Twenty Six

That was absurd.

That was absolutely absurd!

How would she ever think of doing something as low as this? Well, it wasn't at all low but it would strip her off all of the dignity that she ever had, or had left. She wouldn't even be able to face her again. Her friend and student council president had suggested such an absurd thing that she couldn't believe she had listened all throughout it. The girl's outrageous plans to help her find out her crush's feelings. The plans…they were all absurd!

Sei sighed in exasperation as she watched the other girl smiling at her as if she would soon agree to these plans of hers. She never thought that Chikaru would think up of such ridiculous plans. Sure, making Youko jealous was a nice idea, but going to the extreme of actually hurting the other girl was just too much. She knew that she didn't quite have that much time since tomorrow would be Friday, and she would have all Saturday morning to ask Youko to be her partner to the dance. However, how long would Youko be willing to wait for her? That was one of the questions that had been repeating itself over and over in her mind. Chikaru's first plan of Finding Youko's Feelings Operation aka F.Y.F.O was just ridiculous.

"Chikaru, there is no way I'm going to purposely hurt Youko like that!" Sei tried her best to reason with her companion once again, hoping that the girl would understand.

Chikaru raised an eyebrow as she tilted her head to the side, her eyes fixing on Sei as if waiting for the other girl to break. "Are you sure, Sei? How else are you going to find out her feelings if you don't have the courage to do it upfront?"

That hit a nerve, Sei could just feel it. She didn't expect that Chikaru would say it. She was expecting the other girl to beat around the bushes like she had been doing for the past five minutes. What Chikaru had said made her felt weak, so weak that she couldn't comprehend why she had given the chance to love again. If she had found love then she should be holding on to it, not be a coward and let it go, right?

"I can ask her." Sei said, more to herself than Chikaru. She wasn't sure if she could, considering the fact that she hadn't noticed any affection from the other girl other than friendship.

Chikaru chuckled softly. "I guess I can't convince you after all, ne?"

Sei blinked as she looked over to Chikaru. She truly couldn't wrap her fingers around this mysterious girl. When she was about to ask what had gotten Chikaru to give up so suddenly, she saw a movement from the girl's light brown eyes and the corner of the girl's lips curling upward into a small smirk. She didn't know if the smirk was even real, or if it was a sarcastic one. But what she knew was Chikaru's sudden shift of movement that had got her senses to be completely wrapped around Chikaru's vanilla scented presence. Soon enough she felt the other girl's soft lips on her own, and while she was too shock to know what was going on, her hands instinctively went up the girl's waist to hold her in place.

The kiss didn't last more than ten seconds, and when Chikaru pulled away, it was just in time for her to hear a slight gasp coming from behind her. Sei had quickly turned around and her heart was aching in pain as she witnessed the look of pure sadness and pain within Youko's dark brown orbs. Chikaru hadn't given up after all, and that kiss was a proof of it.

While Youko and Sei just stared at each other, one out of sadness and pain while the other out of shock, surprise and sympathy, Chikaru stood at the sideline as she watched the scene played out before her. She could get a reaction from Youko if she truly wished to be pushed into the wall. The thought of getting physically hurt wasn't in her mind, so she had tossed the idea of wrapping her arms around Sei's away. Unfortunately, after another minute of watching the two of them still having a staring contest, she raised a hand to cover her mouth to let out a fake yawn.

"I guess someone has found our secret spot, Sei." She said with a fake annoyance in her tone. "Maybe we should go and find another."

That was enough to wake both of the other girls from the intense staring contest. Youko's hurtful eyes turned into anger as she directed that anger toward Chikaru. Sure, she could handle knowing the fact that Sei was interested and dating someone. However, she couldn't handle the fact that she had to witness the kiss between Sei and Chikaru, the first person that Sei had shamelessly declared to be her love interest. So without a word to both of the other girls, Youko quickly turned on her heels when she felt the first tear threatening to escape her eyes. She made quick movement of her feet to get away from the other two, and soon enough she found herself running toward the room that she and Sei shared. That was the last place that she would want to be in at that moment. So, after a quick decision, she changed her course and dashed over to Sachiko's room. That was the only place that she could be at the moment. She honestly didn't want to let Sei know how much she had hurt her by that one simple kiss. She just couldn't. A good friend wouldn't be crying over such small trivial thing.

Youko swung the door to Sachiko's room opened and dragged herself in. Sachiko wasn't back yet, and she knew that intruding on Sachiko's room like this was out of her character but there was no other choice. She had to get out of there. She had no place else to go except her room and Sachiko's room, and there was no way that she would want to be in her own room at this moment. So after letting the door shut behind her while the darkness of the room engulfed her, Youko let herself fell to her knees in the middle of the room and sobbed into her hands. Her sobs increased as she remembered the stabbing pain in her heart when she saw Chikaru reaching up and claiming Sei's lips. She hadn't even claim those lips, not even once, and now she knew that she had lost all hopes of gaining those lips that she had been longing for.

Youko had skipped dinner and didn't come down to the lounge after it. She had lost all appetite and she, couldn't for the life of her, could not find it even though she knew she should eat something. The sobs had died down to only a few hiccups, but she was still on the floor as she had no will to stand up just yet. She didn't even hear the approaching footsteps from outside the room, and she was sure that she didn't even hear the sound of the door opening and the sound of the flick of the light switch being turned on. When the light had gone on, she knew that Sachiko had returned and yet, despite how she had looked right now, she couldn't face the younger girl. She was the older of the two, for crying out loud! She couldn't find the will to face the younger girl an Onee-sama's job is to not show that she was suffering.

Sachiko had been worrying over Youko when she didn't see the older girl at the dining hall. When she had hoped to see her Onee-sama at the lounge afterward, Youko was nowhere to be found. She had asked the members of the Yumayurikai and neither of them knew where her Onee-sama was. However, she had caught the look of sadness from Sei but the older blonde had quickly hid it when she noticed Sachiko was looking at her. The heiress had shaken it off and excused herself to reside to her room. When she was standing outside her room, she had heard quiet hiccups emitting from it. She tried her best to tell herself that it was just the rain from outside, but what she didn't prepare herself was the moment she had flicked her light on to reveal Youko on the floor, trying her best to stop her hiccup. Youko didn't even turn to look at her, and she could clearly see that the other girl's form was shaking.

"Onee-…" Sachiko had started to say but she shut her lips immediately before she let herself fully inside her room and shutting the door. She quietly moved over to Youko's frail form and kneeled down behind her. Without much of a thought, the raven hair heiress wrapped both of her arms around the older girl in a comforting gesture. "I'm here, Onee-sama." She whispered softly. "I'm here."

Youko's eyes widened at the warm embrace. Just the smallest act of kind gesture sent her into another broke down. Tears were rolling down her cheeks once more, and she had shifted her body around so that she was now clutching onto the St Miator's uniform of Sachiko's as she sobbed into her petite soeur's chest. She couldn't remember the last time she had let someone comfort her in a way that Sachiko was comforting her now. She couldn't remember where all of her pain and sadness had started. All she knew right now was crying her heart out to Sachiko as the younger girl held her like a little sister would. Petite soeur was there to support their Onee-sama, after all.

Youko didn't know how long she was in Sachiko's arms for, but it felt like forever to her. Her tears have stopped falling, though her eyes stung from all the crying that she had done. She felt bad for soaking the other girl's uniform for her selfish reason. Well, was it selfish? She didn't know but after crying her heart out, she felt somewhat better. She knew that the feeling wouldn't last long, and she wanted it to last just a little longer. At this point she didn't want to return to her room. She didn't want to see that blonde hair woman. She didn't even want to be in that woman's presence.

Youko pulled away from the younger girl as her eyes casted down on the floor, to where her hands had fallen from the girl's uniform and were now resting upon the ground. "Sachiko…I have a favor to ask…" She quietly said, her voice strained from crying so long.

Sachiko just looked at her Onee-sama with sadness in her eyes. It pained her to see the older girl like this. The raven hair heiress had never seen the older girl like this before. It was always her that needed her Onee-sama's comfort, and it had never been the other way around until now. She wasn't going to forgive whatever it was that had upset Youko, even whatever that was would turn out to be someone that she knew.

"Yes, Onee-sama, you can ask me anything and I will try my best to give it to you." The younger girl replied softly.

"Can I…" Youko started as her hands curled into fists underneath her. "Can I…stay here tonight?"

Sachiko's eyes softened as she observed the older girl. She had thought of offering Youko the room while she would ask Yumi and Shimako if she could stay with them. However, she thought against it and had decided to stay with her Onee-sama. She didn't quite trust Youko to be alone tonight. And if her presence would comfort the older girl then so be it.

"Of course, Onee-sama, you can stay here as long as you need to." Sachiko replied with a comforting smile just as Youko had lifted her head up to look at the younger girl.

Youko let out a weak smile, grateful that she had an understanding petite soeur such as Sachiko. No, she was grateful that she even had a petite soeur that she could rely on. "Thank you, Sachiko."

That night Youko slept soundlessly in Sachiko's warm embrace. She didn't know when it started, but she was content that there was a person out there that would care for her, no matter how much. At least in Sachiko's arms right now she felt safe, although she didn't know for how long. She had tried to forget everything that had happening but her dream was the one thing that wouldn't let her be. In her dream, the image of Chikaru kissing Sei kept on repeating without stopping. Even in the dream she couldn't even get away.

While Youko was residing in Sachiko's room for the night, Sei was waiting for her roommate to return. She knew that it was well past midnight but she didn't give a damn about it. She was sitting on her bed with her back facing against the wall, in the dark, while her dark blue eyes focused on the empty bed opposite from her. It was the simple reaction from Youko that had made her realized that the other girl shared the same mutual feelings as hers. How could she be so stupid to not see it from the beginning? The gentleness of Youko's voice whenever they were together alone. The care in Youko's eyes when they always looked her way. The way that Youko was always there whenever Sei was down. The way that Youko was always there when Sei needed someone the most. How could she be so absolutely blind not to see the other girl's true feelings?

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

That one word ran through Sei's mind over and over as she sat there, waiting for the one that her heart yearned for. She wasn't sure whether to thank Chikaru or to cuss at the girl. In a way, she knew that Chikaru was just trying to help. And, in a way, she knew that even if she cussed the girl out, Chikaru would have been shrugging it off with a smile that said that she didn't mind about it one bit. So now that everything had happened, there was no way to take it back even if she wished to. The only thing that she could do now was wait, even if she had to wait forever.

A/N

There you have it! Drama! Oh, sweet, delicious drama! I just had to make Chikaru push those two together, y'know. I feel bad for Chikaru to be viewed as the 'villain' in Youko and Sei's relationship. It can't be helped. My true intention was to put Sei and Chikaru together, now it backfired, haha. Enjoy the update. :)