A/N: Hey so here is chapter 9 of Isolation. I hope you like the chapter, I am personally having fun writing this story, it's kind of nice to touch on multiple characters though Sachiko and Yumi will always be my favorite and only focus. I'm sorry to anyone who hates Shimako, she is way out of character in this story, but she is always nice so lets have her be evil for once? Haha idk. Anyways, if you can't tell I don't have much to say here except that I hope you are enjoying the story and I hope you like this chapter. My school work is pretty managable at the moment. I've got 2 big paper due in the next two weeks, but believe it or not Fan Ficiton has kind of made writing a 2-3 page paper a small task. No word on when the next chapter will be out, but as I've said in the past these shorter word counts are makign it much easier for me to manage so who knows!

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Shimako sighed as she looked to the clock in the council room. It was five minutes past the time the meeting was supposed to start and just like the day before, just her and Noriko were in the room. Youko had not shown up since that morning that Sachiko had so rudely forced her way in.

Shimako shook her head as she thought of her. "This is all that stupid lesbians fault. If she just could have minded her own business none of this would be happening right now." Shimako spat as Noriko nodded even though she didn't quiet see it that way. "First Rei leaves without notice and now Youko just vanishes. . . Neither of them will respond to my text messages either."

"I'm sure they will be back soon enough." Noriko said trying to calm Shimako who just glanced to her and shook her head.

"I wish I could believe you, but that stupid lesbian is probably filling their head with lies." Shimako growled as Noriko put her head down a little. She had never seen this side of Shimako, it was scary. Did she really hate lesbians that much? "We have to stop them." Shimako continued as Noriko glanced to her.

"How are we going to do that?" Noriko asked as Shimako put a finger to her chin thoughtfully for a minute.

"Hmm, I think I have an idea. . ."

-X-X-

Yoshino sat on a bench that was on one of the pathways off to the side of the main path. She had promised she would meet with Rei here today. It had taken many ignored text messages and finally a phone call from Rei for Yoshino to finally talk to her. She was still rather upset that Rei of all people had turned her back on Sachiko and Yumi.

Rei paused as she sat by a nearby tree looking at Yoshino. She had prepared something to say, but as soon as she saw the girl she of course lost her nerve again and hid. She just settled for watching her for a minute before realizing what she was doing was silly and stepping out from behind the tree and walking towards her again.

When she approached the bench Yoshino just glanced up to her momentarily before looking back down to the ground. "You wanted to talk?" Yoshino asked as Rei nodded slowly before taking a step closer to her and taking a seat on the bench next to her.

"Thank you for coming today." Rei started in a pretty down mood. Yoshino instantly caught onto it though as the older girl found it impossible to actually look at her. "I hope I'm not taking up much of your time."

"I have time." Yoshino responded as Rei nodded never once looking towards her.

". . .You're ignoring me, aren't you?" Rei asked as Yoshino remained silent for a moment.

"You ignored our friends." Yoshino answered bluntly as Rei sighed. She knew Yoshino was mad for what she had done, but she never expected this.

"So you won't stop ignoring me then?" Rei asked as Yoshino crossed her arms in front of her and looked off to the side.

"Not until you stand by your friends again." Yoshino said as Rei frowned a little.

"Don't you think I should be able to make my own decisions about this?" Rei asked as Yoshino turned to her with a somewhat surprised but upset look.

"T-That. . . You know that this isn't about that." Yoshino argued as Rei sighed and looked at her confused.

"So it's alright to make my own decisions, but you won't talk to me unless I go against one of my own decisions?" Rei asked as Yoshino shook her head . "Then what is it? Why won't you talk to me?" Rei asked almost desperately as Yoshino stood from the bench suddenly silencing the older girl.

"M-Maybe, it's because...because. . . I'm a lesbian." Yoshino said as she closed her eyes and put her head down as Rei's breath got caught in her throat. "If you don't like lesbians, then you don't like me. Now if you will excuse me I have to go to class." Yoshino continued as Rei watched Yoshino walk away from her as if she was on the verge of crying.

All the older girl could do was sigh and cover her face with her hands as she sat and thought, uncaring if school was starting.

-X-X-

Sachiko smiled as she entered the greenhouse and saw Yumi sitting at the small table inside with her lunch out in front of her. This was probably her favorite part of the day. It was just them enjoying lunch together, talking about whatever they wanted in piece and quiet.

The decision to eat here was agreed upon by both of them, they were getting quite sick of being called lesbians and being bumped into while trying to eat their food. A lot of laughing happened in this place and on rare occasions, a lot of kissing. It was far off the main path and no one bothered coming here, especially when they found out Sachiko and Yumi were eating there. No one wanted to be that weird girl who was caught heading towards the greenhouse.

A blessing is what the two considered it though as Sachiko sat down on the other side of the table with her lunch.

"How has your day been?" Yumi asked as Sachiko glanced up to her briefly while opening her bottle of water.

"Well aside from the typical lesbian bashing and being told I have no future, pretty good. How about you?" Sachiko asked as Yumi chuckled a little. Only they could find amusement in this situation now which was becoming pretty normal.

"I'm alright, though Yoshino talked to me this morning for awhile about Rei. She never really said what was wrong, but she seemed really upset." Yumi said as Sachiko raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I wonder what she is down about. . . Do you think she is regretting helping us?" Sachiko asked as Yumi shook her head before being interrupted by the door to the greenhouse opening. Both girls turned to see Sei standing in the doorway.

"Hey, do you two have a minute?" Sei asked as if she were a bit under the weather. She didn't look very happy and she had a kind of down atmosphere about her.

"Sure. . . Are you alright?" Sachiko asked as Sei sighed but nodded.

"Yea, I'm not sick or anything, I just. . . I don't know. It's about Youko." Sei started as she took a seat on one of the edges of the flower beds. "I tried to talk to her after what she did. . . By the way how did that go. .? Your parents, I mean."

"My parents haven't really said anything on it yet, they've been distant." Sachiko explained as Sei frowned a little before glancing to Yumi.

"My parents were surprisingly alright with it." Yumi said which was a relief for Sei. The blonde had worried that Youko's move would have serious consequences for their relationship. So far it didn't seem to though, which was good.

"I'm glad to hear that, I would be really upset if she had ruined your relationship." Sei said a little upset as she sighed again thinking of her talk. "I wanted to ask if Youko has ever talked about me?"

"Talked about you?" Sachiko asked as Sei nodded as she kicked a tiny pebble by her foot.

"Yea, she said something about never paying attention to her. I was just curious if you knew what that meant?" Sei asked as Sachiko glanced to Yumi who shrugged.

"I don't know anything, I'm sorry." Sachiko answered as Sei nodded and put her hands in her pockets.

"Well, it was probably nothing then." Sei concluded as Sachiko kept silent even though she knew Sei was lying. Neither Sachiko or Yumi had seen Sei like this before, something was definitely wrong. "That was all I wanted to ask, I guess. . . How have things been going with you two?"

"Aside from my parents silence, very well. We already have a day this weekend planned together." Sachiko said as Yumi smiled and nodded using every power within her to keep a straight face and not blush.

Sei raised an eyebrow at Yumi's unusual facial expression. Unfortunately her attempt to act natural made her look even more suspicious as usual. "Yumi, your face is giving it away again. Besides, you shouldn't be embarrassed about going on a date with your girlfriend. Then again, I bet Sachiko likes it when you blush like that." Sei teased which brought a small smile to her face as Yumi lost control and blushed.

"I-I'm not embarrassed, I just. . ."

"You're in love." Sei responded before Yumi could continue on. "Just the thought of spending time with the one you love can do that."

"You're probably right." Yumi agreed to save herself from revealing the true intentions of her blush.

"I am right, I'm also glad to see that nothing has changed with you two. Enjoy your date, I will talk to you next week." Sei said with a slightly bigger smile as she made for the door.

"Sei-sama, I'll tell you if I hear anything from her, but I'm probably the last person she wants to talk to." Sachiko said as Sei paused.

". . .I hate you Sei. . ."

"Somehow I doubt that." Sei replied somewhat grimly before opening the door and leaving as Sachiko looked back to Yumi with question written on her face.

"Do you think she will be alright?" Yumi asked as Sachiko thought for a moment before smiling and giving a nod.

"Yes, Yumi, I think she will be fine. There isn't much we can do right now, we don't fully understand what happened." Sachiko explained before taking a bite of her food as Yumi nodded in agreement.

"I guess you're right and she was normal enough to poke fun at me."

"Well, I didn't mind. She was right, I think you're really cute when you blush." Sachiko admitted causing Yumi to blush a little again. "Don't worry about this though, just think of tomorrow."

-X-X-

Youko sniffled as she lifted her head from her pillow and looked at her phone that was buzzing next to her. She shut it off when she saw Shimako's name across the screen.

She wasn't exactly sure why she was doing this, locking herself in her room and crying into her pillow. She was hurt inside and every time she wondered why, Sei's name came into her head. Her name and all the things she said to her that day.

"What was I thinking?" That was the only question she could ask herself repeatedly as she rolled onto her back and covered her face with her hands. Never before had she cried like this and never before had she hurt like she had now.

She turned her back on Sachiko and Yumi. Those two were like sisters to her. Just thinking about it now made her feel sick as the thoughts of what they had gone through came through her head. The idea of telling their parents too crossed her mind making more and more tears fall from her eyes. She had betrayed them worse than any other Yamayurikai member. She would never be able to face them again.

Then again she probably wouldn't be able to face anyone again after what she had said to Sei. The blonde had been the original reason for this outburst. She had been hoping for a text message, phone call, or just anything. Her computer had her Facebook page open the entire time she was home. Silence was the only thing she would hear from the blonde though.

Ding. . .

Youko wiped the tears from her eyes as she sat up and looked at her computer that had a chat box open.

"Noriko and I were just wondering where you were today. We figured you might be sick or something, so if you are, we hope you feel better. I would like to speak with you though if you aren't. I think Sachiko and Yumi are planning to force their ideas on you."

Youko grit her teeth as she slammed her laptop shut and fell back onto the bed, the tears forming almost instantly. "If they are planning something, then let it happen. I deserve whatever they decide to do." Youko told herself with a sniffle as she rolled onto her side and curled around her pillow. This would be the first time in her life she had cried herself to sleep.