in her seat, her arms now folded across her chest in her usual symbol of displeasure. No one else seemed to have any problems with the casting, unfortunately, so the raven-haired beauty's disapproval went largely unnoticed. Yumi glanced up at her onee-sama, wondering if she had indeed felt the icy barriers fall back into place, but quickly dispelled the thought. After all, it's not as though onee-sama has to work with Hideo-kun.

Sachiko was silent for the rest of the time at Hanadera as well as the trip back- by the time they arrived at Lillian, not one member of the Yamayurikai had not noticed her iciness, and everyone but Yumi had quickly traced the reason why back to the casting of the play. For her part, Yumi simply bit her lip, wondering what she had done to anger her onee-sama. When she finally got up the courage to ask, Sachiko merely shook her head and told her she had done nothing wrong, that she was just thinking about some things.

And Yumi felt for the rosary around her neck, misinterpreting the sadness in Sachiko's eyes for regret while the rest of the Yamayurikai wondered why they hadn't given Sachiko the main part after all, as the only thing Rosa Chinesis ever did anymore was act.

And why, when all she had to do was change the script?