Date Updated: Not Available
Date Created: March 25, 2005
Date Finished: March 29, 2005

Words: 2875
Type: 30 Kisses Fic/Mini-Series
Entry: Part One
Status: Complete
PoV: 3rd

Rating: T
Pairing: SeixYouko
Genre: Romance

Summary: Lack of sleep on Sei's and Youko's part have resulted to Eriko chancing upon them on the most interesting and dubious circumstances. But when Eriko learned that Youko was in a position she didn't approve of, she decided to give Sei a much needed push.

Excerpt:

"Youko, I must know," Eriko quipped as she made her way to the pair and squatted at their side, "however did you manage to get someone as withdrawn as Sei so attached to you?" She meant to jest, but the undertones of her remark were anything but humorous.

Youko's hand froze in the air, mere inches from Sei's hair, and with the pause came her answer, "She's not."

30 Kisses Theme #3: Jolt!

Insomnia I
by: P.D. Pirl 03/25-29/05

"Tsk, tsk, Eriko, so very careless sometimes." Eriko sighed dramatically and shook her head, not in frustration, but in amusement. Truly, her recklessness was simply astounding, for even though she was aware of the grave consequence of her neglect, she felt not a hint of remorse, nor the slightest sense of urgency.

An important and extremely difficult exam was to be issued to the seniors the coming day; Eriko, being the rather carefree, absent-minded girl that was, left her school bag in the Rose Mansion after a meeting. Had she realized her mistake later than sooner, Eriko knew she was doomed to fail that test. Since the day the exam was announced, she merely skimmed through her notes and books, and arranged for a thorough review session the night before.

It was just another written plan.

She did not, however, schedule a blunder, much less, expect one; though, she also didn't expect to be put into her current circumstance, but being ambushed was what she enjoyed the most, as it was quite rare for Eriko to be taken by surprise. Along with her indifference towards routine, Eriko had a mad fascination for the oddity. In the event that she encountered a foible, she would become completely absorbed in that one thing, and whatever or whoever else outside her object of interest was trivial; tomorrow's crucial exam included, apparently.

Fortunately, she remembered even before she stepped out of her brother's car, and with an effortless appeal, she was able to coerce her older sibling to drive her back to school. She was grateful that the streets weren't as crowded, because had the roads been as packed when she left for home early that afternoon, chances were, the school would have been closed by the time she arrived. The sun hadn't even set yet, which gave Eriko more than enough reason to amble along, and not rush to the Rose Mansion in a fit of hysterical desperation.

But Eriko was not the sort who would break whenever her tedious, predictable routines do; in fact, she welcomed and embraced the deviation from such dull customs, and happily indulged herself. But, of course, she still had to attend to her responsibilities; which before she just brushed past with an air of nonchalance, now she heeded not in her distracted state. Her current focus, she found more alluring because it had taken her quite a few years for her to give recognition, much less, acknowledgment.

She made the discovery just a few days ago: during a meeting that took place after class. Frighteningly religious to her set habit, Eriko came to the Rose Mansion with at least five minutes to spare. Youko, she presumed, must already be in the meeting room; of Sei, she wasn't certain, for the White Rose was erratic and did as she pleased, save for occasions when her presence was compulsory. They meant to assign to their respective soeurs their Rose responsibilities for the rest of the week, for they couldn't shoulder their council tasks and concentrate on studying for the dreaded test at the end of the week at the same time.

Eriko was no less than shocked when she was greeted with a most disgruntled Sei, whose expression was reminiscent of the withrawn, spiteful Sei of before. Behind her, Eriko saw Youko seated on a chair and slumped on the table; a blanket was draped on her shoulders and in her arms was a pillow, both of which Eriko immediately identified as property of the school infirmary. Her impulse was to rush to her friend, but she suddenly remembered that her other friend was blocking her way.

"Did you know that the school board changed the deadline of the monthly report?" Sei snarled, her gray eyes ardent with vehemence. "Did you?"

"No." How Eriko managed to answer calmly was close to a miracle; how she was able to stare back at Sei was beyond her.

"Neither did I." Sei muttered darkly, though, Eriko's answer seemed to have been granted a little ease. "They moved the deadline date from the end of the month," she started, the fire in her eyes slowly receding, "to the end of the week." She sighed and turned her back, her shoulders sagged. "Youko's been staying up all night studying and doing the report by herself."

Eriko, who was now at Youko's side, shook her head and smiled wistfully. "She didn't want to trouble us."

"At her expense?" Sei growled, once again looking like her past self. "There's three of us for a reason, Eriko," she hissed, and cast a glare at the sleeping Red Rose, "there's three of us for that reason. She should have told us," another sigh passed Sei's lips when she turned away, and murmured in a very low voice, "she should have told me." She, then, settled on the chair, one that had already been pulled out, beside Youko and didn't utter another word.

Though Sei appeared to be reverting back to how she was before, Eriko sensed in her words and her eyes a certain type of concern that neither old nor new Sei openly expressed; not even to a dear friend like her.

"How did you find out?" Eriko asked, well aware that when Sei doesn't wish to speak of something, she won't, so she thought it best to ask for answers she knew she would be given. She, too, was fretful of Youko insisting to carry the entire Yamayurikai; including her fellow Roses and friends, who were supposed to help her hold the weight. But completing the mandatory report, studying for the test, and fulfilling norm obligations was unquestionably impossible, even for Youko. Had Eriko known that the report was due earlier this month, she, like Sei, would have willingly helped.

"She told me."

Eriko's brows shot up in astonishment. "She told you?" she echoed, "Just like that? After she tried so hard to keep it from us, she just told you?"

Sei beamed and winked, "I have my ways."

Again, Eriko was baffled, now by the sudden return of Sei's playful nature. She wondered what may have provoked the change: an alternation she knew Sei had absolute control over. When she saw Youko stir, Eriko was not only provided an answer to her tacit question, but she also realized that Sei hid from Youko as well, perhaps, more than she did with Eriko.

Youko stilled once again and continued to sleep, but Sei was far from relaxed. "The others will be here soon," she said, a regretful pitch in her voice, "and she wouldn't want them to see her like this." She gently placed a shaking hand on Youko's back, leaned close and whispered, "Youko, wake up." Sei's fingers slid higher, and became tangled in Youko's hair, but she pulled back so quickly that it could have been passed as a hallucination on Eriko's part.

Eriko heard Youko mumble something, but whatever she said was audible only to Sei, who responded with a tone that was also elusive of Eriko's hearing. After another stroke of Youko's back, Sei rose to her feet and removed the sheet Youko was wrapped in. Youko straightened in her seat, the pillow still in her arms, which, along with her unruly hair, made her less imposing and quite, dare say, adorable. Once Sei finished folding the cloth, Youko gave her the pillow, took the comb Sei offered, and began to fix her hair and her uniform.

"I'll return these to the infirmary," Sei announced, a silly grin on her face, not a grim trace evident in her expression. She glanced at Eriko, who only smiled at her, then at Youko, who gave a nod; and as though she had been waiting for that approval, she gathered the borrowed items and turned to leave. "Feel free to start without me," she chirped, and, with a wave, she closed the door behind her.

"And she calls me a meddler," Youko giggled.

"Well, she's certainly surprised me on more than one occasion today." Eriko chimed, and laughed as well. "You look relaxed," she spoke soon after, not about to let go of what she witnessed between her two friends, who supposedly had nothing more than a platonic relationship, "you've been taken care of quite well, I take it." She couldn't help but grin at the tell-tale hints of a blush on Youko's cheeks; and before her friend could regain her regal poise, she poked at the clearly delicate issue, "But that doesn't surprise me, not one bit."

Youko smiled fondly, no longer fazed by Eriko's remarks. After a few more strokes to her hair, she held her hand up and slowly closed her fingers over the comb that belonged to Sei. "Isn't it funny that Sei carries around a comb but never brushes her hair?"

Eriko laughed in agreement, "Sei's interesting that way."

That meeting, Eriko spent looking out for the slightest touch of intimacy she had seen between Sei and Youko not so long ago. She sensed that Youko was furiously fighting off the fatigue, and for the most part, she was successful. But once she yawned, Sei took her role: grabbed the piece of paper she was reading from, as means of averting the attention to her; quieted any protests from Youko with a playful quip; and without delay, picked up where Youko trailed off.

Naturally, all the others exchanged glances amongst themselves, then, when they realized that they were all equally confused, they looked to her for an answer. By instinct, she offered an ambiguous smile and set her eyes and turned to Sei, as though what just transpired was nothing of special note. Her gestures were followed shortly, and order resumed in the room.

Eriko was thankful that she did not misplace her keys of the Rose Mansion, lest she would have troubled her brother and wasted her time for nothing, which she could have spent going to either Sei or Youko to study with. It was a secondary option she didn't mind settling with, but it was mandatory to fetch her school bag, though, not particularly for tomorrow's test.

Another surprise came to her, not from the door that was ajar, but from what that she saw through that open door: Youko was sitting on the floor, her waist wrapped in the arms of Sei, who had made a pillow of her lap. Sei's face was buried in the folds of Youko skirt, and Youko was facing away from her, utterly oblivious to everything, save for the blonde on her lap, whose hair she combed with her fingers.

"No wonder Sei doesn't bother with brushing her hair." She chimed pleasantly, not in her intentions to startle Youko, much less, wake Sei, even though she was quite delighted to have finally caught her friends in a position, not just similar to the first, but so much more intimate.

Youko greeted her with a knowing smile, and said, "Sei didn't think you'd remember soon enough." With a tilt of her head, she gestured at the table, where Eriko's forgotten bag had been placed. "If ever you did, or if you forgot about it altogether," she paused, then giggled, "you didn't have to worry yourself over it, because we were going to hand-deliver it to you personally, as Sei had put it so eloquently."

Eriko joined in the laughter, "You were delayed, I see." She walked to the table, rested a hand on her dearly missed school bag, and immediately took notice of the long, brown envelope beside it. "The report? Didn't you submit this already?"

"I lied," Youko confessed, but without remorse. "Sei found out, though," she quickly pointed out, and with that statement, stopped Eriko from worrying; yet now, it was her who appeared wary. "She took the papers and documents from me, and refused to return them until the report was done. She finished in one night," she let out a heavy breath, and frowned, "because I doubt she did anything else, not even eat or sleep."

"So, Sei being in the infirmary all day was your doing?"

"Better for her to sleep there than in class." Youko retorted softly, her gaze now on the sleeping Sei. "If not for the exam, I would have told her to go home and rest." She pushed aside the tousled hair from Sei's face and went back to fingering the blonde tresses. Sei, in response, absently pulled her into a tighter embrace and nuzzled her stomach.

"Youko, I must know," Eriko quipped as she made her way to the pair and squatted at their side, "however did you manage to get someone as withdrawn as Sei so attached to you?" She meant to jest, but the undertones of her remark were anything but humorous.

Youko's hand froze in the air, mere inches from Sei's hair, and with the pause came her answer, "She's not."

Eriko wondered if Youko realized how contradicting her retaliation it was, given how dearly, if not, possessively Sei clung to her, and how Sei trusted her enough to fall asleep on her lap. "She is," she stated, not being insistent, nor snide, for she knew she spoke the truth, "just as you are to her." She set her palm above Youko's wrist, then guided that trembling hand to Sei's face.

Youko pulled back, eased out of Eriko's light grip, and smiled. "I'm stronger than that."

Eriko returned the smile and looked at Sei. "Maybe you are."

"First of all, I would like to thank all of you for..."

Youko's voice dulled in Eriko's mind; she had no need to listen, because she knew what was being said, and what was to be said. Youko was relaying her gratitude to the younger Roses for taking on their roles during the week. Next, she would ask to be briefed on the council activities they missed; then, she would discuss tasks for the coming week and assign respective jobs.

She glanced to her right, where she Sei was seated, and sensed that, even though she appeared to be disinterested, her gaze was fixated on Youko. She didn't seem as tired as she had been yesterday, but it was obvious that she was still exhausted. Whenever Sei sat back and yawned, Eriko did not miss the look of worry on Youko's face, fleeting it may be.

She thought Sei and Youko were playing a game of hide-and-seek with her and the rest of the Yamayurikai, which was the reason she made light of things when she chanced upon them. But yesterday, she learned that Sei and Youko were taking part in an engagement between themselves, from which they yielded dismay as much as they did ease and comfort.

Youko refused to believe that Sei was in any way dependent on her; that Sei was content and needed nothing more, unlike her. Judging by how furious Sei was at Youko for neglecting herself and keeping from them the news about the deadline; by how Sei went out of her way to fetch a blanket and a pillow from the infirmary so Youko would be comfortable while she slept; and most of all, by how Sei made sure Youko was oblivious to how much she was affected by her, Eriko couldn't be more certain of Sei's feelings. Perhaps, Sei, too, wanted to believe that she was as content as she appeared to Youko, and maybe now, she was very much convinced.

Somehow, Eriko wasn't.

"And that concludes our meeting for today."

Before Youko finished, Eriko stood up and interjected, "Rosa Chinensis."

Youko, though confused, remained composed. "Yes, Rosa Foetida?"

"I believe you've forgotten to give mention to a matter of grave importance," Eriko said in a firm, slightly edgy voice, and approached the still baffled Red Rose. Once she was close enough, she laid a hand on the backrest of Youko's chair, and, with a softer tone, she spoke, "I have yet to apologize to you for not doing my part in the monthly report, nor have I thanked you." She rested her hand on the table and, slowly, she began to bend forward. "For that, I must make amends," she whispered, and brazenly stared into Youko's eyes. Before her friend found it in her to move, she leaned down and caught her lips in a kiss.

She heard Rei choke and Sachiko blurt out the same word: "O-onee-sama!"

"Rosa Foetida!" the first years gasped.

Eriko ignored the stir about the room and continued to kiss the flustered Youko; and only when she felt her friend tremble and breathe sharply, did she pull away. She grinned, quite satisfied that she made the collected, unshakable Red Rose flushed, and turned to the one person whose reaction mattered to her.

Sei was staring dumbly, gray eyes wide and mouth agape in utter incredulity. She blinked once, and again, as if she tried in vain to will away a horrific illusion; but when it dawned on her that what she had just seen was very much real, there was only one word that could perfectly convey the myriad of emotions she was feeling: "DEKO-CHIN!"