A/N: Many thanks to Teufelchen29, Honulicious, and Insomniac1970 for their comments. This chapter? Delete, re-write, edit, consolidate, re-write, add, (not necessarily in order) and, oh yeah, a bit more Nana-chan and Sakura-chan fun :-)

Disclaimer: I do not own MSGM or its characters. All such honors belong to Oyuki Konno.

The doctor's appointment her parents had dragged her to the previous day had been fairly routine. Doctor Watanabe had poked and prodded her, listened to her chest and heart, and they had taken both a throat swab as well as numerous vials of blood with which to run their tests. Yumi tried to tell them that she was just tired from all the studying that she had been doing, along with all of the work that had been required of her for the Yamayurikai. Within the last month there had been the Hanadera school festival, the Sports Festival, and then the Lillian School Festival. It was enough to make anyone tired when added to her normal class work and the extra studying she had been doing getting ready for college entrance exams, even though she was still hoping that she would be able to forgo some of the exams if she was able to get accepted to Lillian University on early decision.

Per her doctor's orders she had gone to bed early last night and had woken up bright eyed and bushy tailed just as she normally did. She actually did feel better having gotten a good night's sleep. She would just have to make sure that she got to bed early from now on. The only thing the Yamayurikai really had to worry about for the rest of the semester was the Christmas Ball and most of that was Yuuki's and Hanadera's job. Sure, she and the rest of the council would have to be available and continue to meet with the boys from Hanadera to make sure that everything was ready, but it would require a lot less from her than the past month had.

Yuuki had hit her with a change to the current plan at breakfast this morning. Instead of the band they had been discussing all along, the students at Hanadera had opted for a small orchestra. Yoshino had originally protested the change, but Yumi had proposed a possible compromise of a small orchestra that also had electric guitars, drums, and keyboards. Shimako had tended to agree with the idea, but Yumi asked the two girls to think about the proposed change and provide their thoughts at the meeting of the Yamayurikai scheduled for that afternoon.

The morning classes seemed to fly by for Yumi since she was in such a good mood. When lunchtime arrived the three members of the Yamayurikai headed to the Rose Mansion to enjoy their lunches in relative peace. When they arrived it was to find their petite soeurs and Hiromi-san preparing tea to go along with their lunches.

"Good day Rosa Chinensis, Rosa Foetida, Rosa Gigantea. I hope that the day is finding you well?" Hiromi asked,

"Fairly well, Hiromi-san," Yumi answered with a smile, "and good day to you as well. Is everything progressing with the plans for the ball?"

"Of course, Yumi-san," Hiromi answered with a grin while pouring her a cup of black tea, "Alice-chan called earlier to let us know that Kashiwagi-kun had booked the Tokyo Grand Hotel in Minato-ku for the event. Their ballroom is large enough to accommodate the number of attendees we are anticipating. There is also a banquet facility as well as a restaurant and a coffee shop, so food should not be an issue. Alice also mentioned that the tickets are going to be printed up next week – two per student as we agreed. The students will each get one for themselves as well as one for a guest. Since their names will be printed on both tickets, and the student themselves must be in attendance for the guest ticket to be used, there should be no chance for the usual trading of event tickets as typically happens at the school festival. This way there will be no chance for any unescorted outsiders to crash the ball."

Yumi nodded her thanks.

While they ate their lunch, Yumi told the petite soeurs about the Hanadera council's change in plans regarding the music for the ball. They discussed the options briefly and decided that Yumi's suggestion for a combination orchestra was best and that they would present their recommendation at the next opportunity. With this compromise, no polling of the Lillian students would be necessary and Yumi thought that Yuuki would easily go along with the change.

She was just finishing up her lunch when they heard a brief knock on the door and Sachiko entered the room.

"Onee-sama," she exclaimed with a big smile, "This is a wonderful surprise. What brings you here today?"

"I have come to pick you up, Yumi. Your parents called the school and they asked me to bring you home," Sachiko said with a slight frown.

"Is everything alright? No one's hurt?" Yumi asked, her concern evident in her eyes.

"Your mother didn't say," Sachiko responded to her petite soeur in a calm and soothing voice, "but I heard your father's voice in the background and Yuuki is waiting for us at the car, so I assume everyone is fine."

"And mom didn't say why?" Yumi asked as she quickly gathered her things together.

"No more than just asking me to pick you up and bring you home. She did not sound upset, but she gave me no indications as to the reason," Sachiko told her.

"Alright onee-sama, I'm ready. Please excuse us everyone. Hiromi-san, could you please call Alice back and let her . . . I mean him, know the decision on the orchestra? And Yoshino-san, could I borrow your notes from this afternoon's classes and ask you to let the teacher know I had to leave early?"

"Of course" they both answered.

"Thanks everyone. I'll see you all tomorrow," Yumi said with a wave as she and Sachiko exited the meeting room.

-oo-

Yumi lay awake in the darkness of her bedroom staring at the ceiling and the rectangle of yellow light that was coming from the street lamp outside her window. She was still somewhat in shock with the results of her blood tests from the previous day. The doctor had tried to explain exactly what it was that was wrong, but she seemed to have lost everything that he said after she heard the word "leukemia". It explained the lethargy she had been feeling recently as well as the bruising and the slow healing of the cut on her shin that she had received over two weeks earlier. It also explained the recent aches and pains she had begun feeling in her joints after spending too long sitting or standing in one place.

She had been surprised when she had seen Watanabe-sensei sitting on her couch when she, Yuuki, and Sachiko had entered the house. Sachiko, seeing that they had a guest, had tried to leave, but Miki had grabbed hold of her hand before she could turn.

"You are as much a part of this family as anyone, Sachiko-chan," she said with just a hint of a smile, "and you are my daughter's most important person. I wouldn't think of excluding you from this. After all, it was your phone call that tipped us off that there may be a problem in the first place. No, you need to be here and, more importantly, Yumi needs you to be here."

Sachiko had relented and allowed Miki to drag her to a place on the couch next to Yumi. Yumi had immediately grabbed her hand and entwined her fingers with her own. Sachiko gave her a look that told her just how much she loved her and, impulsively maybe, leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. Yumi had been surprised that Sachiko would do such a thing in front of Yuuki and her parents, let alone a stranger, but Sachiko had simply squeezed her hand once and then held on tight.

Yumi did remember the doctor saying that he had a friend, someone he had gone to medical school with and who was a frequent golfing partner, who was the Head of Hematology at Tokyo University Medical Center. He had already contacted the man who had immediately agreed to see Yumi the very next morning. The test results and a complete copy of Yumi's medical file had already been couriered to the hospital.

Both doctors had recommended a newly approved treatment that was extremely aggressive but had achieved a remarkable success rate in all of the clinical trials. Watanabe-sensei had also thanked Sachiko for her alertness and quick thinking. As a result he thought that they had caught Yumi's condition in the very early stages and that there was every chance for a full recovery with little chance of recurrence.

Yuuki had even offered to be tested as a potential bone marrow transplant donor if it was ever needed.

Yumi turned onto her side and stared out the window thinking back to that calm, confident, and totally unselfish offer and the tears that she had somehow kept dammed up inside started to gently flow down her cheeks and across her nose. It started just as a sniffle and a soft whine but seemingly without any transition she found herself sobbing, unable to control her breathing or the sounds emanating from her throat.

Who was this that seemed to be screaming in her room? Who was it that was crying out into the night about the unfairness of it all? Who was it that was pounding the wall beside her bed, putting dozens of fist- and foot-sized dents into the drywall? Who was it that was sobbing uncontrollably until her parents and Yuuki came running through her bedroom door? Her mother and Yuuki gathered her into their arms and tried to keep her from thrashing about and further injuring herself. Yumi's father purposefully tangled her feet in her bed sheets so she couldn't continue to kick at anything or anyone that came into reach before he finally ended up having to sit on her legs.

It was over an hour before she finally cried herself to sleep.

"What are we going to do," Yuichiro asked his wife.

"We are going to everything we can – everything we have to – to support her and help her get through this. That is what we are going to do," Miki answered firmly but softly so as not to awaken her finally sleeping child.

Yuichiro nodded and looked over at his son who still held onto one of Yumi's hands. That grip had finally loosened from its original death grip, but Yuuki had no intentions of letting go of his sister. He nodded his agreement. "Whatever we have to do," Yuuki echoed his mother.

-oo-

The meeting with the Head of Hematology at Tokyo University Medical Center had gone about as Yumi had expected. He had reiterated everything that Watanabe-sensei had told her the previous day regarding the proposed treatment, although this time she listened more carefully. The plan was to initially run some differential diagnostic tests to validate the specific form of leukemia and then, based on the results, the aggressive use of specific chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiation treatments. In the worst case, if there had been no major relief of the disease and its symptoms, they would then look into the possibility of a bone marrow transplant; however, if everything went as he expected it to Yumi should expect to live a long and healthy life with very little chance for relapse.

The differential tests were scheduled for that very afternoon and Yumi and her parents were on their way back home by early evening to await the results. Sachiko was waiting on their doorstep when the taxi dropped them off. Yumi ran and threw herself into Sachiko's arms and started crying again. The two girls went tumbling into the grass.

"Sa-Sa-Sa chi-chi-chi," Yumi stuttered in her misery while Sachiko smoothed her hair and mumbled soothing words to her.

Yuuki came up the walk and looked down at two of the most important girls in his life. "I guess you're 'Sachi' from now on," he said looking at Sachiko with a small smile.

Sachiko glared at him for a moment from where she lay on the ground beneath Yumi before simply shrugging her shoulders. "I don't mind; at least it isn't 'Sachan'," she said quietly as she continued comforting Yumi.

Yuuki knelt down beside them. "Come on Yumi, time to get up," Yuuki whispered, "you don't want to make a spectacle of yourself in front of the neighbors," he finished.

Yumi immediately started hiccupping as she tried to control her crying and, with Yuuki's and Sachiko's help, got back to her feet and headed towards the front door. Through her sniffling Yumi gave out a weak giggle, "'Sachi'? I kind of like that."

"I will get you one of these days Yuuki," Sachiko warned the boy that, she suddenly realized, she considered as close to her as any brother ever could be. She ended up finishing her warning with a warm smile, totally negating the stern words. Yuuki grinned at her and, on the spur of the moment, rubbed the top of her head.

"Sure you will. You and who else? Suguru-san? Don't make me laugh."

Sachiko stopped in the doorway about to kick her shoes off, looked at the young man, and couldn't help herself; she broke out laughing. There was just something about these Fukuzawa siblings that so endeared themselves to you that you ended up loving them. They just wormed their way into your heart and set up housekeeping. And despite the devastating news of the day before she was, for the moment, happy that it was so. She could think of no one better to help her look after her Yumi than her younger brother, Yuuki.

-oo-

At the end of the next day's meeting of the Yamayurikai, Yumi cleared her throat causing all movement to cease and every eye to turn towards her.

"Everyone, I have something I need to tell you . . ."

-oo-

Nana wiped her brow after taking off the heavy kendo helmet. The towel wrapped around her head to absorb the inevitable sweat and help the helmet fit better was simply not up to the task in the sweltering heat of the Lillian gymnasium. The school had turned the heat on when the days started turning chilly, but a warm front had pushed through the day before. Now, with the heat still on and hundreds of students and family members crowding the bleachers, the participants in the Lillian Invitational Kendo Tournament were sweating profusely. There was absolutely no way anyone could consider this a more ladylike "perspiration".

She returned to the spot where the Lillian Kendo Club's participants were gathered and sat on her heels to get her wind back. The last bout had been tough, but not so much due to the other kendoka's capabilities. Her opponent had to be at least a head taller than Nana and with an arm length to match. It had taken longer than Nana had hoped to slip inside the girl's longer reach to get her second point and the match win.

A dry towel landed in her lap and she looked up to see Yoshino-sama grinning at her.

"Well fought Nana-chan," her onee-sama told her with a grin. Nana blushed at the well deserved but embarrassing praise. Her family never praised her like this. To win was simply expected of the scion and heir to the ancient and prestigious Arima family dojo.

"Th-thank you, onee-sama," she replied quietly.

"All we have left is the final match and the captain is taking that, so you are done for the day," Yoshino said happily, "just relax and try to cool off."

"Yes, onee-sama," Nana replied with a smile. Yoshino ruffled her hair affectionately before she headed off to watch the final match. Nana grinned at Yoshino's retreating back before rolling her shoulders and trying to stretch her neck.

"Nana-san," she heard a timid voice call her name. She turned her head to see Sakura-san standing a few feet away, a bottle of cold tea in her hands, "I-I thought you might want a cold drink, Nana-san," she said softly while holding the bottle out before her, her hand shaking slightly

"Thank you, Sakura-san," Nana said with a shy smile for the newest member of the Yamayurikai, "I would dearly love a cold drink." Sakura walked closer and handed the dark haired girl the bottle which she proceeded to open. She swallowed about half of the contents before she took it from her lips with a satisfied sigh. "Ah, that's wonderful. Thank you Sakura-san. You are an angel."

"Hardly that," the auburn haired beauty giggled. "Um, how is your back, Nana-san? This is your first serious match since that . . . that bitch blind-sided you." The look in her eyes when she mentioned the incident from the regional tournament revealed the hatred and contempt with which she held the girl that had so cowardly attacked her friend. Nana had to hide a grin.

"I am fine, Sakura-san, thank you," she rolled her shoulders again trying to stretch the trapezius muscles of her neck and shoulders. The next thing she knew there was a pair of small hands slipping inside the collar of her uniform jacket that began to do absolutely wonderful things to her aching muscles.

"I noticed that your opponent kept aiming for a men strike but kept hitting your neck and shoulders instead," Sakura explained as her fingers strongly worked the affected areas. Nana hung her head to expose more of her neck as she moaned with pleasure. Sakura took the obvious acceptance of her ministrations to pull the collar open further so that she could reach more of the abused muscles. Nana didn't even flinch as more of her skin was revealed along with the straps of her navy blue sports bra. "Do you mind if I move your straps Nana-san?" Sakura asked.

"As long as you keep that up you could strip me naked for all I care," the Rosa Foetida en Bouton responded with a chuckle, the pleasure she was feeling evident in her voice. If she had turned her head she would have been able to see a very nice rose pink suffuse the face of her impromptu masseuse.

"Maybe later," the other girl laughed tentatively as she pulled the straps of the sports bra over her shoulders.

Nana finally turned her head to look briefly at the beautiful girl behind her with a slight blush of her own and a small grin before she turned back and lowered her head again and shut her eyes. Sakura continued to silently mold and knead the tight, sore muscles. If felt like heaven.

She was surprised that she didn't feel uncomfortable or nervous at either the massage or the comment. Despite the fact that they had known each other only scant months, Nana had liked the country girl almost immediately. She was almost always bright and cheerful. Nana sometimes wondered if the girl even knew how to frown. They had become even closer after she had become Touko-sama's petite soeur and begun spending afternoons together at the Rose Mansion.

Nana had come to truly enjoy the time she spent with Sakura-san. The girl's love of life shone through in just about everything she did. She seemed to be the definition of "perky", but she had her serious side as well. Her thoughtful responses to serious questions intimated a maturity that was well beyond her short sixteen years.

She seemed especially knowledgeable about relationships. Nana had seen girls, even second- and third-years, approach her friend about the various problems they were having with their family or their boyfriends (or girlfriends) as if she were a guidance counselor or favorite aunt. The striking thing was that her answers or recommendations always seemed to be on the mark. Not a single student returned to complain about the advice given. On the contrary, everyone that thanked her told her that her advice had been perfect.

She seemed oblivious to the popular trends among the other students, such as who was the best looking actor or the most popular idol, yet she could spout information about people from the Meiji era and earlier with absolute confidence. She knew just about everything there was to know about Lillian's history, including all of the myths, legends, and folk tales regarding the school and it's students, but could care less about the current state of politics in the country.

The most amazing thing, in somewhat complete contrast to her normal "lusty" attitude, was that she seemed to truly care about everyone that she came in contact with. She would tease and flirt with anything in a dress, including Hiromi-san, but when it came down to helping others with their problems it seemed a switch was thrown and all of her teasing ways were put aside until the issue had been resolved. And despite that "lusty" attitude, she had never once seen Sakura-san touch anyone in an inappropriate manner. She could easily flaunt her sexy body, and her language would sometimes be better suited to a "Mature" rated film, but she never took it beyond words. It was like she reveled in making others blush, but would never once think of taking it beyond that. Nana wondered what "Sakura-in-love" would be like. Would she be lusty and teasing, or serious and loving? Or would she be like any other school girl her age, full of nervous tension, hopes, doubts, joy, pain, and all those other confusing emotions. Or would she try to deny it like her onee-sama did.

Nana loved her onee-sama, but she knew that Yoshino was in love with Rei-sama, if the stubborn girl would only admit it to herself! That was actually fine with Nana. She cared enough about both girls that she wanted the two women to be together; they so obviously adored each other. Yoshino needed the calming affect that Rei-sama seemed to be able to provide while Rei-sama needed the energy, exuberance and spontaneity that Yoshino-sama brought to just about everything she did. She smiled to herself at the thought of the look on Rei-sama's face if Yoshino ever actually confessed. It would probably be just as shocked as Yoshino-sama's would be if Rei-sama ever did the same.

And how would Nana feel if someone confessed to her?

Which brought her right back around to her own feelings for the girl whose hands were currently creating such wonderful feelings in her body. Not just her neck and shoulders, but a wave of warmth that seemed to start in her gut and spread throughout her body, especially her heart. She felt peace, and calm, and safety, and . . . love? If this was the feeling that Yoshino had for Rei, or Yumi for Sachiko, then she could easily see the allure. It was like a drug that you could quickly become addicted to; these feelings that seemed to be running through her. She had never considered being attracted to another girl. Nor was she sure that she was ready for a girlfriend, but she wanted to explore these feelings much more fully.

And it was Sakura-san that was making her feel this way. Did she want Sakura as a girlfriend? Did she want to do "this" and "that" with her? Remembering the time in the changing room after the Yamayurikai's play at the school festival, she had been one of those girls that had been unable to look away as Sakura-san had stripped down to bare nothingness. Her seduction of Yuuki-sama as Siegfried, even after she had toned it down, had drawn her eyes and made her wonder what it would be like if she were to be seduced in that manner.

For some reason the warmth flowing through her body, maybe as a result of the thoughts running through her mind, was being concentrated in an area slightly lower than her gut. This feeling could also become very addictive, she thought to herself while her throat produced a soft purr.

"Are you alright, Nana-san," Sakura asked softly,

"Ah, I'm fine Sakura-san. Your massage just feels so good."

"Oh, then that's alright," she replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah," Nana whispered in a soft voice too low for Sakura-san to hear, responding to her earlier comment, "maybe later."

Thanks for reading. As always, any comments you might have are greatly appreciated.

Take care