Disclaimer: i do not own, nor claim to own, anything strawberry panic or marimite

Chapter Five: Old School, New Problems

Sakura walked out of the airport, pulling her suitcase along behind her and hailed a taxi. After giving the driver the proper address, she leaned back against the seat and took a quick nap, having been emotionally drained from the day before with Miyuki's letter, the photo album, Nagisa and, most importantly, Shizuma.

When she arrived at the apartment complex she shared with Mizuki before the accident, Sakura asked the driver to wait for her for a minute. After dumping her suitcase in the apartment she still stayed in, when she was in town anyway, she ran back out to the taxi and gave him another address. Within ten minutes they arrived, Sakura paid the driver and stood in front of the entrance gates to her old school, Lillian Girls Academy.

With a sigh, Sakura entered the grounds and, as a force of habit, stopped and prayed in front of the statue of Maria-Sama. After that, she proceeded to the Rose Mansion, noting that classes would not be let out and thus the Yamayurikai would not meet for another hour. Sakura opened the door, entered, ascended the staircase and went into the room where the daily meetings of the Lillian Student Council took place before and after school. Smiling at some of the memories of the room, Sakura rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a broom and began to clean, something she, for some reason, enjoyed doing and did quite often when she was a student and her best friend the petit soeur of Rosa Chinensis En Bouton.

Yumi stood at the doors with Yoshino and Shimako; they were waiting for their soeurs to show up. For Yoshino, it was her grande soeur Rei, for Shimako, it was her petite soeur Noriko and for Yumi it was her grande soeur Sachiko and her petite soeur Touko. They had only been waiting for about five minutes when three people they knew very well came walking up to them.

"Onee-sama!" Shimako exclaimed, being the first to see the trio approach.

"Yo!" Sei, the former Rosa Gigantea said, putting her hand up in the air in greeting.

"Long time, no see," Eriko, the former Rosa Foetida added, hugging Yoshino.

"How's Sachiko?" Youko, the former Rosa Chinensis asked, getting right to the point.

"I am fine, thank you onee-sama," the six girls turned around to see Sachiko, Rei, Noriko and Touko walking up to them.

"Onee-sama," Yumi said, smiling at Sachiko. Sachiko's grandmother had passed away about a week ago and Sachiko had not come to school until today, even though she still looked a little worn.

"Sorry we're late," Rei said, giving Eriko, her own onee-sama, a welcoming hug.

"What are the three of you doing here anyway?" Noriko asked, coming to stand beside Shimako as Touko went to stand by Yumi.

"Well, I was in the neighbourhood and decided to pay you guys a visit," Eriko said.

"And I heard that something interesting might happen today," Sei said, putting her arm around Shimako and giving the group her signature Cheshire cat grin.

"Care to elaborate?" Touko asked.

"Well, I'm sure if we go to the Rose Mansion for tea, we'll probably find out," Youko said, indicating that neither she nor Eriko knew what Sei was talking about.

The group agreed, somewhat apprehensively, and headed towards the Rose Mansion. When they got there, they realized that the door to the meeting room was slightly ajar. Giving each other confused looks, the group entered the room, Sachiko and Yumi in the front, and stood in frozen shock at the sight in front of them.

The room was spotless, cleaner than it has ever been, a white table cloth covered the table and a vase of fresh roses, red, white and yellow, were in the center. The window was open, letting in a gentle breeze that made the curtains flutter and there was a pot of tea simmering on the stove. However, none of this was what shocked the girls into silence; it was the person standing with their back to them that had caught everyone's attention.

The girl was tall, slender with black hair and wore a black dress that came to her knees with puffed sleeves and white lace accents. At the sound of the door opening, the girl turned around to reveal deep blue eyes that were full of memories, regret and pain. Giving the group a half-hearted smile, she faced the group full on.

"I'm back," she said.

"SAKURA!"

No sooner had Sakura said that she was back, she found herself lying on the floor on her back with Yumi clinging to her in a death-grip.

"Yumi," Sakura said, "I can't breathe."

"Sorry," Yumi exclaimed, leaping off her friend and helping pull Sakura to her feet. "It's just that..."

"I know," Sakura said, interrupting, as she brushed herself off. "I missed you too, all of you." She said, looking behind Yumi to see the rest of her old friends still staring at her in open shock. Suddenly, Yoshino and Shimako were squealing and had thrown themselves at Sakura much like Yumi had done, almost knocking Sakura flat on her back again, and Youko, Sei and even Eriko all started smiling and coming over to hug Sakura as well. Only Noriko, Touko and Sachiko held back, away from all the commotion.

"Ano, onee-sama?" Sakura asked, diverting everyone's attention from her to her older sister who had not said a word, nor even cracked a smile at seeing Sakura. Sachiko didn't answer Sakura, instead she simply walked up to her and the pair of them stared at each other, blue eyes stared into blue eyes and neither of them spoke, until Sachiko glared so hard at Sakura that she flinched, right before...

SLAP!

Sakura staggered backwards and hit the table, sinking to the floor with the force of Sachiko's anger. As soon as she stood back up, the group saw a large red handprint across her left cheek. The room went into stunned silence as Sachiko glared at Sakura, and Sakura held her hand to her stinging cheek.

"Sorry," Sakura said, bowing her head and turning it away so her bangs covered her eyes and no one could see her cry. "I shouldn't have come, you're all much happier without me around. I'll go now." With that, Sakura ran from the room, tears, now visible, streaming from her eyes as she fled.

"What the hell was that?" Sei yelled, as soon as Sakura had left, rounding on Sachiko.

"I should be asking you the same thing," Sachiko said, turning her ice-cold glare on the former White Rose. "Why in the world is she here? Did you know about this? Is this what you meant when you said 'something interesting might happen'?"

"BAKA!" Yumi yelled, surprising everyone, even herself.

"Onee-sama..." Touko said, noting her onee-sama's eyes were beginning to fill with tears.

"Sakura wanted to see you," Yumi said, more calmly this time. "She came because she was worried about you and she missed you."

"Then you knew about this Yumi?" Sachiko asked, surprised and hurt that Yumi wouldn't tell her something as important as this.

"Not until class ended," Yumi admitted, looking down at the floor. "I turned my phone on to see if Yuuki texted me the grocery list yet and instead there was one from Sakura. All it said was 'I'm back.' I didn't know she meant that she was back here, at Lillian."

"But the question is: why is she back?" Shimako asked. "As I recall, Sakura left to go to a different school with some red-haired first-year she knew after the accident."

"That might be my fault," Youko admitted.

"Your fault?" Yoshino asked, "How?"

"I sent her a letter about a week ago, informing her of her grandmother's passing...and Sachiko's...condition."

"YOU WHAT?" Sachiko asked, now rounding on her onee-sama.

"Well somebody had to tell her," Youko said, irritated. "And since you were a disaster and Yumi had basically forgotten Sakura existed, I told her."

"So she came back, because she was worried about Sachiko-san?" Shimako asked.

"Yes," Youko said, glaring at her petite soeur. "Which brings us back to the question: why the hell did you hit her?" Youko asked, sounding more livid at every word. "She came back, despite everything she's been through here, because she was worried about you! What in the world possessed you to behave like that?"

"Because she's mad at me," the group turned to the door and saw Sakura leaning against the doorframe.

"Sakura, I thought you left," Yumi said.

"Isn't that right Sachiko-sama?" Sakura asked, watching Sachiko flinch slightly at the honorific. "You're mad at me. You're mad at me because I fell out a window and almost killed myself. You're mad at me because I refused to return to living with you and mother after the accident that killed Mizuki. You're mad at me for running away with Nagisa to Astraea Hill and boarding school at Miator. You acted so kindly and sad when you caught me at the airport the day I left, but that was all it was wasn't it? Just all an act, you pretended that you loved me and that you were going to miss me, but in truth you hated me and never wanted to see me again."

The Yamayurikai stood still, shocked at the words coming out of Sakura's mouth and Sachiko flinched at the harshness in her voice that she had never heard coming from Sakura in her entire life.

"It appears that I am right," Sakura said, taking Sachiko's silence as confirmation of her suspicions. "In that case, I will take the next flight to Astraea Hill and do as you wish and never show my face in front of you ever again." Sakura turned to walk through the door and stopped. "You better take this back," she said, tossing the photo album to land on the floor at Sachiko's feet. "From what I heard while standing in the hall, you never wanted this sent to me, it was all Youko's doing. Feel free to rip up those pictures, they only contain you and me anyway so what's the point of keeping them? Better yet," Sakura said, her eyes filling with pain and tears and her voice getting higher and higher. "Why don't you just burn the whole thing, pretend like I never existed, that I was never part of your life, that you always were and always will be an only child. That would just make everything easier for you wouldn't it? To act like..."

"BAKA!" Sachiko yelled, effectively cutting Sakura off. "BAKA!" She repeated, tears beginning to fill her own eyes. "How can you say that?" She asked, turning to her sister. "After everything that's happened, how can you think I don't care about you anymore? How can you think I don't want you back in my life?"

"It's the truth though, isn't it?" Sakura asked, avoiding Sachiko's eyes.

"It's not!" Sachiko exclaimed, tears running down her face now. "It's not true! Yes, I am mad at you, for all the reasons you already stated, but that doesn't mean I never want to see you again!"

"She's right Sakura," Sei said, gently. "When the hospital called the school, and the headmistress called us, to inform us that there was a car accident, and you were in the victim's car, Sachiko lost her mind."

"Shut up Sei," Sachiko said, then grabbed Sakura's wrist and dragged her into an adjacent room and closed the door behind them.

"Is that true?" Sakura asked softly, her back to her elder sister.

"Is what true?" Sachiko countered, answering the question with a question.

"What Sei said," Sakura clarified. "Is it true?"

"Yes, it is," Sachiko sighed, ready to throttle Sei for revealing such a thing. "When I heard about the accident, I very nearly lost it."

*Flashback*

Sachiko was sitting in class, trying to concentrate on what her teacher was saying, but failing miserably. Today was the one-week anniversary of the day that Sakura freed herself from her grandfather's attempts to use her Draconian powers for evil purposes. It was also the one-week anniversary of the death of Sakura's childhood friend, and fellow Draconian, Lance. Sakura had left with her guardian Mizuki earlier that day to visit Lance's grave and Sachiko had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that wouldn't be dispelled until Yumi told her that Sakura was back, such was Sachiko's worry about her younger sister. Just then, the intercom buzzed and jolted Sachiko out of her thoughts.

"Would the Rosas, En Boutons, and their Soeurs, of the Yamayurikai please report to the headmistress's office immediately? I repeat, would the Rosas, En Boutons, and their Soeurs, of the Yamayurikai please report to the headmistress's office immediately?"

*Wonder what that's all about?* Sachiko asked herself, as she excused herself from class and made her way down to the headmistress's office. Once there, she saw that Sei, Eriko, Youko and Rei were already there. A few minutes later, Yumi showed up, followed closely by Shimako and Yoshino.

"Ah, you're here," the headmistress said, opening the door. "Good, please come in."

"What's going on?" Yoshino asked, as the group of girls entered the office and stood in front of the desk.

"I'm afraid I have some very bad news, for our school, and for you," the headmistress said, taking a seat at her desk.

"Which is...?" Sei asked.

"About ten minutes ago, we received a call from the General Hospital," the headmistress said, sighing. "They called to inform us that, earlier this morning, there was a car accident with two victims. One of the victims was a student from our school and the other was her guardian. Both have been admitted to the ICU and are undergoing extensive surgery and medical care. However, their condition is quite serious and no one knows whether either of them will live or die."

"Why are you informing us of this?" Rei asked, confused.

"Shouldn't you be informing the friends and family of this student?" Eriko asked.

"That is precisely what I am doing, Rosa Foetida," the headmistress said.

"What do you mean?" Youko asked, fearing the worst.

"The victims of the accident who are in the ICU right now are a journalist from the Tokyo Times newspaper named Mizuki Kusumoto, and her ward Sakura Kusumoto."

*End Flashback*

"After that we all were really quiet," Sachiko told Sakura, looking out the window. "Then everyone registered what we had been told. Sei swore and punched the wall; Yoshino started screaming that it couldn't be true as Rei tried to calm her down while holding in her own emotions; Yumi, Shimako and onee-sama had tears running down their faces and Eriko just looked mortified. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, I was so scared. I was terrified that you were going to die, just like Lance had, fading away until there was not a trace left of you, I..." Sachiko stopped talking as she felt arms encircle her waist and the person behind her hug her tightly.

"Gomenasai," Sakura said, hugging Sachiko close and burying her face into her back. "Gomenasai, onee-sama," she said, tears running down her face and soaking into Sachiko's blouse. "I said such awful things. I didn't mean...I just...I'm so sorry!" Sakura started crying full-out now, letting the tears fall as she vented all her anger, hurt and pain at losing Lance, losing Mizuki and thinking that she had lost Sachiko as well.

"Sakura..." Sachiko said, turning around in Sakura's embrace and looking down at her younger sister, clinging to her like the world was ending. "Ssh, ssh, it's okay," she said, hugging Sakura to her and stroking her head as she let her sister cry, tears flowing from her own eyes. "It's okay," she repeated. "I said, and thought, some pretty awful things too, and I hit you, something I should never have done, not matter how mad I was at you. Forgive me?" She asked, looking down with tear-filled eyes as Sakura lifted her own tear-stained face to Sachiko's.

"Only if you forgive me," Sakura said quietly.

"Deal," Sachiko said, smiling as she hugged Sakura close to her again.

"I missed you, onee-sama," Sakura said, as she continued to grip Sachiko with all her might.

"I missed you too, Sakura," Sachiko said, not loosening her grip on Sakura for even a moment.

The two of them stayed like that, two sisters, identical in every way except for height and personality, holding each other like the world was ending and conveying all their love for each other in that one single moment in time where it was just the two of them.

A/N: hey guys. yea had a little writers block with this one. decided that we should look in on the Yamayurikai for a bit, sorry for any OOCness. next chapter: sakura chills with her friends and heads back to Miator. what will happen? R +R to find out!