A/N: My thanks to you – clarec97, deatheater2493, Spikesagitta, momoiiey, none, uwiechan, Nathan5th, Ayou, elfspirit7, kuma-bear, reiko08, Syaoran Li Chow, r..shyler, nightmist and the rest of you who reviewed this fanfic in one way or another since Chapter 1.
You know, I don't know if I'll call this as an epilogue or another chapter. Well, whatever (pout). Here it is ;)
Epilogue
"Wake up, sleepy head," Sachiko whispered to the ear of the sleeping person beside her. She smiled when the person groaned then snuggled closer to her.
"You could sleep some other time, my love. But for now, you have to wake up," she continued, and then blew gentle air to the snuggled person's ear who shivered at the act.
"All right then," the person groaned as she opened her eyes.
"Good morning, Yumi," Sachiko greeted with a happy smile. Yumi responded with an equally happy one as she leaned for a kiss.
"You better have some good reason for waking me up this early, Sachiko," Yumi complained, though the smile was still plastered on her lips.
"Let's take a bath together," Sachiko answered.
Yumi pouted.
"That's all?"
Sachiko frowned playfully.
"Don't you want to?"
"Says who?"
Yumi giggled as she got up from bed.
"What are you waiting for, come on then," Yumi said once she was on her feet.
Giggling and with arms on each other's waist, they headed to the bathroom. Once they were at the bathroom door, Sachiko let go of Yumi and with a graceful bow, she said, "After you, my lady."
Chuckling at Sachiko's act, Yumi went in the bathroom, and then stopped in her tracks with wide eyes. The floor was scattered with red rose petals, they were all over the place. The water at the tub was filled with rose petals, too. She closed her eyes and inhaled the fragrance of the flowers as she smiled happily.
"So, shall we take a bath together, my love?" Sachiko whispered in Yumi's ear that she shivered again.
Smiling, Yumi turned to face Sachiko and hugged her.
"Yes. Happy anniversary, Sachiko. And happy birthday, too."
They shared a short laughter before their lips met tenderly.
Later on, they were enjoying a bath together while playing with the petals, talking, being close with each other.
"Sachiko, when did you do all of this?" Yumi asked, looking around the bathroom. Her lips was plastered with smile and her eyes shining with happiness and contentment.
"For your information, miss sleepy head, I woke up early just to do this," Sachiko answered as she rubbed Yumi's knees.
"It's beautiful, Sachiko. Thank you for doing this."
"It's nothing, Yumi."
They were quiet for some time, before Yumi broke the silence.
"Sachiko, do you still remember what happened a year ago?"
Sachiko tightened her arms around Yumi.
"Yes. How couldn't I?" She whispered.
And then they were silent again as their memories travelled back one year ago.
One year ago…
Sachiko could barely stand with exhaustion. She just came from a meeting, three meetings just today. She was dead tired. Add the fact that she hadn't been sleeping well lately because of worry. She hadn't heard any word from Yumi ever since she visited the Fukuzawa household. She dreaded the meaning of Yumi's silence.
Eyes half-closed, she came in to her bedroom. All she wanted was to get some sleep. She wanted to just flop on her bed, unladylike it may be, but she couldn't sleep with her executive suit on. She was about to start undressing when she saw a single red rose at her bed. Frowning, she picked the flower, wondering who put it there. Her frown deepened when she noticed another stem of red rose at the foot of the bed. Someone must have dropped it. She bent to pick it up, but her eyes caught another stem of rose a few steps away from the one she was about to pick. And then there was another one. And another. The roses seemed to lead to the balcony.
Holding the rose from her bed, Sachiko decided to walk towards the balcony only to stop in her tracks. Her breathing literally stopped at the sight. She swayed a little. She must be really tired to be imagining things and seeing illusions. She blinked, once, and then twice, but the figure didn't vanish. Wide eyes and mouth agape, she stared at the person standing there who was looking at her with a beautiful smile on her face.
"Yumi?"
Sachiko's heart started racing so fast and so loud that it was almost deafening. Yumi's presence here, in her room, could only mean one thing.
She was forgiven.
Her love was back. The love of her life was back.
Trembling, she stared hard at Yumi, afraid that suddenly her love would vanish from thin air and she would find herself alone in the room again.
"You look so tired. Have you had dinner?" Yumi asked worriedly.
Sachiko blinked once again, then shook her head. She stood there, frozen, as Yumi made her way towards her. And then Yumi held her hand. She closed her eyes at the familiar warmth, the warmth she missed the most. Like a mother to her little child, Yumi led her to the left side of the balcony where, Sachiko noticed for the first time, that a table was there, set for two and lighted by candles. Yumi sat her down, before sitting opposite her.
"Let's have dinner, shall we? I thought I'll die with hunger waiting for you," Yumi said with a smile as she started to eat. However, when she saw that Sachiko was not moving but just gazing at her, she reached out and instead fed Sachiko. Like an obedient child, Sachiko opened her mouth. And so, the dinner was done with Yumi feeding the still shocked Sachiko.
"How long are you going to stare at me like that, Sachiko? Sooner or later, I might melt down," Yumi teased softly.
As if awoken from a dream, Sachiko shook her head, then quickly stood and went over Yumi and hugged her tight as she started to cry. Yumi hugged her back as she too, started to cry.
"Oh Yumi, Yumi, Yumi," Sachiko kept on saying Yumi's name like a litany.
They cried for some time, letting go of their fears, their pain. When their tears subsided, Yumi pushed Sachiko away gently and cupped her cheek.
"Sachiko, would you start a life with me?"
New tears skipped Sachiko's eyes as she nodded. This was just too good to be true. It was more than she could hope for.
"I love you so much, Yumi," she said with all the emotion that she could feel in her heart.
Yumi smiled.
"I love you, too, Sachiko. And happy birthday, my love."
Sachiko jolted. Yumi was right. It was her birthday, and she didn't even remember it.
"I don't think you're too old to be that forgetful, Sachiko," Yumi teased.
Sachiko laughed and cried at the same time in response as she hugged Yumi once more. She didn't want to let Yumi go. She would never ever let her go. No more words were needed to convey what they felt. For the first time in many years, they understood each other's hearts and minds even with the absence of speech.
And later on, they prepared for bed, which took quite a long time mostly because Sachiko couldn't take her eyes off Yumi. Once in bed, she hugged Yumi close to her heart as they slept. For the first time in many years, the two fell into a deep, worry-free sleep.
And when the morning came, Sachiko was worried that it was just all a dream. However, as she glanced below, her eyes met locks of brown hair.
I wa's real!
Everything was real!
She smiled happily as she tightened her hold on Yumi, who woke up at the act. But Sachiko didn't mind, because Yumi looked at her with a beautiful smile.
"Sachiko, this isn't just a dream, is it?" Yumi asked softly as she looked at Sachiko's face tenderly.
"No, Yumi. We just woke up from the nightmare and were back to reality," Sachiko said softly.
Later on, Sachiko found out that Yumi and her mother had planned everything. Her mother had known beforehand that Yumi had forgiven her already and yet she hadn't told her. Nonetheless, she didn't mind. Everything was fine now.
"Yumi, did you ever feel regret meeting me when our lives were in turmoil?" Sachiko asked as she rained kisses on Yumi's neck.
Yumi moaned as she said softly, "No, I did not really. I wanted to, but I just can't. All the trials that we've face made our love stronger, Sachiko."
Then she added with a smile, "Maybe you had me cursed so I can't forget you, had you?"
Sachiko just smiled as she tightened her arms around Yumi.
"I'm glad, Yumi. And thank you very much."
"Again? You don't have to say thank you to me all the time, Sachiko, because I know it already, and I know that you're aware that I'm thankful too, for everything."
"I just want to say it everyday, Yumi, to show you how much I appreciates everything, to let you know that I'll always be thankful that you never stopped loving me, for always being there for me," Sachiko said emotionally, her eyes misty.
Yumi turned around to face Sachiko.
"Blame it to my heart, Sachiko, because it just can't stop loving you," she said teasingly, softly, as she leaned and planted a soft kiss on Sachiko's lips.
"Yes, it's all thanks to your loving heart, Yumi."
---Wakas---
A/N: Wahh! It's done! I wanna cry! :) At the same time relieved that I can rest now! ;)
I'd like to ask a favor.
1) Please tell me what you think about this chapter and the whole story. I want to know because this is a pilot/test story. I have another one, longer than this and also happened after Sachiko's graduation (and many years after) and it's more serious compared to this. It's my baby fanfic. It's still a draft (but complete already) and needs to be polished (maybe after a month or so). But to give you an idea (that is if it will really give you an idea *grinning from ear to ear*), here's the tentative description.
"Love, greed, anguish, joy, deception, confusion – how will it come to conclusion? Will love lead the way?" Of course, it's entitled Love Will Lead You Back.
Oh well, if it didn't make here in FFN, I could just share/send it to you who wants it ;)
2) And yeah, maybe you could teach me something. How do you say "thank you" and "the end" in your language? (No need for my kababayan to do so ;)
Maraming salamat (thank you very much) to all of you who reviewed and will review this story!
Have a nice day!
---Arvendell---
28 March 2008