AN/Disclaimer: No money is being made through the authorship of this fiction. The author claims no ownership of characters used as they are all licensed to many more responsible people who would not put their characters through such extensive ridiculousness.
Also… the author does not AT ALL claim that this fiction has any substance, makes any semblance of sense or is in anyway connected to the series. Because that would just be an outright lie.
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Chapter One:
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While staring up at the ceiling one New Year's night, Yumi Fukuzawa was suddenly hit with a burst of courage and motivation. She didn't know whether it was because she was in such close proximity to the love of her life or if it was because Sei was poking her while saying 'tell her Yumi, tell her now'.
It could have been one, it could have been the other, perhaps it could have been a combination. We really are that indecisive at this time in the morning… but regardless of what the why actually was, Yumi turned her head a little to the right and said…
"Onee-sama… Aishiteru."
Because Sachiko was still very close and Sei was still poking Yumi, the younger girl cleared her throat, took a deep breath and continued…
"I love everything about you… your eyes, your laugh, your gorgeous super-model looks… though not your gorgeous supermodel attitude, with the hysterics and the yelling at me and the…"
Sei cleared her throat causing Yumi to shoot her a sheepish smile and quickly change the tack of her rant.
"… I think I'll just leave it at I love you," the younger girl finished.
Sachiko, who of course was awake because if she wasn't the plot couldn't progress and no one would continue reading, turned her head and smiled at her wide-eyed petit soeur.
"Awake… onee-sama, you're awake?"
The said 'awake-girl' cupped Yumi's cheek, shifted over to her futon and slowly leaned closer to Yumi… so she could reach beyond her and knock the video-capable cell phone out of a certain Rosa Gigantea's hand.
Sei, who would not be foiled, or rather could not be foiled due to extensive resistance training in insolence, merely smirked and gave Yumi a friendly little push on the back.
(Insert cute little dinosaur sound here)
Yumi being the object of cute in this scene effortlessly fell forward and landed directly on top of a surprised Sachiko.
Supporting herself on an outstretched arm, Yumi looked down at her onee-sama's eyes (note that 'eyes' can easily be replaced with 'lips' or… 'a little lower than that', depending on what kind of mood the reader is in.)
The two lovebirds continued to stare at each other with sparkling eyes while being in serious danger of being wrapped up in another unnecessary 'flower explosion' that tend to crop up during moments like these.
Sei, being the giving friend that she was, saved them from said flower explosion by filming the romantic moment on her cell phone which successfully cut the romantic shoujo-ainess of the scene by at least half. It was a close call.
Flower explosions aside… Rosa Gigantea felt the need to add a little more spice to the situation. With cell-phone in one hand, and her own life in the other, Sei "accidentally" pushed Yumi's 'support arm' resulting in another cute dinosaur sound and the younger girl to fall with a suspicious slow motion effect.
Sachiko showing just how dedicated an onee-sama she was, easily caught her petit soeur (the slow motion helped). No one told her that she had to do it with her lips. She decided that on her own.
"Wow, what excellent footage this is!," Sei whispered to herself. Of course since Sei didn't really have a very well developed library voice it came out at a somewhat conversational volume anyway.
When the two finally parted lips the flushed Sachiko smiled sweetly and delivered one of her seemingly rare lines in this fiction...
"Yumi… I love you too."
--
Somewhere in the vicinity Mr. and Mrs. Sachiko's parents woke in a cold sweat and looked at each other with dread in their eyes.
"She's fallen in love!," Mr. S-P said.
"With another woman?," his wife both asked and confirmed.
"Damn that all-girl's Catholic school! They remove males during the formative years. The formative years!"
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Close by, in another room a younger man was rousing.
Kashiwagi quickly turned on the light, checked his hand and frantically searched his bedding. Finding only… bedding, the man grinned and held up a victory sign.
"My engagement ring! It's gone! Sachiko's found her true love!"
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Meanwhile…
"Hmm, hey Yumi, what's that on your hand?," asked Sei who noticed the 'something shiny' on the younger Chinesis' hand. "A ring?! Wow Sachiko… you move fast."
"There's a ring! There's a ring on my finger!" Yumi said with both a surprised gasp and a happy smile.
Sei laughed. "Can't say the same about her Yumi though."
Sachiko's eyes widened and upon closer inspection confirmed that the ring that fit Yumi's finger perfectly was indeed the magical Ogasawara group engagement ring. It could only be worn by the next heir's true love. (In the case that a true love was not confirmed the ring would then pass on to the next heir's most annoying, sexually ambiguous cousin.)
While Sachiko and Yumi were lost in another romantic staring match, Sei took the opportunity to use her cell phone for purposes other than planned blackmail and called her Foetida and Chinesis counterparts.
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"They did what?!," Youko could be heard screaming over the phone. "Turn this car around immediately. To the Ogasawara estate! … Damn that Sachiko, I didn't even have a chance to meddle my way into this one."
Eriko sat in the back of the car and folded her arms in frustration. 'Another Chinesis-centric drama. This is what I get for being in love with a man. How boring is that?'
"Youko? Youko are you still there?,"Sei asked her cell phone.
"Eriko and I will be there in a minute Sei," said Youko, again confirming her position. "And don't worry about calling the others. I have Yoshino and Noriko on speed dial. They have the best gossip. Expect us all in under a half hour. I may not have been able to foresee the engagement but I'll be damned if I don't get in at least some meddling in the wedding plans!"
A slightly disturbed Sei 'hmm-ed' and hung up the phone.
--
In the boys room.
Yuuki Fukuzawa awoke to the view of Kashiwagi smiling down at him and did the only logical thing he could think of.
The boy ran for his life.
"Kashiwagi-san!," Yuuki screamed. "Why are you chasing me?!"
"Yuuki! I'm not getting married anymore! Look! No ring see!"
"Yes, but… why are you chasing me?!!"
--
Exactly half an hour later…
Sei ran out of the room with Yumi and Sachiko in tow and with the intention of meeting the rest of the Yamayurikai at the front door. When she got there, she found the group already waiting.
Noriko and Shimako let out happy cries and rushed to see the matching rings on Yumi and Sachiko while Sei turned her attention to an annoyed looking Yoshino.
"Yumi and Sachiko are getting married before us?! Yumi and Sachiko! They fight more than they talk! How could this happen? How come nothing cool ever happens to us?!"
Rei reached out and gave the girl a pat on the back.
"I'm sorry Yoshino, but they have that whole 'I love you, I hate you', opposites attract thing going for them."
"I thought if we were going to be beaten down the aisle then it would be by those guys!," Yoshino continued while motioning towards Shimako and Noriko. "They wouldn't have a Catholic ceremony anyway so that's alright! I can accept that. But Yumi and Sachiko! How Rei, how?!"
Before Sei, who was still watching could release some ill-planned humorous statement, Eriko walked over to her younger sisters and shrugged helplessly.
"It's because they have the more interesting family names," the eldest Yellow Rose observed. "Chinesis… Gigantea. Ours is Foetida, I mean… how anti-climactic."
"Exactly! That's exactly it!," Yoshino declared while wrapping an arm around Eriko. "Do you think a re-name is in order?"
"Re-name! I like how you think Yoshino," Eriko replied. "I like the way you think."
Rei released an exasperated sigh.
"How can I be related to you two?"
"How about the 'himeyakajino' family?," Yoshino offered while successfully tuning out her onee-sama.
"That's not a rose!," Rei complained. "That's not even a word!"
"It's three bits of words mushed together," said Yoshino proudly, expecting praise.
"Think outside the square Rei," Eriko said as she drew her own square in the air. "Outside the square."
Sei looked the Yellow Roses once more before deciding that the situation was getting a little too weird even for her and turned her attention over to Youko's and her own family.
Yumi's ring was still the topic of conversation for the group. The fact that it had certain magical tendencies was being overlooked because those aspects were more technical that romantic and the author is in no way inclined to delve into any in-depth explanations.
While the younger White Roses were still hanging onto the happy Yumi's hand and the eldest White Rose had now taken to messing up the girl's hair, Youko took the opportunity to take Sachiko aside for a little heart-to-heart.
"Sachiko…," Youko began, placing a hand on her petit-soeur's shoulder.
Judging from the seriousness in Youko's features, Sachiko expected a speech full of important life lessons and advice and readied herself for some extreme nodding and several 'yes of course onee-sama's'. Well, she got the advice alright.
Just at that moment, Youko decided to turn her meddling dial on full blast and bombarded Sachiko with suggestions on venues, her hair, the bridesmaids, table settings, dresses, food, guests, the perfect weather, the sad state of the world and of course the set date.
Anyone else would have plainly glazed over by this point but not Sachiko. Sachiko was a lady, so she glazed over in secret.
By the time Youko had finished… or more accurately, by the time Yumi had successfully signalled to Sei that she wanted her fiancée saved from the planning of any more weddings, the sun was coming up. (The meddling Youko could not allow herself to plan only one wedding at a time and was half-way through planning Rei and Yoshino's when she was interrupted.)
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"Rosa Gigantea! Why did you interrupt while she was planning our wedding?"
"Yoshino, you were listening?," Rei asked. "Why were you listening? And what wedding?!"
Yumi took the opportunity to steal the weakened Sachiko away and fled into the house with Noriko and Shimako close on her heels.
"Sweet jasmine tea, stat!," Noriko proclaimed.
Eriko looked up at the sky and stretched sleepily.
"Hey… when was it not night time?," she asked with a yawn as she followed Youko who was looking for Sachiko into the house. "Can it be night time again?"
--
Sei grinned as she checked that all the night's collected footage was safely saved into the memory of her cell phone.
"I have a feeling this is going to be quite the year…"
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AN: Hmm. Yes well, I was over angst-ing while trying to write the serious fic and… this came out . Things like these just happen sometimes… I sincerely apologise for wasting just that little bit of your life. Fair warning, don't read the next chapter if you want to save your brain cells! XD