At Hiroshi's bald statement, Yumi's face went from flushed to white as a sheet while Sachiko simply stared, mouth agape at the young man for the space of two seconds before she put her arms around Yumi and held tightly to her. She'd never met this boy before, but from his looks and his statement she assumed that he was the shinigami Yumi had spoken of. The one that was always asking her if she was "ready" to go. Yet now, when Sachiko had finally found her petite soeur, when she'd finally found someone that she could love, he intended to take her away?

"Over my dead body will you be taking Yumi anywhere, you bastard!" she seethed, more venom in her voice than anyone had ever heard before.

"Hmm, Ogasawara Sachiko," Hiroshi tapped his chin and seemed to consider, completely unfazed by her vehemence, "nope, I don't have an order for you," he turned to stare at her with an evil smile, "yet," he snickered. "However," he took two steps closer to the pair and simply reached out a hand, "there's no way you can stop me."

Hiroshi's hand slipped through Sachiko's body, causing the taller girl to shudder in revulsion, and he used that shudder to grab hold of Yumi's shoulder. At the touch of his hand her body instantly went translucent, allowing him to pull her straight through Sachiko's grasp with ease.

"Rei! Help me!" Sachiko screamed out to her best friend as she tried to grab hold of Yumi's hand.

In one fluid move, the short-haired blonde grabbed her shinai from next to her book bag and swung. A blow which would have knocked out any normal man passed straight through Hiroshi's head without causing any damage. The shinigami didn't even flinch.

"Rei!" Eriko called out a warning as Yoshino slipped to the floor clutching her chest. Rei's anguished look as she was torn between helping her best friend or going to the aid of her loved one gave Sachiko heart even as the tall blonde rushed to Yoshino's side.

As much as she cared for her best friend's cousin, Sachiko knew that Rei couldn't do anything against this demon and didn't slight her in the least for her choice. Using her own will to the fullest, she reached out and grabbed on to Yumi's wrist. Feeling resistance, she tightened her grasp and pulled with all her might. She succeeded in at least bringing the shinigami's slow escape to a halt.

"I won't let you have her!" she screamed again, giving another tug just as Yumi tried to escape his grasp.

"What is she to you, Ogasawara Sachiko?" the young man sneered. "Why do you fight so hard for her? She's just a ghost; a phantom. She doesn't belong here in this place or in this time. She's a victim, and the powers that be have decided to end her misery. Why would you keep her from going to a better place or starting all over again with a new, better life? Why do you hold onto her so hard?"

"BECAUSE I LOVE HER!" Sachiko bellowed so loudly she was sure that they could hear her in the heavens.

"Because I love her," she said again in a much softer yet still unrestrained voice as she stared into Yumi's frightened brown eyes, tears streaming down both their cheeks. "She is much more than just my petite soeur. Yumi is the other half of my soul. If you take her away from me," she wept openly, "then you may as well take me also, because otherwise you condemn me to a life worse than death."

Still staring into Yumi's eyes, she continued to bare her soul. "I love you, Yumi. So few things in this life are certain, but this I know. I love you and I always will. I want you by my side until the day I die and then even beyond death. I want you with me always, forever more."

"And I love you, Sachiko," Yumi wept, her tears a mixture of joy and sorrow. "I always have, ever since the first day I saw you. You are, and ever will be, the only one for me."

"How ironically touching," Hiroshi sighed, "but it doesn't change my mission. I have no choice in my assignments as you well know. So, go ahead Yumi-chan. Give your love a goodbye kiss and maybe, if you're both lucky and loved by the gods, you'll see each other again. Maybe not in this life, but possibly the next."

Without relinquishing his hold on Yumi's shoulder he allowed the two a last, precious moment together.

"I promise, I'll come back to you somehow," Yumi murmured as she buried her face in Sachiko's breast. "I swear it."

"And I'll be waiting, my love," Sachiko replied as her tears decorated Yumi's hair like sparkling gems. "Forever and ever, until I see you again."

They hugged each other tightly. Then Yumi lifted her face and Sachiko found herself once again drowning in a sea of brown, this time swimming in tears. She leaned over slightly and pink lips met rose for possibly the last time in a sweet but searing kiss.

With an audible pop, both Yumi and Hiroshi disappeared.

-oo-

Sachiko was inconsolable.

It had taken Rei's considerable strength to carry the despondent girl all the way from the Rose Mansion to the front gate and her waiting limo after she'd collapsed to the meeting room floor after Yumi's disappearance. The members of the Yamayurikai had done their best, but no words could alleviate the excruciating pain of her shattered heart. Sachiko had missed school on Friday as she lay curled in her bed, numb for her loss and not even bothering to eat despite her parents' obvious concerns.

Her mother had called on Youko to come over after classes on Saturday to see if her grande soeur could do something to raise her spirits, but Sachiko wouldn't even turn to face her. She would acknowledge no one, her glazed eyes showed no sign of recognition or reason and her breathing was barely perceptible. Youko's words could make no dent in the impenetrable shield of grief Sachiko had built around herself.

On Monday she arrived back at school, forced to go by her parents despite her near catatonic state, and made her way slowly to the Rose Mansion with no intention of even attempting to go to any of her classes. The other students stopped and stared at her as she trod along. Her hair was a mess, her eyes bloodshot and puffy from all her crying and looking as dead as her spirit. Even her uniform was completely haphazard. Her mind, what there was of it, didn't register their shock at her appearance, unaware of anything save putting one foot in front of the other as she made her way to her destination. All she wanted was a quiet place where she could be alone in her grief, even if that place was the one place in the world where she would be constantly reminded of the girl she had loved and lost.

As soon as she walked in the door of the old house she could feel the difference. It seemed empty, lonelier, and less welcoming than it had been just the previous week. It was as if not only Yumi's spirit, but the spirit of the mansion itself was missing.

"No," Sachiko mused as she shook her head, closing the door softly behind her, "not missing, but in mourning. Even this old house is mourning her loss with me."

The feeling of being watched was also gone. She knew that this time, if she slipped on the stairs, there would be no one there to catch her. Even still she wasn't any more careful as she climbed the timeworn steps. If she broke her neck she might be able to see her love, but Yumi wouldn't welcome her if she did that. She knew the pigtailed girl would be angry with her for not taking care.

She stopped at the middle landing and ran a finger over the outline of the red rose in the stained glass window.

"If she'd stayed and become my petite soeur in truth she'd have eventually become Rosa Chinensis…if we'd been able to break her curse," she whispered softly as the first tear of the morning traced a slow curve down her cheek. "Maybe Maria-sama had other plans for her. Maybe my desires were too selfish."

Sachiko opened the biscuit door to the meeting room and set her book bag on the floor to the side. Moving to the small kitchenette she set about rinsing the electric kettle and preparing tea. It felt a little comforting to go through the old routine and before she knew it she was seated at the table with a steaming cup before her.

"What now?" she asked herself, her voice only barely breaking the silence of the large room. Pushing the cup to the side she laid her head down on the table using her arms as a pillow, her face turned toward the empty chair to her right.

"Are you happy where you are, Yumi?" she asked. "Did you go to heaven, or were you reborn? Are you waiting for me somewhere or have you forgotten all about me?"

Her tears further darkened the sleeve of her uniform as she gave in to her despair.

Youko entered the room at lunchtime to find her petite soeur fitfully sleeping with her head on the table and mumbling Yumi's name in her sleep.

"Sachiko," she called out softly, gently bringing her petite soeur to consciousness.

"O-onee-sama?" Sachiko mumbled as she tried to wake up from a bad dream she'd been having.

"Have you been here all day, Sachiko?"

"Hmm," she replied while knuckling her eyes, "at least since before first bell. I didn't feel like going to classes."

"I understand," Youko smiled sadly and took a seat next to her petite soeur, taking one hand between her own, "I really do, but you can't simply stop living just because Yumi-chan is gone."

"I know, onee-sama," Sachiko sighed, laying her head back down but this time such that she faced her grande soeur, "but I need time. I can't just pick up and pretend like she never entered my life. I…I loved her and," the raven haired girl started whimpering, "and now I'll never see her again."

To Sachiko it seemed as if Youko wanted to say something, but then decided against it as she brought Sachiko's hand to her lips and kissed it softly. "I'm sure things will get better," her onee-sama offered somewhat lamely. Still, Sachiko appreciated the sentiments if not the actual words.

Rei and Yoshino-chan entered the room next and were quick to offer their condolences and support to their friend. While Yoshino went to fix more tea, Eriko and Sei arrived. Eriko simply laid a soft hand on Sachiko's head in passing while Sei didn't even go that far, heading around the other side of the table toward her chair.

"Is Shimako-chan coming today?" Youko asked the Rosa Gigantea, a frown on her face.

"Yeah, she'll be along, but the teacher wanted her to do something first," Sei replied with a grin and a shrug - as if saying what can you do? Everyone wants my petite soeur - before taking her seat.

Sachiko kept her head on the table and let the soft sounds of normal conversations wash over her. She knew that if she was ever going to get over this heartbreak it was going to be with the help of everyone in this room.

She turned her head again at the sound of the biscuit door opening and watched as Shimako-san entered with her usual smile.

"Everyone," she called out softly but loudly enough to gain everyone's attention, "I hope you don't mind my being late, but the teacher asked me to…"

That's as far as she got before she was brushed to the side as a whirlwind blew through the door and made a beeline for Sachiko. Before she knew what was happening she'd been knocked from her chair to land hard on the floor.

"Oh! That's gonna leave a bruise," Sei laughed out loud.

Sachiko was going to moan for the sudden pain in her tail bone, but before she could even take a breath, soft lips pressed hard against Sachiko's own in a fierce kiss.

"Y-YUMI!" Sachiko cried out when her lips were released as she threw her arms around the petite girl lying on top of her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"And here I had this whole nice introduction planned," Shimako pouted.

"You can't really blame her, can you?" Youko chuckled.

For Sachiko it was all background noise as she lay dumbstruck at the impossibility manifested above her.

"Is it…is it really you, Yumi?" she asked, staring with disbelief at the young, pigtailed girl above her. "Please, please tell me I'm not dreaming again."

"It's me, Sachiko-sama," Yumi told her with a great big smile, her brown eyes sparkling with delight. "It's really me. You're not dreaming."

"Oh, Yumi!" Releasing her hands from the smaller girl's waist, she cradled bright pink cheeks between her palms and pulled a cute little face down so that she could once again taste the soft lips she'd thought forever beyond her reach. "I don't know how," Sachiko gasped between kisses, "but it's really you. Oh, Yumi, I missed you so much! I thought you were dead! I thought you were gone for good! That I'd lost you forever! How are you here? How…how…?"

"It was you, Sachiko-sama," Yumi smiled at her, reaching a hand to tenderly touch her cheek. "It was all you. It was your kiss and saying that you loved me that finally broke the curse. I didn't understand her entirely at the time, but the curse was that I'd live unseen, unheard, and unloved - as if a ghost - until the time someone could not only see me and hear me, but truly love me exactly as I was."

"So it really was true love's kiss," Eriko shook her head in wonder. "Who would ever have guessed?"

"Who'd have ever thought that Sei-sama could come up with a plan that actually worked?!" Yoshino laughed.

"Or that you'd be such a good actress, Yoshino-chan," Sei grinned. "You even had Rei fooled."

"Well, if you'd have told me about it in the first place," Rei frowned.

"You know there's no way you can keep a secret, Rei-chan," Yoshino smirked. "You'd have given the game away."

"I admit, I never expected you to try to hit Hiroshi-kun with your shinai, though," Eriko laughed.

"Thank goodness he's a shinigami. I don't want to think what would have happened if he were human," Shimako sighed.

"You do swing a mean shinai, Hasekura-san," the shinigami in question said as he once again walked through the biscuit door.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?" Eriko chided the youthful appearing spirit.

"I find that if you knock first, everyone stops talking about you and you never get to learn what they really think," the boy said with a raffish grin and a sly wink at Shimako. "I never knew you cared, Todou-san."

"In your dreams, death-boy," Shimako laughed.

As everyone talked around them, Sachiko and Yumi continued to lay on the floor oblivious to it all.

"What happened, Yumi? Why did you disappear like that?" Sachiko asked while continuing to cradle Yumi's cheek in her palm.

"When the curse broke I suddenly found myself just exactly where I'd been when the whole thing started – standing at the bus stop outside of Hanadera's main gates," the young girl explained. "I was disoriented needless to say, but a nice young man by the name of Alice helped me to a bench and then stayed with me until Hiroshi-kun found me again." Her eyes looked down and Sachiko could easily see the guilt on her face. "As much as I wanted to just run back here to you, I knew that there was someone else that I needed to see even more."

"Yuuki-dono," the raven haired girl nodded in agreement. "I understand, Yumi. Of course you had to see your brother first. He's been so worried about you for so many years."

"Except that I nearly gave him a heart attack when he opened the door to his apartment and saw me standing there looking not a day older than the day I disappeared," Yumi smiled sadly for a moment before her smile became warmer at that memory. "But he took me into his arms and hugged me so tight…we cried for so long, just happy to be back together again."

"I'm sorry about your parents," Sachiko offered, but Yumi just shook her head and then pressed her cheek into the older girl's hand, seeming to find comfort just from her touch.

"I already knew," she replied wistfully. "It had been so long that I knew they'd already passed on, but at least I still have my loving brother. We're going to live together again. He's set up a futon in his home office for me temporarily until we can find a bigger place." Her smile then grew even wider and her eyes took on a sparkle of merriment. "He made some phone calls to some people he's dealt with over the years. I guess even Yakuza need architects every now and then. I'm now legally his long lost niece from a previously unknown illegitimate aunt on my mother's side of the family," she laughed softly at the thought.

"But I needed official papers in order to be enrolled here at Lillian again," Yumi grinned. "I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest first-year high school student in the history of the school," she laughed, but then quickly became somber again. "It wasn't until I met Shimako-san in homeroom that I learned how hard you'd taken my disappearance," the pigtailed girl said as she leaned down and kissed Sachiko again. "I'm so sorry, Sachiko-sama. If I'd known…"

"No, Yumi," Sachiko smiled up at her, taking the opportunity to steal another kiss for herself. "Yuuki-dono needed you even more. Don't ever think otherwise. I'm just glad to have you back with me again." Those words, along with another stolen kiss seemed to bring Yumi out of her funk and put at least a small smile on her lips. "But there's something that we need to correct right now," the blue-eyed girl grinned.

Extricating themselves from the floor finally, Sachiko helped Yumi to stand up and then continued to hold her hand while she got everyone's attention.

"Onee-sama," she said while looking directly into Youko's eyes, "I told you last week that I'd never have any other petite soeur than Yumi and that I'd been holding onto my rosary for certain reasons." Youko smiled at that comment, now obviously fully aware of exactly what those reasons had been. Sachiko then turned to look at a wide-eyed but beaming Yumi. "And while I already consider her to be my petite soeur, now I can officially, and happily, finish what I'd previously started.

"Yumi?" she asked the shorter girl as she reached into the neckline of her uniform and withdrew her rosary so that she could hold it out to the smaller girl, "will you, once again, do me the honor of becoming my petite soeur?"

"Gladly…onee-sama," Yumi grinned ear-to ear as she dipped her head so that Sachiko could place the rosary around her neck.

"And," Sachiko went on, this time in a much softer and emotion-filled voice, "will you promise to stay by my side…now and forever more…until we both go with Hiroshi-kun to wherever it is that he takes us?"

"Until then and ever after," Yumi replied in a soft voice. The two were lost in each others' eyes, the rest of the room now forgotten. "Even if we are re-born, I will find you again so that we can be together until the end of time. I love you, Sachiko."

"And I love you, Yumi."

-oo-

Hiroshi smiled and allowed his seeming to slowly fade away. The remaining members of the Yamayurikai gathered around their friend and their newest member, offering words of welcome and congratulations. The smile on Yumi-san's face was everything he'd thought it would be and more. While he understood the importance of his job, and it did give him a real sense of satisfaction to help people move on to the next stage of their next lives, the fierce warmth that blazed in his heart at seeing that smile made everything else pale in comparison.

It may have been more than forty-five years in the making, but at this moment he couldn't help but think that Yumi was probably happier than she'd ever been before.

As if reading his mind, Yumi turned toward him and, even though he was invisible to everyone, she seemed to look straight in his eyes.

Thank you, she mouthed, and then that bright smile, the one he'd never seen before, returned as she looked back to Sachiko and laid her head against the taller girl's breast.

"You're very welcome, Yumi-sama," he replied with a bow before turning to leave them to their merriment.

He wouldn't soon be forgetting the small girl with pigtails in her hair, nor did he intend to be gone all that long. He'd continue to watch over her, stopping by from time to time to make sure she continued in her happiness.

Now that he'd finally seen it, he wanted to see more of that wonderful, wonderful smile.

A/N: And that's a wrap ;-) I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please drop me a note or a review and let me know what you thought. Hopefully the whole "true love's kiss" wasn't too cliché and cheesy. I figure if it's good enough for Disney...

Thank you all again so much for reading. Until next time,

CX