A/N: WARNING: PROFANITY IS USED IN THIS CHAPTER! Physical violence is implied as well. If this offends you, don't read it. It is necessary to the scene in which it is used. You have been warned.

The suspense continues in the final chapter! Again, I would like to thank Oyuki Konno for creating such a wonderful cast of characters and the universe they reside in. All credit for their creation and the original stories of Maria-sama Ga Miteru are solely hers. Only this story concept is mine. Everything else belongs to Konno-Sensei, Shueisha, Yamayurikai, or Nozomi Entertainment.

And now, the conclusion...

Confrontation

Chapter 13 – Learning Curve

The Ogasawara Mansion – Several hours later.

After returning from the reception, Sachiko and Yumi had changed clothes. This also gave them some alone time as they had not been together for a month. Many hugs, kisses, promises and apologies were shared before they returned downstairs. Entering the kitchen to get something to drink, the pair had run into their mothers discussing Sachiko's and Yumi's future wedding arrangements. Listening as they excitedly discussed ideas, the pair had both begun to wonder who was really getting married.

They had left Sayako and Miki in the kitchen talking about their second favorite subject, cooking. Yumi was happy to see that her mother had not only reconnected with her childhood crush, but had become the petite-soeur that she had always wanted to be. The two chatted amiably away as though the ensuing years that they had been separated had never occurred.

Now ensconced inside Tooru's study – Tooru, Sachiko, and Yumi were talking. Sachiko and Tooru had been telling Yumi about the events that had occurred after the night she had argued with Sachiko. Yumi poked her fiancé in the ribs, causing Sachiko to give a squeak of laughter. "I don't believe you did that! The night you texted me, you already knew his answer." She said with a smile. "And you didn't tell me for two weeks! You are in so much trouble lady." Sachiko gave Yumi a half-hearted pout before breaking into a wicked smile, asking her, "Promise?"

Tooru grinned at their play. "Don't be too hard on her Yumi-chan. I was the one who asked her to keep it from you because of my father."

"Oh?" Yumi asked him.

Sachiko finished for her father. "With the way your face lit up this morning when you figured out what I was going to do, the entire eastern seaboard of Japan would have known about it weeks ago!"

Yumi's face blushed furiously at the truth of their argument. She would have been floating on air if she had known that her love was already a free woman. No doubt that Sachiko's grand-father would have caught on. Even without the assistance of the Ogasawara maid.

The three began discussing Yumi's addition to the Ogasawara family ledger. Yumi had already assured Tooru that Sachiko was being added to her family's ledger as well. Tooru had informed them that the Matsudaira's had graciously offered their summer vacation home in Canada to host the ceremony. Now, they were trying to decide which family name they would assume upon their marriage.

As they were talking, Tooru's desk phone buzzed, but before he could answer it, his study door was suddenly slammed open. His father, the elder Ogasawara, stormed into the room. Sachiko and Yumi jumped before quickly backing away in separate directions from the sudden intrusion. His father then began yelling at Tooru. "You are a worthless, misbegotten, son of a bitch!"

Tooru's face darkened slightly as he quietly told his father. "Do not speak of my mother in that way."

"I am the head of this family and I shall speak any way I wish!" His father replied. "You are the one who needs to answer to me, not the other way around. And you will answer for this idiocy Tooru! Our family has been dishonored because of this unmitigated disaster you have foisted upon us. "

Tooru looked at his father dispassionately. "I disagree father."

His father's face twisted into something out of a horror movie as he screamed. "Just as I thought, not even enough sense to know that you have ruined this family! You and your wretched wife have spoiled my grand-daughter! I should never have entrusted you with her care!"

"I see no problem with her upbringing." Tooru said in an even voice. "As you were here and approved of most of it father, you could have expressed an opinion on her care at any time. Yet you did not."

"Don't give me that non-sense!" His father roared back. "Due to your lax oversight and questionable judgement; she has no moral values, no sense of duty and no respect for our traditions. Your failure as a parent has turned her into a faithless whore!"

Tooru's face turned as red as his daughter's as he immediately stood up to reply. But before he could, Yumi angrily spoke up. "Baka! You will not speak of my fiancé in such a manner!"

The elder Ogasawara ignored Yumi's outburst as he continued to address Tooru. "Now our family name and honor are worthless! Not even worth a commoner's notice. Our word was our bond, you knew this, now it has no value because you broke an agreement without my consent."

Tooru placed his hands flat as he leaned forward on his desk. His voice now raising. "The agreement has not been broken! It was renegotiated by me personally as president of this corporation. In my official capacity as such, your consent was not required!"

"It was my agreement Tooru! It was the road map to the company's future that I had laid out. You needed only to follow it without question. You were not negotiate all my hard work away on some frivolous whim of questionable value." He yelled back. "It should have been obvious that when it comes to this corporation and this family, my consent is not only always mandatory, it is the only one that matters!"

"I'm sorry you see it that way." Tooru began. "But..."

"Weak!" His father interrupted. "Just like that mousy little bitch you let leech onto my grand child!"

This time Sachiko spoke up in anger. "That is enough Grandfather!"

The elder Ogasawara turned on her immediately. "Shut up whore! I'll decide when it is enough. You will just do what you are told when you are told to do it!"

Not wanting Sachiko to take on her grandfather alone, Yumi jumped to her love's aid. "This is not the Meiji era! She is an adult and will do as she decides. Not as you command!"

Without looking at Yumi, he replied menacingly. "Your opinion has no value here bitch, and no one asked for it!" He failed to notice Sachiko's eyes darken considerably. Her anger now becoming more evident.

Yumi's anger however, got the better of her at that moment. She then did something she had never done before in her life: she cursed at another living being. "You bastard, go to hell!"

The elder Ogasawara immediately turned on her and advanced. Yumi, seeing that he intended to do harm, backed away out of his reach, stopping only when she felt a nearby table behind her. Placing her hand in the small of her back and gripping an object hidden there as the old man brought his right hand up and pointed it at her. "Not one more word from you! You will shut the hell up!"

Yumi's eyes narrowed as she spat back, "Where Sachiko is concerned, no sir, I will not! I do not answer to you!"

Sachiko's grand-father's face looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. "You stupid, little ingrate!" He shouted. As he brought his right hand up above his left shoulder, Sachiko was already moving behind him. "You will either learn your place or I will make you sorry you were ever born!" Expecting Yumi to cower or run, he briefly stopped his hand, watching for her response.

Yumi neither moved nor looked away. Instead, she locked eyes with him and stared back. The elder Ogasawara noticed that there was no fear in her eyes. Only glaring contempt. Seeing this only served to annoy him further. He would not tolerate this behavior from anyone whom he considered below his station, and he especially would not tolerate it from a woman. As he made a motion to continue through with his back-handed slap, he heard his son speak.

"Father..."

Something about the tone of Tooru's voice made him stop and turn to his right to look towards his son. As he did, he was startled to find Sachiko now standing shoulder to shoulder with him barely a half-meter away. She was staring at him directly over her own right shoulder. Her face showed no emotion as her normally sapphire blue eyes were now pitch black. Subconsciously, they reminded him of the color of death. He then wondered why she was suddenly standing in such an odd position next to him.

At that moment, something reflected in his eyes. Quickly glancing down to see what it was, he froze as the answer to that question presented itself in all it's intimidating horror. The realization that he was in imminent mortal danger became abundantly clear, for less than a centimeter away from his throat was the long curved blade of a katana. It was one that normally sat in a stand a few feet away from his son Tooru's desk. At the moment however, the katana was held firmly in the hands of his grand-daughter Sachiko. Standing in his present position, he knew intuitively that he would have no chance to avoid the blade if she chose to advance it.

Looking back up at Sachiko, he could see that her death stare had not wavered. Whatever action he had intended to inflict upon Yumi was now pointless. This fight was already over and he knew it. Having no other recourse, he lowered his hand as he slowly backed away from Yumi. Looking back to her, he noted that Yumi had not moved either as she also continued to stare at him. In fact, if he were to be honest with himself, she appeared as though she were in a fighting stance ready to join the attack on him. Inwardly, he was so impressed with her fearlessness in that moment, that the mousy image that he had of her before was forever broken. He turned around to face his son.

"I believe, father, that it is time for you to leave us." Tooru said evenly. "See that you do not return. Ever."

"So this is how you treat your betters now is it?" The senior Ogasawara stated rhetorically.

"Older perhaps," Tooru responded. "but far from my, or their, better." As he nodded to Yumi and Sachiko.

'No respect for tradition.' His father thought as he shook his head at his son. Looking at him with contempt, he spat. "Piss off Tooru!" before turning and storming back out the door he had entered.

As his father left, Tooru quickly picked up his desk phone and gave instructions to the security staff to escort him out after confiscating all of his access cards to the mansion and the corporation. Adding that the man was persona non grata from now on. He then made a second call to the director of corporate security and gave him similar instructions. Hanging up he looked to his daughter and her fiancé. Seeing that they had begun to relax, he said. "Nice control Sa-chan. I'm sure Hasekura-sensei would be proud." he said with a smile.

Due to his family's standing in society, he had arranged for his daughter to take self-defense courses throughout her schooling. For reasons known only to Sachiko, she had developed a particular interest in the use of the katana. When she dropped her tutoring upon becoming Mizuno Youko's petite-soeur at Lillian high school, she had taken to sparing with her friend and classmate Hasekura Rei whenever she could. While Sachiko was nowhere near the level of Rei's expertise in Kendo, Sachiko was confident that she could hold her own if she needed to.

Ignoring his compliment, Sachiko answered her father with, "If he had hit Yumi, he would have been dead." As she replaced the katana back into its display stand against the wall.

"It's a good thing you didn't kill him anyway." He told her. "It would have been difficult to explain to the police. What was your plan if he had managed to take it away from you?"

Before Sachiko could answer, Yumi interjected with. "He would still be dead..."

As they both turned to look at Yumi, they saw that she had lifted up the back of the jacket she was wearing. There, tucked into the waistband in the small of her back, Yumi was placing a tanto knife back into its leather case. Straightening her jacket, she looked up at the pair.

"Yumi?" Sachiko questioned, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

Looking back and forth between the shocked pair, she innocently asked. "What? Kashiwagi-san told me back before I graduated that if I was going to associate with this family, I should be prepared for anything." Shrugging her shoulders she added. "So I'm prepared."

As Tooru smiled in satisfaction, Sachiko asked her. "Um...can I assume that you know how to use that? Just how long have you been carrying that knife?"

Yumi looked up in thought. "Hmmm. About a year and a half now, and yes love, I do know how to use it." She answered as she looked intently at Sachiko. "Why?"

Sachiko rolled her eyes before giving her petite-soeur her own serious stare. "I see that Suguru also has some explaining to do. You and I will be discussing this again, later." A small smile evident at the corners of her lips.

Yumi shook her head in disbelief. "Whatever!" She replied before sticking her tongue out at Sachiko.

-0-0-

The following Monday morning, Sachiko stepped into an elevator en-route to her office at the Ogasawara Corporation headquarters. She had been asked by her father to attend to some matters that could not wait for her classes that day. Happily, Yumi had tagged along as well. She was skipping her own classes to get some shopping done at a nearby mall as she waited for Sachiko to finish up.

Her cell phone rang as the elevator doors opened at her floor. "This is Sachiko." She said as she answered it.

"Sa-chan, could you meet me in my office immediately?" her father asked.

"Certainly," she smiled as she replied. "I'll be there in 30 seconds." She then hung up and pushed her way through her father's office door.

Looking up at her, he said. "Ah, good timing Sa-chan. There is another item I need you to attend to starting today."

"What would that be?" she asked him.

"We have a new intern that is starting today. She is of particular interest to me and I need you to train her on some of the more basic expectations of her assignment." He told her.

Sachiko gave an irritated sigh before asking her father, "Another one? Is there no one else that can do it? You know I loathe the task of having to do that. I have a significant workload I'm behind on already. Plus, I still need to catch up on the classwork I missed last week."

Tooru smiled at her. "That is why I want you to train her. She is to be your assistant for the next few months as well as helping me with a few special projects."

Sachiko closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she knew her father would not be talked out of something once he had decided on it. Opening them again, she said in resignation. "If I must..."

A familiar voice suddenly spoke up behind her to her left. "Such apathy projects a lack of professionalism and proper concern for the company's social well-being. Is that the proper image one wants to display to a new employee Sa-chan?"

Turning towards the sound, Sachiko was surprised to see Yumi sitting in a chair. "Yumi? Why are you here?" She asked.

Yumi smiled at her and replied, "I believe your father just covered that. But in case you missed it love, I am to be your assistant while I am training to be your father's protogé."

Sachiko turned back to her father with her eyebrows raised in question. "It is as she says." Tooru told her with a smile. "Treat her well Sa-chan, I've been told she has a wicked temper when she gets riled up."

Turning back to Yumi, she replied. "Yes, so I have heard..." Her face a stoic mask for several seconds before she gave Yumi an evil smile. "Though it isn't nearly as wicked as her lips seem to be..." she added.

Yumi's surprised "Eh?!" could be heard all the way to the first floor lobby.

-0-0-

Six Months Later...

Sachiko and Yumi had been called to the Ogasawara mansion by Tooru. No reason had been given in the message he had left on their phone at Sachiko's house.

Entering the mansion, they met with Tooru and Sayako in his den. Apparently, a package had arrived for Yumi. It had been addressed as such: "To: Yumi Fukuzawa-Ogasawara".

"Did you order something Yumi-chan?" Tooru asked her.

Yumi shook her head. "No, I did not. Even if I had, I would have had it sent to our house." She replied. "Although, I do find it odd that they hyphenated our names. As I haven't registered that name with the prefecture, I have yet to use it on any correspondence."

"So you have no idea what it might be then?" Tooru asked.

"No sir." She told him.

Looking at the package closer, Tooru noted that it had been delivered by the same courier that his father routinely used. Picking up his desk phone, he contacted the day manager at the service. After a few minutes, he was told that the delivery had been ordered by his father. Hanging up with him he told the group what he had learned.

Tooru, Sayako, and Sachiko all turned at looked at Yumi. She could only stare back in confusion. Her last contact with the man had been the argument in the very room they were standing. She had no idea what the package could contain.

Tooru pushed the package across his desk towards Yumi. "Well, it's addressed to you, so go ahead and open it."

Remembering the senior Ogasawara's anger at their last meeting, Yumi asked him. "Um, is it safe to open it?"

Tooru assured her that it was. The Ogasawara personal security detail routinely scanned and x-rayed all incoming mail daily. If there had been something dangerous inside, he would have been notified.

Nodding to him, Yumi walked to the desk and began tearing off the paper covering. Inside the wrappings was a black lacquer box with double catches. Flipping up the catches, she lifted the lid open. Yumi gave the inside of the box a confused look before she opened it all the way for them to see.

The inside of the box was lined in gold colored velvet. Sitting snugly inside was a katana. The outside of the scabbard was a deep glossy black. The hilt appeared to be gold plated with matching gold dragons under the black wrapped handle. The outside of the scabbard was etched in gold Kanji on one side. Picking it up, Yumi read the words, "Fukuzawa – Mouse to Dragon" out loud. She then pulled the sword partially out. She could see that the blade was highly polished and had been professionally sharpened. The katana was otherwise unadorned.

As she looked at the exquisite sword, she failed to see the Ogasawara's exchange silent meaningful glances. Tooru gave a shrug to his wife and daughter. Sachiko for her part put a hand up to her lips as her eyes started to tear up. Her mother placed a hand on Sachiko's shoulder and patted it to soothe her.

Yumi slipped the katana fully back into the scabbard, before she looked up at Tooru. "I don't get it. Is this some type of challenge or a peace offering?" She asked him.

"Both." He answered. "In our family, a katana like this is given to those members who will serve or are currently serving in a position on the board. So in effect, it is a recognition of the importance of the leadership position and a challenge to always do one's best while holding said position."

Yumi nodded her head in understanding. "So you have one of these too then?"

"Hai." He answered her. "I do. So does my father."

"I see then she replied. Turning to Sa-chan, she asked. "So you have one as well. Correct?"

Sachiko smiled demurely as she first looked at the floor before looking back to Yumi. "Not as yet, I do not." She told Yumi.

Yumi gave her a puzzled look. "May I ask why?"

Sachiko looked to her parents briefly as she placed her hands in front of her. "Because it is only given to those who serve in one specific position on the board Yumi." She answered. "It is granted by the current Chairman of the Board to that one person. In my case, the agreement was that is was to go to my husband. Since you and I are getting married instead, it is going to you." Pausing for a moment she went on thoughtfully. "I suppose that it is a conciliation from my grandfather to you and I both." She then swallowed hard before continuing. Tears evident in her eyes again as she did. "You see, it designates the line of succession. Not only in our family, but also in our business."

Seeing the emotion in her love's eyes, Yumi hesitantly asked. "Um, Sachiko, what position does it designate?"

Seeing his daughter about to be overwhelmed with emotion, Tooru answered. "My successor..."

Yumi looked thoughtful for a moment as she tried to process his answer. "Ara, I still don't get it. Sachiko is to succeed you. Correct?"

Sachiko, having recovered her emotions for the moment, responded. "That is correct. I will succeed him as the Chief Executive Officer of the company. Currently, father holds two positions."

Yumi gave Sachiko a dubious look. "What is the other one he holds?"

Stepping closer to Yumi, Sachiko told her. "As I said before Yumi, the katana is only given to one specific position on the board. The other position being the additional one that father currently holds. It is given to the person designated to succeed the chairman of the board."

Yumi was quiet for several seconds as her brain processed what Sachiko had told her. She let out a characteristic "Eh?!" as the information finally sank in. "I what? No Sachiko. No, there must be some mistake. I don't know anything about running a company of any size. Let alone one like the Ogasawara Corporation. I haven't even graduated college yet." She said in denial.

"Yet, being the operative word Yumi." Sachiko replied. "Father isn't retiring tomorrow, it will only happen when you are ready. You are just the designated successor. You still have plenty of time to learn what you need to know."

Yumi shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know about this Sachiko. Trusting me with your family's future, and the future of all those who work for you...I have a bad feeling about accepting this."

Sachiko, Tooru and Sayako all smiled at her as Sachiko answered. "That is where your confusion lies Yumi. It is not a matter of accepting the position. You have been chosen. Refusal is simply not an option. I, for one, do not have any reservations about grandfather's choice. If anyone could understand the importance of not abusing the power they hold, it would be you. If you lead this company the way you lead the Yamayurikai as Rosa Chinensis, I have no worries about the future of our corporation. Grandfather has chosen wisely." All three of them then bowed to her simultaneously as they said. "It has been decided."

Yumi looked at the three of them before looking back to the katana. "Maria-sama," she said out loud. "I am going to need a lot more help than I anticipated..."

-0-0-

A/N: I will let the story rest here, for now. Maybe a sequel in the future, who knows? So,what could be better than an action scene with Sachiko giving an opponent her patented 'Ice Princess Stare' over the blade of a katana? (Well, okay. A naked Sachiko staring over the blade of a katana came to mind. However, I couldn't think of a way to realistically add it to the scene. At least not without going well into the dark side of it being X-rated or making the grandfather into some kind of obsessive, incestuous lolicon. Which might be fun to write, but I would never post it to the internet. Ever. Because my mother might read it. T_T)

Thank you to all who have read, reviewed and commented on this story. It has meant a lot to me personally. Stay tuned to this channel as the author has more good stuff to come. Gokigenyo!

22, June 2015