I do not own MSGM or any of its characters. All such honors belong to Oyuki Konno. I will lay claim to the storyline.

Yumi's hospital room became very crowded very quickly as the remaining six members of the Yamayurikai trooped in less than an hour later. After the many exclamations, hugs and wishes for Yumi to get well and return to them quickly the room became quiet. Sachiko made a comment regarding everyone cutting classes and suddenly showing up unannounced. She also questioned how Sei-sama managed to fit six girls including herself into her little Volkswagen New Beetle.

"I swear that I heard an orgy going on in the back seat," Sei chuckled when asked about it, trying hard to keep things light as everyone stared at the small girl in the hospital gown. She had handed the sketchbook over to Yumi shortly after everyone entered the private hospital room. The explanation of what had happened the previous day required Sachiko to begin with a description of the first hypnotherapy session. She did not tell the other members of the Yamayurikai about Yumi's true past or her relationship with the Ogasawaras. That was for Yumi to decide once Sachiko had told her about Yuuki.

The slight smile that Yumi gave her never faltered as she told her tale, indicating that none of it was news to the pigtailed girl. It made her wonder how she had ever thought to keep it all from the highly intelligent first-year. She found that she was more embarrassed about that than about keeping it from her friends.

"I want to find those two bastards from yesterday and give them a good beat down," Sei fumed, stomping back and forth in the large private room. Yumi waved her hands in a negative motion and then quickly wrote a note on her pad.

[It's not their fault! I'm actually grateful to them. I now have all of the wonderful memories of my childhood back again!] The smile on her face gave the proof of her feelings.

"But your voice . . ." Yoshino asked with concern.

[I'm not worried. My mind is simply too busy sorting all of the memories to allow me to speak yet. I'm sure it will be better soon.]

"If you say so," Yoshino said with a frown, but she did not sound convinced.

Yumi gave her a grin that seemed to settle her down again although she started playing with her long braids, a sure sign that she was still upset.

"What are we waiting for?" Youko asked into the silence.

"I called my father," Sachiko explained. "He contacted the police and asked them to meet him in the lobby before coming up to the room."

"Oji-san is coming?" Youko replied with a grin. The two of them had gotten along well ever since Sachiko became her petite soeur. She then lost that smile as she remembered who was coming with him and why. "Yumi-chan, are you sure you really want to do this?" she asked the brown eyed girl. Yumi simply nodded and gave her a sad smile. "If you're sure," Youko sighed. "Just don't let them make you do something you don't want to."

[I'm the one that wants this], Yumi wrote. [I need to do this], she added to the pad.

They waited a few more minutes before Tooru knocked and entered the room followed by an older man in a dark grey suit with a long coat hanging over his arm. Tooru looked at all the girls sitting around the room and sighed before giving them all a smile.

"I can never fault you young ladies for your loyalty," he chuckled softly. He then turned to the young woman lying in the hospital bed. Yumi gave him a shy smile before flipping back a couple of pages in her pad and presenting it along with her hand.

[Good day, Ogasawara-sama. It is nice to finally meet you . . . at least awake].

Tooru had to chuckle. "So, you were somewhat awake last night. It's good to finally meet you as well, Yumi-san. Please call me Otou-san, if you don't mind. I almost feel like you are part of the family and not just my daughter's petite soeur."

[Thank you Otou-san], Yumi wrote and gave him a wide smile. She turned her eyes towards the other gentleman that had entered the room with Tooru.

"Yumi-chan, this is Senior Detective Nishihori. He is the head of the Organized Crime Bureau of the Tokyo Police. He's been handling the Yakuza, mafia, and other gang related crimes for the past twenty years." Tooru stopped for a moment and then, in a gentler voice said, "He was also the liaison between the Tokyo Police and the New Jersey State Police when you were kidnapped."

You could see Yumi gulp and her smile was a bit more forced, but still she held out her hand to greet the detective.

"Yasumi-san," he started to say but was immediately cut off by Yumi's strong head shake.

[Please call me Yumi, detective. It is the only name I have known for the past nine years; three years longer than anyone called me Yasumi].

"Then . . . Yumi-san, Ogasawara-san said that you asked for me. Something about sketches?" the detective asked.

Yumi nodded and then pointed to the vacant chair that Sachiko had pulled up next to her bed. As the detective sat she pulled out her sketch pad and charcoal pencils. Flipping to the first blank page, she glanced at the gray haired detective. At his nod, she closed her eyes.

When her eyes opened again they were totally unfocused; as if she was seeing something that none of the others could. Her right hand began moving without her even glancing at the sketch pad.

Sachiko had never seen Yumi draw. She had seen a few of her paintings and sketches, but this was the first time to see her actually creating her wondrous art. Although Yumi had not said a word as to what it was she was going to do, Sachiko already had a good idea. As the young artist's creation was born, everyone else in the room slowly congregated around her bed.

It quickly became evident that Yumi was drawing the portrait of a young man with black hair, a wide nose, smallish ears laid close to his head, and a sneer to his lips that promised pain beyond compare. The detective opened his mouth to say something but Yumi quickly held up her hand to stop him before continuing with her work.

"I believe she wants you to withhold comment until she is finished, detective," Sachiko said quietly, not wanting to disturb either Yumi or the stillness of the room. Yumi's quick nod was all she needed to confirm her assumption and the detective sat back with a frown.

Yumi quickly finished the portrait and then wrote something underneath.

[Jimmy Chu. Murdered my parents. Kidnapping. Rape. Torture. Paramus, NJ and Tokyo, Japan]. She flipped the page and began another portrait; this one of a man with long blonde hair.

[Kuro Goto. Accessory to murder. Rape. Torture. Paramus, NJ and Tokyo, Japan]. She flipped the page.

Another blonde haired man. [Jake Gunderson. Accessory to murder. Rape. Paramus, NJ].

Another dark haired man. [Ichi Chano. Rape and torture. Tokyo, Japan].

The list went on and on, each name and portrait gouging out another piece of Sachiko's heart. Each one identified as either rape, torture or both. Tears were evident in almost every eye in the room except for the detective. Even her father was wiping his eyes occasionally. On the next few pages she began drawing smaller portraits, over twenty of them, each about 10cm x 10cm. There were no names under these portraits, but under each she wrote [Rape. Tokyo, Japan].

The final portrait was of a young, skinny girl with obviously dyed blonde hair.

[Keiko Chikamoto. She saved me!].

Yumi's eyes lost their unfocused look and she carefully put the now much smaller charcoal pencil on the top of her hospital table. She then put her hands over her eyes as she started to cry silently. Sachiko pulled her petite soeur into her arms as Yumi wept into her breast, her arms clutched tightly around Sachiko's waist.

The detective gently pulled the now almost complete sketchbook from between the two of them to protect it, and the precious evidence it contained, from being crumpled.

By the time Yumi's tears and dried up and she was once again sitting up in her bed, Detective Nishihori had looked through the portraits again and made notes in his own notepad.

"I now understand why you didn't want me to say anything, Yumi-san. You didn't want what I might say to guide you in your identification of these suspects."

"SUSPECTS!" screamed from five of the six mouths of the members of the Yamayurikai. Only Shimako kept to herself, but Yumi could see her almost biting her nails wanting to be just as demonstrably outraged as the rest of them.

"Yes, suspects. That's what I have to call them until they are actually convicted," the detective explained in a patient manner, "at least those of them that are still alive."

Starting with the pages of smaller portraits, he identified most of them as members of the Kanagawa Protection League, a small time gang that got busted up about five years ago; almost every one of the members killed by a rival gang. "All but one of these guys is dead except for this one," he said, pointing to one portrait, "who is serving three non-consecutive life sentences for murder.

"Most of these others are also dead of one thing or another," he continued until he came to the first few individual portraits. "Now we come to the major players. Jimmy Chu is a scumbag that immigrated from Shanghai and wormed his way into the lower levels of the Yakuza. About ten years ago it was rumored he had decided to enter into the slave trades. He's moved up in the organization, but no one's been able to pin anything on him. We've tried to raid his hideout multiple times. Nothing's ever been found.

"Goto and Chano are his two main lieutenants. We know both are up to their armpits in racketeering, slavery, gambling, and murder, but again we've never been able to prove anything. Every time we try to catch them in the act there's been nothing." He growled under his breath, allowing the anger and hatred he had for the situation show. "Jake Gunderson is probably Chu's contact in the states. We know Jimmy gets shipments in from the US every so often, but again . . ." he didn't need to finish the statement. No evidence.

"Finally, I'm sorry to say, Yumi-san, the body of Keiko Chikamoto was found in a drainage ditch just over nine years ago. It looked like she had been used as an example for others to not cross Chu."

Yumi nodded, wiping tears from her eyes as she grabbed her pad and pen again.

[I had a feeling she was probably dead. Probably as a result of letting me escape].

"Probably," the detective said softly. There was no way to lessen the pain of the young girl lying before him. He then flipped back to the first of the multi-portrait pages. A shaking finger pointed at one picture of an older man with dark hair and a mustache under which was written the word "rape."

"Then, there's this guy," he said in a strained, venomous voice, the whiteness of his knuckles in his fisted left hand that he pounded against his own leg evidence of his fury. "This is Detective Sergeant Tanouye of the Organized Crime Bureau. He works for me," he fumed. "Now I know why we've never been able to lay a hand on these guys. He's been tipping them off on every raid and movement we've made!" he cursed. "But that doesn't tell us where Chu holds his captives."

Yumi reached out and gently took the sketchbook from the detective and flipped to a blank page. Her eyes once again lost focus as she began sketching. This time it was not a portrait, but a picture of the inside of what seemed to be a warehouse.

"That's the inside of Jimmy's headquarters," the detective said in awe as the picture formed in front of his eyes. Yumi circled a particular section of one corrugated steel wall and then started another picture, an enlargement of that section. It looked just like a normal corrugated steel wall until she began drawing horizontal lines and darkening two vertical lines. When she had finished she began almost frantically writing underneath the enlarged picture.

[Fake section of wall. Single piece of sheet metal held on by magnets located behind the original wall so as to be almost invisible. Girls held in a dark, wet room behind a second locked steel door].

"You've got to be kidding me!" Detective Nishihori exclaimed, grabbing the sketchbook from Yumi's hands and staring at the picture. "I can't believe it!"

Yumi made shooing gestures with her hands.

"Yeah. Yeah. Sorry Ogasawara-sama. I've got to go," he said as he quickly gathered his things.

Yumi grabbed the sketchbook from him and, before he could start yelling, signed and printed her name, the date and the time, and then handed it back to him. Again she shooed him away, a desperate look on her face.

"Don't worry, Yumi-sama," the detective said before he rushed out the door, "if anyone's there, we'll save them this time!"

Yumi nodded, a weak smile on her lips as the door closed behind him.

Eight pairs of wide eyes, along with eight gaping mouths, stared at the tiny girl lying in the hospital bed, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.

Yumi looked around her at the shocked people surrounding her bed.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

-oo-

Later that afternoon Yumi was sitting on the edge of her bed preparing to go to the bathroom to brush her teeth after eating her lunch. As she was putting on her slippers she heard a knock on her door and Sachiko walked in with a compressed smile. School had let out less than an hour ago so Yumi knew that Sachiko had skipped her classes as well as the Yamayurikai meeting. Tooru followed his daughter into the room and the two stood quietly a moment, side-by-side, before Sachiko opened her mouth.

"Yumi . . ." she hesitated a moment, unsure of herself which was a side of Sachiko that Yumi almost never saw. "There's . . . there's someone you need to meet. He's my brother. I know I have not told you about him before, but I wanted . . . no, you need to meet him," she said guiltily.

Yumi wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but she had an inkling that it wasn't something that she really wanted to know.

"Alright, onee-sama," she replied with a slight frown, trusting in Sachiko.

Tooru went to the door and opened it, motioning down the hall, calling someone towards him.

A young man in the dark grey uniform of Hanadera Boy's Academy entered slowly, almost timidly. For a moment Yumi was sure she must be looking at some sort of funhouse mirror, because except for his clothes and hairstyle she could have been looking in the full length mirror in the bathroom of her dorm.

She put her foot down to the floor and slowly stood. She could see pain and fear in those soft brown eyes as the young man's mouth worked to say her name but nothing came out. But mostly what she saw in those eyes was an unending, unfathomable guilt that he had been harboring for so very, very long. She took a step forward, and then another, until she was just an arm's reach from the boy. She raised her left hand, cupped slightly, and slowly moved as if to cup his cheek tenderly.

Everyone in the room was so focused on her left hand that they never saw the fisted roundhouse of her right until it connected solidly with the boy's chin and sent him flying to the floor. Before anyone could move or even react to what she had done she dropped to her knees in front of the young man and gently took his face between her two hands.

"YUMI!" Sachiko finally found her voice as both she and her father made to move towards the pair on the floor. The look that Yumi shot them not only stopped them in their tracks but pushed them each back a step. Sachiko had never seen such a commanding look on her petite soeur's face before and it literally frightened both her and her father into immobility.

Yumi looked back down at the boy lying on the floor, tears flooding his cheeks and quiet sobs heaving his chest. If it was one thing she had learned in the dorm it was that children that feel they have done something wrong also feel, deep down, that they need to be punished for those wrongs. Only then could they begin to feel better about themselves once again; only then could the healing start. She had seen that need in this young man's eyes.

"Yuuki," Yumi said softly, a gentle and loving smile on her lips. "That is all the punishment you will ever need for what happened nine years ago. You were six years old. You were all of maybe four feet tall and barely forty pounds. They were three adult men with guns. They were bigger than you, outweighed you, and would have shot you without hesitation if you had tried to come to my rescue." She was speaking slowly and carefully, putting every ounce of love she could in her voice as she spoke to the brother she had not seen since the night of her abduction. "You have no need to feel guilty over what happened. Neither Mother nor Father could do anything. What could a six year old boy do that they couldn't? I'm just glad that you're alive. So . . . whatever you were thinking, whatever you did or did not do . . . I forgive you and just thank God that you are here with me now."

Yuuki's tears and crying throughout her talk had slowly dried up and he stared at her in awe as he realized that she was forgiving him. The shock of her words turned slowly to acceptance as she spoke so calmly to him and she could see a light flickering of understanding enter those soft brown eyes.

"You're my brother," she said quietly as she pulled him up to his knees, "and I love you."

"I – I love you too, Yas – Yumi-san," he wept as she put her arms around him and pulled him into her embrace. His arms went around her waist and he held on so tightly that she thought he would never let go.

They cried in each other's arms until there were no more tears to be wept between the two of them. They sat back slowly from each other, their arms not wanting to let go. Smiles graced their lips now rather than sobs. Yumi turned to look at Tooru and Sachiko, a wide grin on her face.

"Thank you onee-sama, Otou-san. Thank you so much for giving my brother back to me." A look crossed the pigtailed girls face then, as she was struck by remembrance of Sachiko's words just before Yuuki had entered the room. "Y-your brother?" she stammered as she stared at her onee-sama.

Sachiko nodded. She moved slowly over to where Yuuki and an extremely confused Yumi sat and got down on the floor with them. She put her left arm around her petite soeur while her right hand gently stroked Yuuki's hair.

"Yes, Yumi. Yuuki-kun is my brother. After your parents were . . ."

"Murdered," Yumi finished the statement for her.

"Yes, murdered," Sachiko sighed, "Yuuki-kun came to live with us. Your father and my father were very good friends in college and even afterwards. It was part of your parent's will that, if anything happened to them, Otou-san would take care of you and Yuuki-kun. Otou-san and Okaa-san adopted Yuuki shortly after he came to us, but we could never find you no matter how hard we looked."

Tooru knelt down next to the trio and placed a loving hand on Yumi's shoulder.

"And I would do the same for you in a heartbeat, Yumi-chan," he said with a smile. "I would love for you to become a part of our family, but it's your choice. You're old enough to figure out what it is that you want and to make your own decisions."

"Otou-san!" Sachiko gasped.

"This has to be Yumi-chan's choice," Tooru calmly explained to his daughter. "I truly want Yumi-chan to be a part of our family, but it's up to her. We can't force her."

Sachiko glared at him for a moment before lowering her eyes and accepting his words with a nod. As much as she wanted Yumi to always be by her side she understood that it had to be the younger girl's decision.

"Would . . . would you mind if I thought about it for a while," Yumi asked softly. "It's not something I can answer on the spur of the moment."

"I understand, Yumi-chan," Tooru replied with a smile. "Take all the time you need."

"Thank you," Yumi smiled. "Would you all mind if I took a walk. So much has happened, I think I need to be alone for a little while."

"Of course, Yumi," Sachiko said with a knowing smile as she stood up. Yuuki and Tooru stood as well. Yuuki handed his sister to her feet and the two embraced again before Yumi quietly left the room and turned down the hall, allowing her feet to take her where they would as she tried to think about what it was she really wanted.

She didn't know how long she walked, but she eventually stopped before a set of light colored, wooden double doors. Looking above the lintel she saw the word "Chapel." It seemed to be the appropriate place for her, so she quietly opened the doors and slipped inside.

She genuflected before the alter, even though there was no hanging rood, and made her way to a small niche in the left wall where she saw a very familiar figure. She knelt before the icon of Maria-sama and put her hands together, lowering her head in prayer.

"Maria-sama, I'm not sure what to do. So much has happened in such a short time. For so long I've been on my own, with only the Sister's and the other girls at the dorm to help me find my way. Now I have an onee-sama, a girl that I love deeply, sometimes maybe more than as a sister," she finally admitted to herself. "I have my memories back, and I have found my brother after so long. And I have been offered a place in a real family. I know that they wouldn't be my real Mother and Father, but to have parents again, and a sister and brother . . .

"But is that what I really want? Do I want to be onee-sama's . . . do I really want to be Sachiko-sama's sister? The feelings that I have for her, to want to be by her side for the rest of my life, to want to be with her until the end of time, is this the love of a sister? I want to hold her hand. I want to touch her and . . . and kiss her," she gasped at the realization. "Are these the thoughts and feelings I should be having towards my sister? I doubt that she has the same feelings for me, but do I really want to take the chance of losing out on the possibility of a real love? Do I have to choose between the two: a family or a lover? Is there no other way? No other option?" she wept.

"Please, Maria-sama, you have always been there to guide me in my times of need. Please, just this one more time, please help me to see the path I should take."

"You know, Yumi-chan, it doesn't have to be one or the other," she heard a deep and loving voice behind her.

She whipped around to see Tooru sitting on a pew behind her and her breath caught in her throat at all she had revealed to him. But instead of a frown, instead of anger and disgust, she saw love and a soft, tender smile.

"I would be quite happy to simply enter you into our family register," he told her as she sat there on her knees, dumbfounded. "I don't have to say exactly in what roll you are a part of our family. Whether as my daughter or . . . or in some other, undefined roll." Tooru held out his hand to Yumi and pulled her up to sit beside him.

"Would you . . . could you really do that Otou-san?" Yumi asked quietly, her eyes on her fingers clasped within the older man's strong hand. "I don't know how Sachiko-sama feels about me, but I really don't want to take a chance of losing what we might have together if I become her sister in truth."

"I'm not sure that she knows herself how she feels about you, Yumi-chan," Tooru told her honestly, "but I know that she feels more for you than a simple sisterly love. Like you, she wants to have you by her side for the rest of her life. She loves you dearly, and much more than as a sister, I just don't know that she has awakened to it yet."

"If . . . if there is a possibility, any possibility, that we might be more than sisters to each other, I don't want to give up that chance, Otou-san," Yumi said quietly but with a force of conviction that surprised even herself. "I love her."

Tooru sat silent for a moment, gazing at this wonderful, sweet girl that he would dearly love to have in his life.

"You know, Yumi-chan, we will always be your family, whether we ever make it formal or not we will always be there for you. But if you have a chance at real love, if it were me, I would do whatever it takes to make that love become a reality."

He squeezed her hand and then gently released her and stood up.

"As I said, it's your decision, but you need to ask yourself, what does my heart tell me? What do I really want? What role do I want to play in Sachiko's life? Do you want to be her sister? Or do you want to be more? Think about it," he said with a smile as he left her to her thoughts, hoping that he had in some way helped not only Yumi-chan, but Sachiko as well.

"What I want?" Yumi murmured to herself. "What I want?" A smile creased her lips as her eyes sparkled with renewed joy.

"What I want is . . ."

-oo-

Epilogue

Yumi sat back in the verdigris colored wrought iron chair and gazed up at the myriad stars that shown down on the city of Musashino and the small, grey stone dorm behind the Chapel at Lillian Girls' Academy. The glass panes of the conservatory at the rear of the dormitory had been cleaned over the weekend so no grit or grime remained to dim the light of those miraculous stars. As usual she had left the conservatory's lights off so as to better see and appreciate one of God's greatest gifts to man.

A cup of jasmine tea was held in her right hand while a sweet apple fruit tart sat as yet untouched on a napkin on the table. She knew that the tart, one of many baked earlier in the evening by Sister Agatha, was a result the good Sister's simple joy of baking rather than for any other reason.

It had been months since Yumi had seen any concern or worry in the young woman's eyes, and she was happy that even then it had not been for her, but for one of the younger girls in the dorm. The ten year old had been upset at having received a 90 on her art project rather than the 95 or 100 she had been hoping for. Yumi had taken the girl aside and pointed out the slight imperfections in the stoneware cup that, with a little more care and attention to detail, could have been smoothed over before final glazing and firing in the kiln. The youngster's eyes had widened in understanding and a grin had blossomed upon her lips as she realized what had gone wrong and what she could do to not make the same mistake next time. With a kiss to Yumi's cheek, the girl had retrieved her cup and happily skipped off to her room. Much to Yumi's embarrassment, Sister Agatha had kissed her other cheek in quiet thanks.

The ten year old was one of the five girls rescued by Senior Detective Nishihori when he and his forces had raided Jimmy Chu's Tokyo hideout. Jimmy, his two lieutenants, Goto and Chano, and most of the rest of the gang had been killed when Jimmy had decided to shoot it out with police rather than take his chances with the Japanese courts. Jake Gunderson, Jimmy's contact and partner in the US, had been arrested by the State Police at the Port Jersey docks as he was attempting to ship another three girls from the US to Japan in a small container just big enough for the kids and barely sufficient rations for the long voyage by container ship. The information provided by Yumi, scant as it was, had allowed authorities to exterminate two gangs of slave traders in the US and Japan. Finally, it seemed that Detective Sergeant Tanouye had met with some sort of fatal accident while locked up and awaiting trial.

The pretty ten year old girl still awoke from nightmares every so often, but with the love and friendship of Sister Agatha and the rest of the girls in the dorm she seemed to be slowly adjusting to her new life at Lillian.

Yumi took a sip of her tea and sighed contentedly. She had left her hair free of their customary pigtails so as to dry better after her evening shower. She closed her eyes to enjoy the peace and quiet of the indoor garden, the silence broken only by the soft tinkling of a small waterfall across the room. The sound of the door opening and closing did not pull her from her tranquility, nor did the swish of a silken robe as it grazed leafy fronds.

Only the feel of soft, warm lips upon her own was able to rouse her.

"Good evening, onee-sama," she said lovingly, licking her lips to savor the sweetness of the kiss.

"Good evening, Yumi," came Sachiko's smiling voice in return before placing another tender kiss upon the ripe, pink lips of her love. "You haven't eaten your tart yet?"

"I was waiting for you, Sachi," Yumi grinned, reaching to put her hands behind that slender, graceful neck and pulling her love down into yet another kiss, this one slightly more passionate than the previous two. "I'm glad that you had the time to come spend the night, love," she said with a smile once the kiss had, at least temporarily, been breathily suspended.

"I didn't give Otou-san the choice," Sachiko grinned as she took a seat at the table, placing her own cup of jasmine tea down so that she could reach across to take hold of Yumi's outstretched hand. "Not to say that he really argued. You know he loves you so much and wants only happiness for the two of us."

"I do know that, and I'm grateful with how supportive he has been of our relationship."

"You mean in how he pushed the two of us together," Sachiko laughed. "I swear he missed his calling as a matchmaker."

"Don't tell that to Grandfather," Yumi grinned, thinking of the aged patriarch of the Ogasawara clan. When told of their love for each other, the old man had simply grinned and given his blessings. He never could say no to his granddaughter. He had also been more than happy to welcome his "Granddaughter-in-whatever" as he liked to call Yumi.

Looking around the night draped conservatory, Sachiko could tell why it was that Yumi was still reluctant to move out to the estate. With everything she had here, as well as all of the girls she still loved to take care of, she knew it was going to take an act of God to get her to leave. She did visit fairly often to get reaquainted with her brother and the rest of her new found family. They had talked about it before, and one of Yumi's main arguments against moving in had been that she didn't think it proper for two lovers to be living together under the same roof until they could be officially joined together in marriage. Yumi still harbored some small hopes that the Japanese Government would change the laws to allow for same gender marriages, but she wasn't willing to wait forever. They had promised themselves that if they still could not be legally married by the time they had both graduated from college then Yumi would allow Tooru to enter her into the Ogasawara family register as "Other."

Until that time, they would simply be girlfriends.

"Well, if you don't eat that tart soon we won't be able to get to bed," Sachiko teased, a sexy purr in her voice that promised certain things to the younger girl as soon as they got under the covers of the double bed now situated in Yumi's dorm room.

Yumi quickly grabbed the apple tart and downed it in four bites as Sachiko looked on laughing.

The two walked back into the dorm hand-in-hand, heading towards the room and bed that they occasionally shared.

Katsura-san watched them go up the stairs together from her seat in the common room. She sighed and got up from her chair to get herself another cup of tea. She figured that it would be at least another hour or so before the room across the hall from her own would quiet down enough for her to finally get some sleep.

A/N: Thank you all for once again allowing me into your lives. I hope that I have been able to entertain you. Feel free to review/comment/PM me at any time.

As always, please take care of yourselves,

CX