A/N: Thank you for all your wonderful comments. They really do keep me going.

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

"How did the pictures of Nana-chan's bouts at National's turn out Tsutako?" Hiromi asked her one Monday morning in early November as they made their way to their classes. It had become a morning ritual, these walks from the bus stop to their classroom. Even when one had to arrive early for a club or Yamayurikai meeting, the other automatically adjusted their schedule so that they could still meet for their morning walk. Tsutako could probably count on one hand the number of times they had not met each other at the bus stop since they had started dating the previous year.

It thrilled her to realize that the two were still very much in love after more than a year of dating. While other girls in her class dumped their current boyfriend when they got tired or when the sex got boring, Tsutako's and Hiromi's relationship was not based on sex and could never be considered boring. While the number of times they had actually had sex was relatively few, when they did find the time and opportunity it was still like the first time; tender, passionate and . . . amazing! The new and various ways they had learned how to pleasure each other without actual intercourse was probably a large part of it. It was surprising how imaginative they could both get.

Just thinking about it had caused her to get slightly wet as they walked along the cobbled paths between the gingkoes.

"Great as usual," Tsutako replied only slightly belatedly with a laugh, forcing her thoughts back onto a normal track so that she would not have to change her underwear as soon as they got to class, "would you expect anything else?"

"Not from the 'Ace' of Lillian's photography club," Hiromi chuckled at her exuberance but wondered at the flush that had crept into her cheeks as they walked. He was pretty sure that the morning's cold would not account for all of it.

Nana-chan had participated in the National High School Kendo Tournament the previous day. The early bouts had been embarrassingly easy for the granddaughter of the Grand Master and owner of the Arima dojo. As nice as she normally is, Nana was all business as soon as she started putting on her kendo uniform and armor. Since the tournament was set up so that she would only be pitted against other first-year high school students, she did take steps to not overly embarrass her early opponents since doing so would be a smear not only their honor, but hers as well.

The last two bouts had been more of a challenge for the smaller, dark haired girl, but she had triumphed nonetheless. Lillian could now boast a national champion among the members of their kendo club team. Yoshino had been beside herself with glee and had had to be physically restrained from rushing onto the floor of the Tokyo Sports Arena to embrace her petite soeur. That, however, was simply Yoshino being herself. It was Sakura-chan's demeanor after the match that had been the most interesting. The hug and kiss on the cheek she had given Nana-chan had been somewhat more tender than those given by the other girls.

The entire Yamayurikai, along with Rei-sama, Hiromi and Tsutako, but less Yumi-san, had made the trip into central Tokyo to cheer on their fellow rose. They couldn't have cared less about any of the other matches, although Rei-sama briefly watched the bouts of a couple of third-years that had applied to Tokyo U. Tsutako had recorded just about every strike and movement with her digital SLR. She had once again upgraded her camera equipment and was now sporting the latest model. While the fashion magazine that she apprenticed with could not help her with her school expenses, they had no problems whatsoever in making sure that she had the very best equipment possible; at least within the budget they had available. Everyone was ecstatic for her when she pointed out the photos in the magazine that she had taken. The fact that they had actually printed photographs taken by an apprentice not yet graduated from high school was a real feather in her cap. She couldn't stop grinning for weeks.

Some of the photos she had taken of Nana the previous day were destined for publication in the Lillian Kawaraban, but the majority would go into her own portfolio and given as presents to Nana-chan and Yoshino-san.

"Did you hear about Shimako-san's plans for the future," Tsutako asked as she took hold of his hand as they approached the stone statue of Maria-sama.

"Yes, and I was a bit surprised until she told me that while her father is a Buddhist priest, her mother was a devoted follower of Shintoism. She told me that she was basically going back to her 'roots'," Hiromi replied with a smile.

"As long as she and Noriko-san are happy," Tsutako smiled at him just before the two stopped briefly in front of Maria-sama and bowed their heads in silence.

"Have you spoken to Yumi lately," Hiromi asked her out of the blue after they raised their heads. Well, truthfully it was a relatively frequent question on everyone's lips these days. And it wasn't a real shock given that her own prayers had been asking the Madonna to watch over her good friend. She would not be surprised if Maria-sama heard hundreds of prayers for the health of the Rosa Chinensis each and every day; from students, faculty and administration alike.

"I spoke to her Saturday afternoon and plan on giving her a call later today," Tsutako replied with a sigh, "I know she hated to miss the tournament yesterday, but it couldn't be helped. She sounded absolutely awful, but still tried to put on her best, cheeriest voice for me. It hurt just to listen to her trying to sound so upbeat. She told me that Touko-chan had stopped by earlier in the day and had been an absolute angel for her."

"Touko-chan has certainly been a model petite soeur," Hiromi agreed with her, "as if anyone needed a reason to be nice to Yumi. When she does show up at the Rose Mansion she acts as if nothing has changed and there is nothing wrong with her. She knows it's an act, and so does everyone else, but it is a charade that we are all willing to take part in for her sake. However, I think it strains even Touko-chan's acting ability at times. Did I tell you that she wanted to skip out on the second-year trip to Greece last month just so that she wouldn't be so far away from Yumi-san?"

"No, although it doesn't surprise me," Tsutako sighed, "she absolutely adores Yumi-san and isn't afraid who knows it. She has grown up so much since last year. She hardly ever wears a mask anymore, and because of it she seems to be more popular than ever."

"Leave it to Yumi to bring out the best in everyone she meets," Hiromi chuckled softly.

They continued their walk, stopping in briefly at the Rose Mansion for their morning kiss away from prying eyes and to listen to Yoshino-san telling them once again to get a room.

I guess it isn't just our walk that has become a morning ritual, Tsutako giggled.

-oo-

The previous Saturday

Yumi looked at the letter in her hand and realized that she was shaking. She had been waiting for this almost since the beginning of the semester and now that it was here, in her hands, she wasn't sure whether to feel happy or sad.

"Congratulations, Fukuzawa Yumi-san, on your acceptance to Lillian University," the letter began.

It was everything she had been hoping for since she submitted her paperwork at the start of the fall semester. She no longer had to worry about taking entrance exams for a second or third choice school. She would be starting the next school year as a first-year again, but it would be at Lillian U., the school she wanted to go to and the school where the love of her life was also a student. She really should be happy. But . . .

Would she still be alive next April? Would she even live to graduate? The questions started to spiral through her head and the first she knew of the tears flowing from her eyes was the splatter of small drops of water on the surface of the letter she held in her shaking hands. She was sitting on the bed in the room she now shared with Sachiko. Her parents had been kind enough to provide them with a full sized bed in place of the single she had previously had in her bedroom. There was less floor space, but that was an extremely small price to pay to sleep cradled in the arms of the woman she loved every night.

Thoughts of Sachiko played in her mind and she realized she had to be strong for her love. She must not wallow in self-pity.

I must not . . .

break . . .

down . . .

Her sobs rang loudly through the deserted house.

Life for Yumi had become a living hell since the end of summer and receipt of the diagnosis of Leukemia. Twice each month she underwent a radiation treatment while once every week, typically on a Friday so that she had an opportunity to recuperate over the weekend, Yumi found herself in a local medical clinic, strapped to a chair with bags of fluid attached to tubes and needles sticking out of her arms. Even with the assistance of an antiemetic she found herself throwing up part of the weekend and tired the rest of the week. She had probably missed two or three days of school out of every week since the beginning of her treatments. Luckily fall and winter classes for high school seniors were mostly no longer compulsory as students prepared for college entrance exams. Teachers were available to those students that found the need of their assistance in preparing for exams, and Yumi had availed herself of that assistance as often as she could make it to school, but she had still been holding out hope for early acceptance to Lillian University.

Now that prayer had been answered, but her prayers had changed in the intervening weeks. Now she seemed to alternate prayers almost every other night. On the days she felt well enough to go to school she prayed to be able to spend a long life with Sachiko. On the weekends, after her chemo and radiation treatments, she just prayed to be put out of her misery.

Today was Saturday, probably her worst day of every week as she suffered from the affects of the previous day's treatments. It was also the day that she was at her lowest ebb emotionally. Days like today were the reason that there were no longer any sharp objects in her room. Her doctors had told her parents that she should not be left alone on the days after her treatments, but everyone had their own crises to deal with and today happened to be a day when everyone had a reason to be out of the house.

Yuuki had school and a council meeting afterwards. Sachiko had been called to the Ogasawara mansion to tend to some paperwork necessary for the transfer of partial control of one of the family's companies to her. That paperwork would allow for her to obtain additional insurance coverage for Yumi and so was of vital importance as far as the patient and her family was concerned. Her mother had to go to multiple stores to restock the house and medicine chest, and her father had been called away by an irate client that had demanded to see him that morning or lose the account. Yumi had told her father to go, that the account was important and that she was fine.

And she had been fine . . . until she had gone to get the mail and opened the letter from Lillian University.

Her violent, shrill, and aching cries went unheeded until she felt slim arms encircling her waist as she sat crying on her bed.

She didn't care who it was that was suddenly there just when she needed someone, all she knew was that someone cared; someone had heard her cries and was there to console her. She dove into those waiting arms, not even bothering to open her eyes, and wailed on the slender shoulder. A small hand gently ran through her hair as the other arm continued to hold her tightly around her waist. Her tears and drool were soaking the material of the girls t-shirt. She was sure that her snot was running down her face, but she didn't care. Real crying was never pretty. Real crying was ugly and heartbreaking. Red, puffy eyes and a mouth stretched open in devastating wails is not something that anyone would ever term "cute". It was simply reality.

The owner of the soothing voice that barely reached her consciousness could have cared less. She withstood the tears, and the drool, and the snot, and the wails, because it was necessary; because she cared for the one that was crying; because she loved her.

"Shhh, onee-sama, shhh, it's alright. I'm here, onee-sama."

Yumi opened her swollen eyes and stared at one of the coiled rings of the pigtails of her petite soeur, now much the worse for wear and in desperate need of a wash. "T-Touko-c-chan," was all she could get out before another sob hit her. Knowing that the girl in whose arms she was being cradled was someone that she so dearly loved seemed to make it just that much harder for her to regain control. Nor did it seem that Touko-chan cared one way or another about that control. She was just there; where she needed to be and where she wanted to be at that instant. And Yumi loved her for it.

It was another fifteen or twenty minutes before Yumi was able to calm herself in the arms of her petite soeur. The wails turned back into sobs, which were then reduced to sniffles before she found herself taking deep breaths and hiccuping, still trying to gather back the shards of her long lost dignity. Opening her eyes again, she saw that that dignity was unnecessary as she looked into the sympathetic but absolutely loving eyes of her petite soeur.

"I-I'm so sorry, Touko-chan," she stammered, "I d-don't know w-what came over me. I-I was fine earlier. I-it just hit me all of a sudden, and . . ."

"Shhh, onee-sama. It's alright. It can happen that way," Touko explained in a calm, quiet voice. "Believe me, I know. I have helped out at my grandfather's hospital enough to know that something like this can happen without any warning, and sometimes without any cause. The littlest thing, or nothing, can simply set you off."

"W-what are you doing here anyway?" Yumi asked while slowly extricating herself from Touko-chan's arms, "don't you have school? Ah, oh my, look what I've done to your poor shirt, and your hair. I'm so sorry, Touko-chan, I . . ."

Touko laughed at her onee-sama's concern. Taking Yumi's hands into her own she said, "As for why I am here, Yuuki called me this morning after he got a call from your father. He wanted to come home straight away himself but was called into a meeting with the school administration and couldn't get out of it. So he called me and asked if I could come over to stay with you. As for school, I was planning to skip out early and stop by to see you anyway. Since Yuuki's request and my desire matched perfectly, I saw no reason to say 'no'. And as for my shirt and hair . . . well, why don't we both take a bath together onee-sama? I think you could use one as well and we can throw my shirt and bra in the wash while we are at it."

"Ehhh! A bath with Touko-chan? I-I don't know . . ."

"Come on, onee-sama. It's not like I haven't seen you without your clothes on before. Well, at least in your underwear . . . and I have given sponge baths to some of the patient's at the hospital, so I know what I am doing. Besides, it might be fun," she said with a grin.

"Uh, well, you know Touko-chan . . . I . . . my body . . . it doesn't look like it used to," Yumi tried to explain around her embarrassment.

"I'm used to that as well, onee-sama," Touko-chan said while maintaining a grin and her cheery voice.

It didn't look like Yumi was going to be given a choice, and she desperately wanted to get clean. She sighed and finally gave in. She went to her closet and found a change of clothes for Touko along with a short bath robe. After she helped Yumi into another robe the younger girl headed off to start the laundry while Yumi started running the bath.

As the water filled the large tub Yumi reflected on what her petite soeur had said earlier. She knew that Touko had been lying about already planning to skip classes. She had come simply because Yuuki had asked her to. Not that she hadn't wanted to come anyway - Yumi believed her when she said that - but she had probably originally planned to come later in the day. The fact that Touko had dropped everything to be with her, even if Yuuki had been the one to ask her, brought a smile to her lips. And Touko was being so solicitous, her voice was so soothing and calm; it was like a balm to Yumi's tattered nerves. She was so happy that Touko had come.

When Touko returned she had Yumi sit on the bathing stool while she first washed her hair and then started in on her back, a towel laid over Yumi's lap. Yumi's chin rested on her breast, what little there was of it, in quiet acceptance of the pleasurable feelings. Despite her words Touko was shocked to see how wasted her onee-sama's body had become. Yumi's breasts were almost non-existent and her ribs and vertebra showed clearly through the translucence of her skin. Touko had seen pictures of girls with anorexia that did not look as emaciated as Yumi did, but she could have been worse. She kept her face from showing any of her shock, however, and simply got to work washing the older girl. There was a reason her grandfather allowed her to work with the terminally ill patients at his hospital. Touko's acting ability came as a godsend to both doctors and patients alike.

She allowed Yumi to then wash her hair and back before the two of them climbed into the tub to soak and rinse. Yumi kept trying to cover her sunken chest until Touko forcefully moved Yumi's arms so that she could run a washcloth over her chest and stomach. After that Yumi finally figured out that she wasn't going to be allowed even the slightest amount of modesty and gave in once again to the pleasurable ministrations of her petite soeur.

"You know, Touko-chan, I really cannot thank you and the others enough for everything that you have done for me," Yumi said quietly as her body was being gently washed. "I haven't been much of a Rosa Chinensis or an onee-sama for you, have I."

"It's not like you had a choice, onee-sama," Touko said in a gentle voice as she lifted Yumi's right arm to rinse, "and frankly I think you have been doing an awful lot more than anyone ever expected given the circumstances. I know everyone at school is so proud of you and the way you are not giving in to this disease. We know that it will be that strength, and your love for Sachiko-oneesama, that is going to get you through this. Seeing what you go through and how you aren't letting it beat you, I don't know of any better lesson that you could be teaching me, or anyone else for that matter. And personally, I love you for it," she smiled. "Now, lift your other arm, please."

Yumi complied with the instruction and, while Touko was looking where she was working, took a good look at her petite soeur. Touko, even nude and in a bathtub with another girl, was focused solely on what she had to get done. She seemed the consummate professional, but her love and concern came through in her voice and in her touch.

"You know, onee-sama, I'm kind of surprised that Tsutako-sama hasn't been over here every day taking pictures of your progress," Touko said with a grin.

"Ah, she has called numerous times and come over a few times, but not once did she ever raise her camera. It kind of surprised me as well, now that you mention it," Yumi commented.

"Well, at least you don't think she has been taking photos every day. I swear I never know where that girl hides to get the shots that she does. For all we know, she has pictures of you; of you and Sachiko doing the nasty . . ."

"Enough, enough Touko-chan," Yumi laughed. It was the first smile that Touko had seen from Yumi since she had walked into the house and heard her crying. Her heart soared that she had finally been able to get Yumi's attitude to perk up.

"Onee-sama," Touko said as she finished drying Yumi's hair later in the bedroom wearing a borrowed pair of Yumi's jeans and a Lillian polo shirt, "I am going to switch the clothes to the dryer and make us something to eat while you get dressed. Is that alright?"

"Touko-chan," Yumi said with a wince.

"I know, onee-sama, but you have to keep up your strength and try to get some of your weight back," she chided the older girl, "I know it's hard now, but I want my onee-sama around for a long time to come and that means trying to get some food in you."

"Alright, Touko-chan . . . I will try," Yumi replied with a sigh of resignation but a slight smile on her lips.

"Good. I'll call you when it's ready."

Touko switched the clothes and then raided the cabinets and refrigerator for food that would be easier on Yumi's stomach but higher in fat, carbohydrates, and protein. She also found some bottles of meal supplements that would work nicely. By the time she called Yumi to lunch she had a nice, light meal that would hopefully put a little more meat back on her bones.

They spoke quietly as they ate, talking about things that had been going on in Touko's classes, the latest in the seemingly budding relationship between Nana-chan and Sakura-chan, Shimako-sama's announcement, and any other topics Touko could think of to keep up Yumi's spirits. Yumi ate sparingly, mostly small bites washed down with the meal supplement, but she seemed to be handling it. Touko just kept up the mindless chatter and ate slowly to keep Yumi company.

Yuuki arrived as they were cleaning up from the meal.

"Touko, thank you for coming over. I really appreciate it," he told his girlfriend quietly as he kissed her cheek.

"It was no trouble at all, Yuuki. Yumi and I had a lovely time, didn't we onee-sama," she said in a louder voice.

"Touko-chan was a wonder, Yuuki," Yumi said with a smile. "Thank you for asking her to come. I don't know what I would have done without her."

"Well, if you don't mind, I will take my leave now and let you get some rest, onee-sama," Touko said as she gathered her coat. "I will pick my clothes up later or you can bring them with you the next time you come to school," she said with a smile before turning to her boyfriend, "I'll call you later, Yuuki."

"Let me at least walk you to the bus stop, Touko," he replied with a grin.

"Thank you for coming, Touko-chan," Yumi said while gathering the younger girl in her arms. Her hair no longer had her signature spiral pigtails, but she still looked wonderful to Yumi. "Please feel free to stop by anytime."

"I will, onee-sama. Please take care of yourself," Touko said softly while placing a kiss on Yumi's cheek.

Yuuki walked her to the bus stop and gave her a quick kiss just as the bus arrived.

Touko made it all the way to her seat and the bus had started to pull away before her shoulders started to quake and she finally allowed her silent tears to fall.

Thank you for reading. Your comments are always appreciated.

Take care