Thirteen

Chikaru hadn't said anything after her mentioning the storm. The Lilian Angel didn't quite understand about the storm. She didn't come close to understand why Rosa Gigantea and Rosa Chinensis were involved in this storm. 'Didn't she say our faces will be soaked instead of their faces?' Shimako thought as she lay in her bed that night. Yumi had fallen fast asleep on the other side of the room, but she couldn't find sleep at this time and it was already nearing past midnight. She didn't know why this was troubling her; Chikaru's words. She didn't know why she had to stay up just to solve Chikaru's little piece of puzzle. This shouldn't really concern her when she knew that she should leave them alone. She had always left them alone to sort their problems out themselves. That would be until she couldn't stand watching them holding everything back that she had to interfere. When that happened not long ago, she felt happy because they were her friends. 'Friends…' Shimako silently thought to herself once more before she let out a sigh. 'I won't be able to sleep tonight..' The blonde concluded as she pulled herself out of the bed and looked over to Yumi's side of the room. After noticing that her roommate was fast asleep, she put on her jacket and quietly slipped out of the room. She made her way down the hallway as quietly as possible, like a ghost wandering around the hallway, and slipped out of the building to enter the cold night breeze. She found a small post in the open and moved herself towards it. Once she was under it, she let the night air caressed her cheeks as she gazed up at the night sky.

"Can't sleep?"

Came an unfamiliar voice that had got her heart to almost jump out of her ribcage. She was startled, yes, but she had acted as if the voice didn't startle her at all. So the Lilian Angel shifted her gaze from the sky and turned her attention on a tall girl with sky blue hair. The hairstyle was much more like Rei's, the Rosa Foetida en bouton. She had never seen this person before, in or out or around the campus. It was as if this person was hiding herself from the view. Then again, she hadn't seen that many people since she wasn't attending all three schools.

After realizing that her manner had gotten a little ill for staring, she quickly bowed her head in an apology before raising her head up to meet the stranger's eyes. "No, and I can assume you can't either?" She asked.

The other girl nodded and wrapped her arms around herself as she tilted her head up to the darkened sky, only a few stars and the Moon were visible to her eyes. "Yes, I thought I could come out here to get some fresh air."

Shimako nodded her head before she gazed up at the sky once more. She was still thinking about the conversation that she had with Chikaru. Added to that was Sei and Youko because she had noticed certain things about Sei but she couldn't understand them. She didn't realize that the other girl was talking to her before she felt a hand on her forearm, making her to blink out her thoughts. She looked down at the other girl and smiled softly.

"I apologize for spacing out like that. I'm not usually like this." She said before a sigh escaped her parted lips. "I apologize for having to concern you."

The taller girl shook her head and smiled at her in understanding. "It's fine. Perhaps it's just because you can't fall asleep."

Shimako sighed and nodded in agreement. "Perhaps." Before letting her gaze fall away from the other girl.

"You are Toudou Shimako, aren't you?" The taller girl asked quietly.

"Yes," Shimako responded before turning her eyes to give the other girl her attention once more. "And I'm sorry that I don't quite know who you are."

The other girl let out a low chuckle before shrugging her shoulders. "You are still new to Astrea, so it is fine. My name is Ohtori Amane, fifth grader of St Spica."

"Ah," Shimako said with a gentle smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Ohtori-sama."

Amane sighed as if she had been burdened by the title, and waved her hand dismissively. "Please, don't be too formal with me Shimako. You can call me Amane, and please drop the 'sama'."

Shimako looked on at the older girl in puzzlement before giggling softly. "Of course, Amane-senpai."

Amane smiled her thanks at the other girl before realizing that she still had her hand on the other girl's forearm. With a small blush, she withdrawn her hand and turned her back against the small fences. She turned her head up to look at the sky once more before letting out a sigh. "If you don't mind me asking, Shimako, what is it feel like as an exchange student?"

The Lilian Angel was surprised by the question. Sure, she had a lot of people asking this before but she had never had anyone asking the question in such a polite manner. Not only that, she was surprise that the famous St Spica Prince, Ohtori Amane, was asking her about it. Yes, she had heard of Ohtori Amane after her second day of school, thanks to Yoshino of course. The girl had talked about how Amane and Rei were so much alike that it was driving her nuts. Rei had seemed to gain more respect from Amane at first glance, and it felt like Amane was taking Rei away from her. Shimako had to sit through her lunch hour to listen to Yoshino whine about it, while Rei tried to deny everything. So having to hear about Amane was a plus, but not knowing what she looked like was a minus. At least tonight she had met the person that her friend was talking about. And like every other students that seemed to be popular among others, Shimako treated Amane like a normal human but with a respect of being a grade higher than her.

"It feels…strange somehow," Shimako responded before giggling into her hand when she saw Amane looked over at her with a confused expression. "It's the good kind of strange, Amane-senpai."

"Ah, I see." Amane replied with a small smile. "What is strange about it?"

"For starter, the Roses had no idea why we were picked to be exchange students when the Principal could have easily picked the top eight students, one from each class. Then when we entered the school, we were treated as celebrities when our main purpose is to learn about Astrea Schools and the teaching. I admit that the crowd has disbursed and we could go about freely. However, because we are the Roses they tend to treat us differently than they treat other students that have the same social status such as us."

"Differently?" Amane cut in. "What do you mean by that?"

Shimako smiled gently as she placed her hand on the taller girl's shoulder. "You are the star of St Spica, am I correct?" Noting the surprised look in Amane's eyes she couldn't help but let out a small giggle. "My friend, Shimazu Yoshino, is in your Horseback Riding Club along with her Onee-sama, Hasekura Rei. I've heard a lot about you from Yoshino," She then paused before shaking her head. "Well, not a lot, just some facts that I might want to know."

"Facts, as in?" Amane prodded gently.

"Your social status in this campus. Your interest in horseback riding." Shimako then removed her hand on the taller girl's shoulder as they came up to cover her mouth as a giggle escaped her. "Her whines about you."

Amane cheeks started to grace with a light blush as she quickly looked away. She knew what was Yoshino was whining about. She had tried her best to assure the younger member of the club that her intention wasn't to steal Rei away from her, but the younger girl was too headstrong to even listen to a word that she was saying. Even though the girl was a little loud and troublesome at times, she found herself liking the girl for her energy and determination to make the best out of everything.

"So," Amane said as she cleared her throat. "About people treating you differently?"

"Oh yes," Shimako quickly responded. "They treat us with the utmost gentleness and care as if we are the real roses. I can understand why most students would find it hard to approach some of us, but we don't have thorns that would make them bleed if they want to talk to us." She let out a sigh as she shook her head. "We are not as delicate as we seem to appear to be."

"And you treat everyone as an equal." Amane stated with a soft smile. "I appreciate that you and the other Roses are treating me as an equal."

Shimako smiled warmly at her. "No one is higher than no one. We are, indeed, the same specie after all."

At that Amane let out a small laugh, one that she hadn't gotten the chance to do so lately.

-x-

Sachiko had been tossing around in her bed, trying to find some form of sleep but she couldn't find it. After another half an hour, she soon given up on the loss cause and sat up. She swung the bedcover to the side as she swung her legs over the edge before standing up. She had grabbed her night sweater and wrapped it around herself. She needed fresh air and this room alone wouldn't give her any of it. So she made her way out of the room, down to hallway and out into the open air. It was then that she saw Shimako standing in the moonlight. She had begun to wonder what the other girl was doing, before she noticed that Shimako had been startled by someone. Soon enough it looked like Shimako was having a visitor when she was beginning to walk over to the girl. Not one to eavesdrop, she turned and walked away to give the two some privacy. She continued to walk before she found a bench not too far from where the dorm's entrance was. Not seeing that there was anyone occupying it, she moved over to it before she was startled by a pair of arms wrapping around her shoulders. Since she knew that it wasn't ladylike to scream, she held it in and tried to relax herself.

"Oh my, you are the resistant one, aren't you?"

Came the voice that she knew so well. She closed her eyes as her forehead creased up in a frown. She yanked the arms off of her before turning to face the older girl. As sapphire blue eyes stared into the green hazel ones, one could only imagine what would happen next.

"Shizuma." Sachiko murmured through gritted teeth as she continued to stare at the older woman before her.

"Sachiko." Shizuma acknowledge her with a smirk. "Why are you up so late?"

"None of your business." Came the Ogasawara heiress' respond. She wanted to leave the woman but that would mean she would lose to the other girl. Losing was never an option for her.

"Oh dear, have we gotten on the wrong path to get to know each other?" Shizuma asked in a mock concern when her eyes were dancing in amusement.

"I would think that we didn't, Shizuma." Sachiko said as she took a step forward, watching in pure victory that the other girl was taking a step backward. "However, it is wise for you to not tempt me to go down that path with you."

"Maybe we should start anew," Shizuma started with a small smile. "I could easily share Nagisa with you, if you would like to share Yumi with me?"

That did it for Sachiko when she heard her petite soeur to be treated such a foul manner. So without further words, the raven-haired beauty had raised her hand up so fast that the blow that she had delivered on the older girl's face was too quick for the older girl to react. Of course, Shizuma was shocked that she had been slapped across the face, and so hard that she had stumbled for couple of feet back. The sound of Sachiko's hand connecting with her face had been echoing through her ears, if it hadn't been echoing throughout the campus by now. So when Shizuma had quickly turned her face to look at Sachiko's enraged demeanor, she knew that she was receiving Sachiko's wrath at that point.

"I advise you to leave Yumi out of whatever game you are playing with Nagisa. If you cannot find yourself to love Nagisa, do not try to take my Yumi away. At least I can fight for what I love, can you?"

With those words, Sachiko turned to move pass Shizuma without giving the other girl another glance. Shizuma was too stunned to do anything to stop her. However, the words that Sachiko had spoke pierced through her heart like an arrow. No, the words that Sachiko had spoke had crumbled the last remaining of the wall she had built up around her heart. She felt vulnerable once more, and she felt as if everything that had happened to her was her unwillingness to fight for what she loved, wanted, or needed. And at that moment, she realized what she needed to do. The problem was, would she have the courage to carry out such an honest action from her heart?