Fourteen
A new week started, along with a new unfamiliar atmosphere around the campus. The hardened demeanor that Sachiko had put up around her wasn't easily missed by her friends. Youko had tried to get the younger soeur to voice out her feelings, but she wasn't succeeding. The rest of the other Roses left her be, except for a few occasional glances that they had shot over the heiress' way. Sachiko had pretended to be oblivious to the glances whenever she was around them. She knew that they were worrying about her but she couldn't bring herself up to tell them that she and the Etoile had a fallen out. Either it was a fallen out or a huge misunderstanding she didn't know. All she knew was the hand that was holding up the teacup at the moment, was the hand that she had used to strike the older girl on the cheek. She knew that her action alone was unacceptable. However, the reason behind her action was not. Still, she was not ready to talk about it and because of that, she was unaware of the distance she had put herself between Yumi and her.
Another week had passed with no much of a single word to the other girl about her own feelings. She had noticed the slightest of fear in Yumi's eyes whenever she was talking about the girl about her day, or her classes. She had even noticed the other girl had been somewhat distant around her, like she was avoiding her. She didn't realize how badly her action and attitude had affected the younger girl until the week after. Yumi had become so distant to the point that she couldn't handle seeing the look of pure sadness before her eyes. She started to blame herself but even so she couldn't reverse the time to where she didn't have to meet Shizuma on that night. She feared that she would lose Yumi, whom that she had never imagined her life without the other girl. One way or another she had to find a way to make it up to Yumi, but she was lacking ideas.
Saturday came and Sachiko had received a word from Shimako that Yumi wasn't waking up that morning for breakfast. The Angel of Lilian was worrying about her friend but she couldn't do anything to help her out. That was all it took for Sachiko to stand from her seat, walked over to the counter to buy some snacks for her petite soeur, before leaving the cafeteria to go up to Yumi's room. When she had knocked on the door, she received no respond from the other girl. She didn't want to intrude when it would be improper for her to enter a room without permission. Well, pushing that aside she placed her hand on the knob and turned it. Once she had pushed opened the door, she noticed that the room was rather dark with the only dim light coming from the closed curtains. She let out a small sigh and entered the room, before quietly shutting the door closed behind her. She moved over to the curtains, though before placing the food on Yumi's study desk, and drawn the curtains opened. She heard a slight groan coming from behind her and stifled a small chuckle. She then unlocked the bolt from the window and pushed it open, letting the fresh air to come into the room.
"Shimako-san," Yumi let out a childish whine as she pulled the bed cover over her head. "You know that I don't want to wake up yet."
Turning her body to face the half asleep girl, she let out a disapproval sigh along with a shake of her head. "Yumi." She gently called out the girl's name and was slightly amused at the sudden still movement from beneath the cover.
'That's Onee-sama's voice!' Yumi silently screamed in her head as she could feel her heart began to beat rapidly inside her ribcage. 'I'm in trouble!' The silent scream continued to go on in her head as she could feel her cheeks burning up with having caught for not waking up at the usual time. There was no way she could get out of this, and she knew that if she didn't get out of bed now Sachiko would come over and yank the cover away from her. Not only that, she didn't want to see the look of disappointment and anger on Sachiko's beautiful face. She had been on the receiving end of those expressions these past couple of weeks, and she was sure that she couldn't handle seeing them anymore. That was the reason why she had tried to put a distance between herself and Sachiko, so that when the older girl required her to do something, she'd be there. However, if the older girl didn't need her at all, she would slip back and hang out with either Nagisa or a few students from her classes. She simply couldn't handle Sachiko when the older girl was being immensely unapproachable.
Unfortunately, before the younger girl could muster a reply, Sachiko had quickly moved over to her side of the bed and yanked the bed cover away from her body. Yumi had felt it coming so she had shut her eyes tightly closed, not wanting to open them just to look up at the anger reflected in her Onee-sama's eyes. She then felt Sachiko's soft, tender hand on her forehead before that said hand moved down to her cheek, caressing her skin lightly.
"Are you sick, Yumi?" Asked the Ogasawara's heiress with concern dripping in every word that she spoke. She had frowned when she saw how red the other girl's face was and had decided to check the girl's temperature, hoping that her petite soeur didn't get a fever. Once she felt how hot the other girl was, her frown deepened but the frown soon disappeared when she noticed the other girl opening her eyes upon her question. And if possible, Yumi's temperature had quickly increased. "Oh my! You really are sick!" Sachiko exclaimed as she withdrew her hand. "I must get you to the infirmary!"
When the raven-haired beauty started to move to the door, Yumi had quickly shot her hand out to grab a hold of the older girl. Sachiko confused to why the younger girl had stopped her turned to look down at her in concern. "Yumi?"
"O-onee-sama, I'm fine, h-honest." Yumi stuttered quietly as she tried to calm herself down. "There's n-no need for m-me to go to the i-infirmary."
Sachiko raised her eyebrow at the girl questioningly. "You're burning up, Yumi. At least let the nurse check up on you."
Yumi shook her head. "I'm fine, really."
Sachiko let out a sigh of exasperation before she turned her body back to face Yumi. The younger girl had already sat up due to stopping her to go to the nurse, she eased herself down on the girl's bed and waited patiently for her to give out her reasons for staying in bed passed breakfast time. Yumi, sensing the older girl was waiting for her to speak up, let out a small sigh and looked away.
"Have I done something wrong, Onee-sama?" Yumi asked quietly as if she was about to break down in tears.
Sachiko stared at her petite soeur blankly while her brain registered to what the younger girl had asked her. Now she truly felt guilty for letting Yumi handle her bad behavior towards everyone, and mostly her, recently. "No, you haven't done anything wrong Yumi."
Yumi immediately turned to look at the older girl, her eyes looked like she was accusing the latter of lying. However, her brown orbs softened when she noticed the sincerity in those sapphire orbs and once more, found herself lost in them. If it wasn't for the older girl to let out a small cough, she would still be staring at those beautiful sapphire eyes just because she wanted to see her image in them. Her cheeks graced with another adorable blush as she saw the corner of Sachiko's lips curled into a knowing smile. "T-Then why were you a-avoiding me?" She asked, unable to hold back the tears as drop after drop left her eyes and hit the mattress. "D-Don't you w-want me to be around y-you anymore m-more?"
At the sight of Yumi crying Sachiko couldn't help but felt a sharp pain running through her chest. The pain of knowing that she had caused Yumi such sadness was killing her sanity. However, she had to be strong for the both of them. No matter what kind of challenges they may face in the near future, she had to be strong for them…she just had to. So swallowing back the tears of her own, she lifted up her hand and began to wipe the tears from the girl's face. Her eyes were filled out sorrow and if Yumi didn't know better, she would think that Sachiko was too cold to even shed a tear. Then again, Sachiko did shed tears back in the greenhouse during the school festival. But her eyes were so different then than it was now. She didn't understand the sorrow that was reflecting in those beautiful sapphire eyes. No, she didn't even come close to understand it at all.
"Yumi, let me explain." Sachiko said softly and before she could continue on, Yumi's stomach started to make a noise to the owner's embarrassment. Sachiko only smiled in understand as she patted the girl's cheek gently before standing up and moving towards where she had put the snacks. "I figured you might be hungry so I brought you some food."
After taking the snacks from Sachiko, Yumi bowed her head respectfully with a soft murmur of "Thank you, Onee-sama."
Sachiko only smiled as she went back to the same spot she was sitting earlier. "Finish your food and I will explain." She spoke just as Yumi opened her mouth to bite down on the bun that the taller girl had given her. She watched as Yumi looked up at her with wide eyes before shaking her head in disagreement.
"I can listen, please just tell me." Yumi pleaded softly as she reached over to place her hand atop Sachiko's. The older girl smiled at the warmth that Yumi's simple touch was spreading through her and nodded.
"Alright, if that will make you happy." When Yumi beamed at her, she couldn't help but chuckle. She then sighed and looked down at the mattress. "I…struck Shizuma."
"Ehh?" Was Yumi instant respond after almost choking on her food.
"Shizuma had said…things…that were disrespectful to me. I couldn't handle it at the time due to not being able to fall asleep, so without think I raised my hand and slapped her." Sachiko sighed before she unconsciously ran her hand through the side of her hair. After realizing what she was doing, she stopped and firmly placed her hand on her lap. "This fact has been troubling me and I can't ignore it. Usually when there are situations or facts that I can't ignore, I always can come up with a solution to solve it. Unfortunately, I can't think of any solution to solve this situation. I can't think whether I am in the wrong or she is in the wrong. I've never struck another person other than my…cousin."
Yumi noted the slight change of tone when Sachiko had mentioned Suguru, her betrothed and also cousin. She had learned that the marriage was an arranged one, but she didn't have to like it. She knew that Sachiko cared deeply for Suguru but the guy didn't feel the same. However, she thanked Suguru for leaving her Onee-sama alone enough that she could spend more time with the raven-haired beauty. If the arranged engagement was not in the way, Yumi might be able to find her courage and confess to the older girl. Well, if she would be able to find her courage.
"Etoile-sama hasn't been the same lately as well." Yumi stated after swallowing the chunk of food in her mouth. "Nagisa-san has been keeping her company but I notice that as soon as Nagisa-san left, Etoile-sama instantly looks upset like…" She paused to think for a bit about what she wanted to say before continuing. "Someone that has taken a precious person away from her."
Sachiko sighed and shook her head. "It might be because of something that I had said to her after I left her that night." She said quietly before she looked up at Yumi, her eyes pleading some form of guidance as if the other girl held everything that she wanted and needed in the world. "Do you think you can help me with this, Yumi?"
Yumi smiled cheerfully and nodded. "Of course, Onee-sama! First, you'd need to tell Rosa Chinensis and perhaps the rest of the Roses." Sachiko sighed and nodded in defeat. She knew that sooner or later she would have to tell them. The younger girl grinned before she hurried to finish her food. "Umm…Onee-sama?"
"Yes, Yumi?"
Yumi fidgeted slightly, not sure if she could ask the older girl to spend some time with her. It had been two weeks that she hadn't properly spent time with the older girl. They were so busy playing the hide-and-seek game that had affected both sides deeply. Yumi sighed as she tried to muster up what little bit of courage she had before she smiled shyly. "W-Would it be okay if I can s-spend more time with y-you today?"
Sachiko was hoping to hear that from her petite soeur, so she let out a warm smile and nodded her head. "Of course, I have missed my Yumi." She, once more, watched in amusement as the other girl's cheeks lightly lit up in a small blush. Until now, she still didn't know what the other girl was feeling for her. The arranged engagement still stood and she knew she could talk to her father and grandfather about it, but as the only heiress of the family, she didn't know she had the courage to do so. Because of that she had stayed quiet and silently accepted the future that had already been laid out for her.