Even when the time changes, my feelings still remain the same for you.

Seven Years

By LadyBurton

Warning : This is mainly a femslash/lesbian/yuri/shoujo-ai story.

If you are reckless enough to keep reading, bear at own risk.

All copyrighted materials used in this work are the properties of their authentic owners, as this work is written merely for self-entertainment purposes and not to gain monetary value, it constitutes fair use.

Story belongs to LadyBurton as the rightful author.

Duplicating, re-publishing, or translating into another language without permission is strictly prohibited.

Chapter One

Bitter Faith

A crumb of white batter stuck on the corner of Umi's mouth and she wiped it out with a tissue after finishing her last bunny Manju. It was just another routine of hers before going to work. As she gazed at the outside view, she could see the 'Manju Bar & Restaurant' printed above a signboard that was hanging outside. Checking her watch yet again, it was time to set out. Clad in her usual work outfit within her leather jacket, she stood up from her seat, swung her denim cap onto her head as she began to leave.

Opening the entrance door, the summer heat hit her whole being and she automatically lifted her hand in front of her face to prevent the sun from burning her vision. Even the cap was not much of a help, and it was barely afternoon—the weather must be on its extreme condition, as she could see herself some people walking past the street grimacing under the hot pressure.

"Umi-chan!"

The familiar voice made Umi turn her direction and her eyes met with a figure of the jovial ginger head. She only raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"So tomorrow again, for bunny sweets?"

Umi immediately acted as if she was heavily offended by it. "Bunnies are adorable, why do you make me have to eat them?"

The young woman on the threshold grinned. "It's not a murder Miss oh-so-serious. You can have them as many as you want."

"That's fine by me, Honoka." Umi's russet eyes smiled along with her lips. "Until tomorrow." And she strode back the street.

Honoka waved her hand eagerly like the happiest human she was. "See ya!"

One, two, three, four… The navy haired woman was mindlessly counting the tiles along the sidewalk before she heard a weird sound but was more similar to a taunt and nearly like intimidation. Umi looked across the street to catch two male youngsters threatening a young lady with a smokey grey hair, sitting down on a bench located in the wide pavement area. She ducked her head low, clearly to hide her pale feature which was painted by dread. Umi could not help to sharpen her vision and her hearing at the occurrence.

Bully.

The first and only thought that came up in Umi's brain before she was wondering what the hell is wrong with people for not helping that defenseless lady against those two turds. But if I went there and helped her, I'm going to be late for work. Her fists formed into tight balls and she advanced herself toward the unpleasant scenario, she could not let this bad thing happen before her eyes.

"Come on, give us the cash! You have to pay back for that bounty duffel bag you've stolen." A bald guy with a cut on his left cheek announced.

The young lady shook her head, nearly sobbed. "I-I have never stolen anything in my life."

"Bullshit!" The other one with disheveled hair and clothes snarled. "You're a rich bitch! You have nothing worth to offer but your golds!"

His rough hand smacked harshly by the lady before he could snatch her saddlebag. "Don't touch it!"

The bald guy widened his eyes in resentment with the resistance. "You fucking cu—"

"Hello there." Umi swiftly yet composedly stopped the bully from almost hurting his victim. "Your poor asses need to learn how to be respectful toward women."

Failed to pull his arm away, Umi gripped even tighter on his wrist, not showing any indignation and not bothering the slight wince that was flashing on the bully's face. "I don't need to regard anybody." The guy under her hold spat onto the ground. "Especially to a meddling slut like you."

Umi was about to twist his arm until it went limp on his side but a sudden interruption of a running stranger startled the party and before she could comprehend what just happened, the gray-haired young woman bug-eyed in horror.

"M-My bag!" She exclaimed. "He stole my bag!"

Umi shocked and the two other men cackled in triumph. "Guess karma burns your pathetic life." They gave an ignorant look toward their primary mockery object before giving their middle fingers up as they started to walk away.

If glares could kill people, those two youngsters definitely could have been dead bodies now under Umi's wrath. Annoying pricks, if by chance I meet them again, I won't hesitate to teach them a lesson.

"Please wait here." Umi requested the teary young woman. "I'll get your bag back."

Umi fast jogged into where the thief was going to witness he climbed his motorcycle and fled away in no time. Luckily, there was a bunch of boys that some of them holding their bikes while they were chattering. Umi did not have to think twice in this precarious situation and she quickly ran to grab the nearest bike she could get and said,

"I'm sorry, I need your bike more than you do now. I promise it will be returned."

Umi immediately rushed off before the owner even had the time to speak.

Pedaling the bike from block to another block, it was not difficult for Umi to traverse the streets since she was pretty familiar with the area. But with the thief riding an engine, Umi was not really sure she could catch up so she took over the alleys for a faster and better track. The alternative paths were also not very easy to pass, sometimes Umi had to bell people and leap across the obstacles. Entering a quieter, much-shrouded alley, Umi stopped when the thief ended his escape with another two assistants which Umi was sure they were his sidekicks and it was not a surprise the thief already knew that she was tracking him down.

"Not alone?" Umi passed her bike to one of them for a holding. "No problem."

Umi toe kicked on the holder's stomach as the other two alarmed and began to release their assaults. Umi ducked the first attack, giving a single punch on his abdomen and then holding a hook from the other one with her arm and gave him a knee smash and elbowed him to the ground. Not forgetting the first attacker, Umi struck out a back elbow on his face followed by a strong back kick just enough to make him collapse. The last one had already woken up from the bike-throwing earlier and ran toward her with an angry grunt. Umi automatically dodged his straight punch, chopped his neck, gave several jabs, and he tumbled on his motorcycle from the hard uppercut Umi had launched.

Umi was breathing hard as she glared at the thief gang who whined in pain, lolling on the ground. Grabbing the bag away, Umi surprised when someone from the onlookers walked toward her.

"Ma'am, I called the police."

Umi smiled, calming down in relief. "Thank you."

By the time Umi arrived in front of the young lady, she handed over her bag. "Here, your bag."

The lady took her bag timidly. "Thank you." She smiled in which Umi simply did the same gesture in return.

"My goodness, I need to cool off." Umi removed her leather jacket, leaving herself in a white tank top and her tribal sun tattoos on her right arm were revealed for the young lady to see.

Umi sensed a sudden nervousness from the other woman so she quickly hid her tattoos back under her jacket. "Don't worry, I'm not the bad guy here."

The young lady said nothing as Umi, once again, smiled and started to leave.

"W-Where are you going?!"

Umi turned around to look at her, lips curving. "Work."

"I can give you a ride!" The young lady exclaimed. "I have a private car waiting for me, I can escort you."

"Thank you for the offer, I can go by myself."

With that Umi strode further from her place. Amber eyes were awed in a daze and the lady wished that someday she could see her hero again.

The six-year-old Sonoda Umi walked along the schoolyard on her way to the playground. Her journey was in halt when she saw a pale golden-haired girl squatted and sobbed under a tree. Obeying her instinct, Umi drew her way to the sobbing girl who was still not aware of her approach.

"A-Are you okay?" Umi asked nervously, stood over the blonde girl in which she was crying still, and Umi began to ponder whether to ask for help from the others or the teacher.

Teary sky blue orbs were finally looking up to hers. The blonde girl held her tears before she spoke. "Are you going to take away my chocolates?"

Umi realized that the girl was squeezing her chocolate bars tightly on her chest and she immediately shook her head in disagreement. "N-No! Who is going to take away your chocolates?"

And yet, the girl sobbed harder at the question. "I'm scared." She hiccuped. "That horrible boy in my class, he said he's going to take my chocolates."

Umi gently grabbed the girl's wrist to indicate her to stand. "Follow me, I will protect you."

"Where are we going?"

Setting a broad smile, Umi dragged the trembling girl along with her. "Nico, she's my friend. She's very strong and she will help us!" Umi cheered and the other girl moved her hand to clasp back so now they were running hand in hand.

"Rin!"

The latter turned her chartreuse eyes toward Umi who was coming over with an apologetic face. "Sorry, I'm late."

"Today is your lucky day." Rin formed a smile. "The filming is delayed until tomorrow. Their assistant producer informed me not a long ago."

"Lucky indeed." Umi exhaled a grateful sigh. "What do we do now?"

"Just do some cardio or better yet light workout." Rin lifted up her phone to her face as she walked away.

Worrying the carefree order from the other woman, Umi asked. "What about practice? I mean a real practice."

Rin raised her index finger and shook it in a 'no' motion. "Nuh-uh, you've been working so hard. I don't want you to get exhausted for tomorrow. Just get your muscles to loosen up, alright?"

Hoshizora Rin had always been Umi's fellow stunt woman before she acquired the promotion to become their team's director and thus every schedule or particular activity was in her charge ever since then. Umi had spent years of time dedicating herself to this action school and also had decided to be a stunt performer as her profession. In a matter of tiers, Umi was both a senior and an instructor while she was already considered as a professional artist.

Although Rin had already been trained much longer and had already been there even before Umi was qualified to enter the company, Rin treated her like her own friend despite the case that she was her senior. Rin was a year younger but she was very talented and hardworking, and Umi was glad she was trusted by somebody as inspirational as her.

Rin cocked an eyebrow seeing Umi fell in silence. "Maybe you should get a date or something. You look too lonely." She grinned.

But I'm still waiting for someone…

Perhaps Umi should have just smiled and waved it off but the bitterness won over her emotion. This is why she often tried to avoid every dating topic. Not that Rin always asked about her love life, it could be the fact that she had never been in a relationship so that Rin tends to mention it at times but things only getting awkward whenever they talked about it.

Did not want to get deeper into the weird atmosphere, Rin interjected to make the older woman drift away from tensing. "Nevermind, I'll see you again Umi-chan!"

Rin left her nonplussed, she knew Rin was only joking and Umi hated herself for doing that. Probably this was the reason why she had a very small circle of friends. Well, Rin was her friend, everyone in her team was her friend, but maybe Umi was kind of hard to approach. She was stiff and probably was too exclusive—wondering that her past developed her into this type of person. So mysterious, meanwhile so broken inside. She had to stop being her old self, life must go on, but someone made her dwelling still on her misery. Certainly someone in the past, someone who gave her hope in her gloomy days but had started to fade as time flew by because none was coming.

Umi sighed, maybe doing some cardio would relax her mind.

"Here." Umi held up her paper. "I drew this for you."

The blonde girl looked up to it. "This is nice!" And she took the paper to examine closer.

"That's you." Umi pointed out the chubby figure with fair golden hair. "And that's me." She referred to the slightly taller figure with deep-sea hair.

"My hair is so pretty." The blonde grinned.

Umi nodded in fervor. "Yeah, it is so pretty."

"My name is Ayase Eli."

For a second, Umi blushed at Eli who stuck her hand out but then she grabbed her with a shy smile. "I'm Sonoda Umi."

"So we're friends now!" Eli exclaimed in joy and shove her chocolate bars toward Umi's chest.

"Yeah." Umi nibbled on one of the bars and beamed. "The chocolate is very sweet! Here I give you some." Eli received her share and ate it happily. "You're my best friend, okay?"

"OK."

Umi plopped herself onto her bed, her work clothes were undone and she was in her tank top and shorts. She closed her eyes whilst waiting for the air conditioner to dry her damp, exposed skin. She had taken a shower, and probably she shouldn't have exercised over time so she would have an early sleep for tomorrow's task but she couldn't care. The night, it came up as usual—so quiet, nobody was around, and Umi laid there motionless. No wonder if somebody said she looks so lonely. Occupied in the same place, memories coming over and she could not help but drift back to the good old stories.

In a time like this… the one and the only person I long for.

All of a sudden, her buzzing phone cut out her thought, Umi reached for it as she sat on the side of the bed. An unknown number, Umi wondered what kind of stranger called her this late but she decided to pick it up anyway, it could be an urgent call.

"Hello?"

"Umi." Delicate voice flowed into her ear as she abruptly felt an unwelcome twinge within her chest. "Is this Sonoda Umi?"

No. Umi could not understand, this sudden strangely warm feeling. It couldn't be.

"Yes?"

The foreign woman on the other line instantly went into desperation manner. "It's me!" And then her voice became a sheer of breath. "It's me… Eli."

A heavy throb hit Umi's heart, even in her dream, it couldn't be this real. A span of time had passed, in those moments when she turned the calendar, she still stayed in the same reality. Until at the point where waiting to her was just a trivial daily routine, and she was cracked inside—about to shatter, was nearly giving up. Days, months, years... it had been years, and here the person she craved the most, bringing out her mesmerizing voice after so long.

"Eli..." a layer of tears slid past Umi's rosy cheek, "Eli—" was the only word—her name—she could stifle.

Even though Eli was not there next to her, she could taste the younger woman's tears in her voice. It was supposed to be a desired reunion, but it was heartbreaking instead. Still and all, their presence to each other now wasn't far away anymore.

"I'm back, Umi."

Eli's soothing voice, telling her that she was back, Umi almost did not trust her. The promise was hazy, but Eli eventually came back. She did not give her a fake hope, but she was hurt by then. Eli lost herself on the other side and broke down just as sorrowful. Voice half faded in breathlessness.

"I'm back."