A/N: Hi there, again! For those who remembered me mentioning that my laptop broke down, well, when I had it fixed, I've lost a considerable number of files (mostly for my job, sad…) including fanfics that I've written long before I decided to register in FFN. This is one of those fanfics. I started re-writing it based on fragments of memory. The idea is still the same, but how the story will progress would be considerably changed. You can't blame me. How am I supposed to remember all that I've written before? :) :)

And if you'll ask me why I didn't post it earlier, well, it was for selfish reasons ha ha! So I was punished! Nope. It was because…I'm not sure if you'll like it. In fact, I've just thought of the title recently. What made me change my mind? Don't know.

Warning though, for those who didn't like the characters to be intimate, don't proceed if you don't want them to.

And yeah, you should be thankful that I don't own the characters :) :)

My 5th story!

Read at your own risk!

"Little by Little"

---Arvendell---

Chapter 1.1. Truth or Consequence

Rosa Chinensis en Bouton Fukuzawa Yumi didn't need a mirror to know that her face was as red as a red apple. This was former Rosa Gigantea Satou Sei's fault.

No.

Probably it was her own fault. If she hadn't suggested it, this wouldn't be happening to her. But she couldn't do anything about it now, could she?

So what was really going on?

The Yamayurikai, past and present members, were gathered in the current Rosa Chinensis Ogasawara Sachiko's house for the yearly Yamayurikai New Year celebration. Last New Year, they played cards to have some fun. This New Year, however, when former Rosa Chinensis Mizuno Youko said that she wanted to try a different game, Yumi suggested that they play truth or consequence. Truth or consequence was a game where the players would sit in a circle and a person would spin a bottle at the middle. Whoever the bottle pointed after it stopped from spinning, that person would be in penalty. The person in penalty could choose either truth or consequence. If the choice was truth, then that person would be asked one question that she had to answer truthfully. If she chose consequence, then she would do a task and mind you, it was always an embarrassing task.

Everyone readily agreed to Yumi's suggestion.

So what was Yumi's predicament?

When they started playing the game, Sei was chosen as the first person, you could say in-charge, to ask a question or command a task to the first person that would be unlucky to have the bottle stopped pointing at her. And that person, as of this moment, was none other than Yumi.

"So what is it, Yumi-chan? Are you or are you not?" Sei asked, enjoying Yumi's discomfort.

Yumi chose truth and was now chiding herself for being stupid. She should have known that Sei would ask a question like that.

"Yumi-chan, are you or are you not in love with Sachiko? You know what I mean, right?" Sei asked again in a singsong voice.

Yumi closed her hand in a fist. How was she going to get out of this mess? How was she going to answer it? Should she lie?

"No, you can't, Yumi-chan. It will be worse if you lie, trust me," Sei added, reading Yumi's expression.

Yumi almost cursed herself for not being able to hide her emotions. She always paid dearly for it.

Sachiko, seeing Yumi's discomfort, reached for her hand while casting a glare to Sei who grinned back.

Yumi flinched in fright when she felt Sachiko's touch.

"Yumi, it's alright. I won't get mad, I promise," Sachiko said. She gently squeezed Yumi's hand before letting go.

Yumi raised her head to look at Sachiko's face and seeing reassurance there, she calmed a bit and took a deep breathe.

"…eah," Yumi said meekly.

"What? I can't hear you," Sei teased. "Answer properly, Yumi-chan."

"Yes, I'm in love with her," Yumi said forcefully, but immediately trembled with fear when she heard a faint gasp at her left. What would Sachiko say? She said she wouldn't get mad, but…

Yumi looked at her closed fist. She couldn't look at Sachiko. Not now.

Sei laughed. Yumi's answer, of course, wasn't a surprise to everyone. They had known for so long what Yumi felt for her grande soeur, except maybe the person in question who was shocked for a moment before returning to a completely expressionless face.

This is the worst, Yumi thought as she closed her eyes tightly. After a moment, she opened her eyes and with trembling hands, reached for the bottle and spun it. The bottle stopped pointing to Toudou Shimako, the current Rosa Gigantea.

"Wow, Yumi-chan. It's your chance to get revenge," a grinning Sei said.

Shimako, who was rarely given to scowling, scowled at her Onee-sama, and then looked with a little worry to the now faintly smiling Yumi.

"So what is it, Shimako-san? Is it truth or consequence?" Yumi asked her friend.

"I think I'd prefer consequence," Shimako said cautiously.

Yumi's smile turned into a playful grin. Setting aside for a moment her own discomfort, she said "Shimako-san, I know that you're a great dancer and you can do almost all the difficult dance. But I was wondering. Have you ever seen a monkey dance?"

Some color drained from Shimako's face at the question while Sei snickered and the others raised their eyebrows with interest, now having an inkling at Shimako's task.

"I have, in TV," Shimako answered.

Yumi's grin widened.

"Then, Shimako-san, please show us a monkey dance."

Shimako looked at Sei almost reproachfully, as if telling her that it was all her fault, but gracefully proceeded with the dance anyway.

"Wow! Shimako-san! You're really great!"

She really is great, Yumi thought. If she's the one who'll do monkey dances, then she would really look like a monkey with raccoon-like face. She shook her head at the thought. She won't even try to imagine how foolish she would look like.

Everyone clapped their hands while laughing. As Shimako sat back, she glanced at the person at her right, Rosa Gigantea en Bouton Nijou Noriko, who nodded her head as if telling her that it was alright, she did fine. She smiled with relief.

The next person in hotspot was former Rosa Foetida Torii Eriko who, with eyes twinkling in merriment, chose consequence.

A/N: I've read from some of the fanfics here that they referred to the game as truth or dare. However, in my place, we call it truth or consequence so it's the name that I used. Sorry that I can't put the right words on how the game was played but basically, I think that's how it is. If not, well, you just have to assume that that's how it is :) :)

28 January 2008