Angel in Disguise

Chapter One

Yumi stared at the enormous building in front of her. Her eyes widened as they traveled over each and every detail with interest. This was going to be the school she would be going to for the next three years. She was currently seventeen years old and had managed to win a scholarship to attend Lillian, which had one of the best dancing programs in the country.

"Are you sure you have everything you need, honey?" Her mother asked Yumi, handing her daughter her second suitcase. Yumi smiled fondly at her mother and answered:

"No. Don't worry I haven't forgotten anything."

Her mother smiled as she caressed her daughter's cheek, saying:

"Be careful."

"Always." Yumi replied before hugging her mother tightly. The girl watched the woman walk back to the bus stop and get on the bus that arrived three minutes later. She waved her final goodbye to her only family member before entering the boarding school.

Sachiko looked at her reflection in the mirror. She applied as much make-up as she could to cover up the few bruises she had got. Once she was satisfied with her appearance the raven haired girl grabbed her bag and exited her room.

As she walked through the hallways of Lillian, Sachiko couldn't help but notice how deserted they were. She allowed a small smile to grace her lips as she basked in the glory of silence and peace. She had needed that. A moment when she wouldn't have to act like someone she wasn't; a moment when she wouldn't be forced to comply with other people's wishes or meet their expectations; just a small moment when she could be herself.

Suddenly something hit her and she fell to the ground. She had closed her eyes for a few seconds and apparently fate had used that small moment she had let her guard down and had decided to surprise her. Obviously someone had come running around the corner and as a result had ended up bumping into Lillian's star. And that was enough to destroy her little moment of tranquility.

Sachiko opened her eyes and glared slightly at the petite girl that was now rubbing her head and muttering something that reminded the raven haired girl of apologies, though she wasn't certain. She took in the small girl's appearance and couldn't help but scoff. Apparently she was a new student and was lost. Great. So much for having some time for herself.

"I'm so sorry. Are you hurt?" Yumi asked as she immediately went to Sachiko's side.

"I'm fine." Sachiko replied coldly, catching the girl slightly off guard.

Yumi was taken aback by the hostility of the look in the girl's eyes and the ice chilling effect her tone had on poor Yumi. Normally Yumi would just apologize and walk away because she knew that she was an airhead and a klutz, meaning most of the time when people or their belongings fell down it was her fault. But this once she had actually been paying attention to where she was going. It wasn't her fault that this girl had her eyes closed. After all, who walked with their eyes closed?!

"I think you should pay attention to where you are going next time. Some people around here don't tolerate such careless behavior and lack of attention to something as simple as walking properly." Sachiko said before getting up, dusting herself off and walking away.

Yumi sat there flabbergasted for a while before anger replaced her shock. After a few minutes of whispered threats and incoherent mumbles, Yumi managed to calm down enough to gather her belongings and start searching for her room. She had to admit that she had been lost but thanks to a very amiable blond girl, she had managed to find where the female dormitory was.

Yumi searched around and soon a triumphant smile graced her lips when her eyes landed on a room with the number 319. She put her suitcases down and fished out her key. Unlocking the door, she went inside and took in her surroundings. There were two beds, two desks, two closets and a huge window. The room was fairly nice, albeit a bit small, but it would have to do. She was here with a scholarship so it was natural that she would get one of the less pleasing rooms. After all, in order for this school to be on top it needed money. A lot of those green lizards actually and in order to achieve that, they needed sponsors. Plus the huge taxes for being able to attend Lillian were more than enough to satisfy the hunger of a few old hags.

Yumi noted how neatly one of the beds was made. Apparently her roommate had already been here. Yumi managed to prevent her thoughts from getting the best of her and her overactive imagination from escaping out of its chains. Once she was certain she had regained control of her mind, she started unpacking. After about an hour she was done. She then lied down on the bed with a contented sigh and decided it was high time she took a nap. After all, there was still one week left until school began but dance practice started tomorrow at seven a.m. Her director had kindly explained that if you were late or missed even one repetition without a valid reason, you could get into serious trouble or in Yumi's case – lose your scholarship. And that was something she did not want to happen.

"What are you doing here?!" Someone suddenly asked in a slightly frightened yet shocked tone. Yumi's face scrunched up when the annoying artificial light hit her face. She buried her face further into the warm pillow and refused to open her eyes. She was just about to fall asleep again when she remembered something. She had been alone in this room before she had fallen asleep and the voice that had questioned Yumi's reason for being in the room sounded all too familiar. It couldn't be the ice princess she had met earlier, could it? Looks like fate had decided to be cruel to someone else today as well.

"Oh no. Don't tell me this is your room?" Yumi asked scared. There were a lot of things she could cope with, but being forced to share a room with the ice princess wasn't one of them.

Sachiko's eyes narrowed slightly and Yumi could sense the irritation running off of her and crashing into Yumi's petite frame. The dark aura that had surrounded Sachiko was starting to scare Yumi. And if that wasn't enough, the icy chilling tone the raven haired girl's reply was said in would do the trick.

"Apparently. Otherwise I would not have a reasonable explanation as to why I am currently occupying it."

Yumi stared at the girl before her. It seemed as though she was stiff all the time and could not loosen up no matter how hard she tried. It seemed as though Yumi had nailed Sachiko on the head when she had decided to call her ice princess.

"To be honest I am not thrilled by the idea of sharing a room with you but it seems we don't have another choice." Yumi responded as she got up from the bed, went to her closet and started rummaging through it.

Sachiko huffed slightly, but decided that not speaking to the girl would do her anger good. After all, it was not the girl's fault that they had to share a room. It was the administration and she would make sure they were given a piece of her mind first thing tomorrow morning. This situation was going to turn into quite a predicament because having that girl here would make it harder if not impossible for her to hide her secret much longer. Sachiko really should stop calling her "that girl" or "the girl". What was her name again?

Sachiko pondered on the subject a bit longer, but soon found her efforts to be futile. It seemed they had not introduced themselves to each other during their previous encounter. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't all too proud of her behavior towards the poor girl. After all, it wasn't entirely her fault that Sachiko had decided to close her eyes and walk. Really, what had she been thinking? She hadn't. That was the problem. She hadn't been thinking and now she had to face the consequences of letting her self-control slip for the slightest of moments.

"I believe I haven't introduced myself properly. My name is Sachiko Ogasawara." Sachiko said suddenly.

Yumi's shoulders tensed slightly and she whipped her head around, her eyes wide with shock. She stared at the girl before her and couldn't help but be speechless at the abrupt change in her tone. It still lacked kindness, niceness and warmth, but at the very least it was mildly civil and Yumi couldn't help but smile slightly. It seemed as though with the change in the raven haired girl's posture and tone the whole atmosphere in the room had turned into something else, something better. And Yumi couldn't help but note how so magnetic a person Sachiko could be. The part that scared her, however, was the fact that she was starting to fall under Sachiko's spell.

"My name is Yumi Fukuzawa." Yumi answered and then moved towards Sachiko, offering her hand for her to shake.

Sachiko seemed a bit dubious at first but decided not to be rude and shook the girl's hand. She looked at the smiling face in front of her and her eyes widened slightly. She had never seen anyone so cheerful and open in her entire life. Most of the time people just stared at her with fake masks of civility and ended up whispering behind her back and cackling like witches when she had made the slightest mistake. Everything she knew was either serious or fake. She had never been given a true smile; at least not since her mother….

"Oh my…" Yumi started but immediately stopped and covered her hand with her mouth.

Sachiko's eyes widened slightly and stared at the girl before her. She couldn't have noticed, could she? No, there must be another reason for the sudden change in Yumi's facial expression. There was fear in her brown orbs and Sachiko found herself mildly interested in what could turn a cheerful smile into a frozen thin line.

"I forgot to call my mom! She must be so worried about me!" Yumi said as she went to her bag and immediately picked it up. She rummaged through it, while muttering something Sachiko could not fully comprehend. She stared at the girl for a while and found her interest dissipating by the minute. Apparently this girl was not going to be interesting or amusing. She was simply another boring person that would come and leave Sachiko's life just like all the others.

A triumphant grin soon formed on Yumi's face and she sighed in relief as she found her phone and fished it out of her bag. She quickly dialed her mother's number and waited for an answer. When none came, Yumi began to panic. Had her mother got so angry at her daughter that she wouldn't answer her phone when Yumi was calling? No, her mother would never do such a thing. In fact, she would be worried out of her mind and would probably have come here and have tried to search for her daughter. She was on her way here right now and could not hear her phone. Dread soon replaced Yumi's worried expression and all kinds of different scenarios as to how the events were going to play out started forming in her head, when someone suddenly said:

"She's probably asleep."

Yumi's head immediately went to the source of said voice and found Sachiko holding a towel and heading to the bathroom. Yumi's face clearly showed confusion. At her reaction Sachiko could only sigh and point to the clock on her nightstand:

"It's almost midnight." She clarified before going into the bathroom.

Soon the sound of running water replaced the silence in the room. Yumi could not help but sigh in relief. Despite how well she knew her mother, Yumi would've never so much as thought of that possibility. How had Sachiko managed to reach such a conclusion from just a few observations? Did she know Yumi that well? Impossible, you couldn't figure a person out completely by just knowing them for a few minutes no matter how good deduction and observational skills you possessed. Then how had Sachiko succeeded in finding out the right answer? Her mother, after all, always went to bed at ten and was asleep before eleven on most nights. Yumi swore her mother was like a robot programmed to do the exact same task every single day at the exact same time.

After a good ten minutes the door to the bathroom opened and Sachiko came out of it, wearing her pajamas. Her long hair was dripping slightly but not one drop reached the floor. Yumi wondered how that girl managed to make even something as simple as walking into a room so flawless and elegant. Could she really be a princess? That would explain the peculiar traits and parts of her behavior Yumi had noticed today. She shook her head, clearing it out of all those unimportant thoughts. She had been curious about a certain thing and she was going to get an answer no matter how long it was going to take her.

"How did you manage to figure it out?" Yumi asked.

Sachiko had moved to her closet and had opened it. She was now searching for something, probably another towel, as she said:

"Be more specific."

It wasn't a request. It was an order and Yumi found herself getting slightly angry. She knew she was quite compliant most of the time and even obedient when the situation needed such a reaction, but right now every fiber of her being was screaming at her to retort or at least tell Sachiko off. Who did she think she was that she could just boss Yumi around, act cold to her, act civilly to her and then switch back to ice princess mode in less than an hour?! Sachiko was definitely going to be a difficult roommate. And was probably the first person, aside from her mother, that had managed to make Yumi this angry with just a few words.

"Please."

Sachiko was now rubbing her hair with a towel. She was soon finished and proceeded to brush it. In order to do that she had gone to her nightstand and was now trying not to hurt her hair more than it was needed. Her movements halted, however, and her brows scrunched up in confusion. She was slightly bewildered by the reply.

"What do you mean by please, Fukuzawa-san?"

Yumi gaped slightly at the formal register but soon managed to recover. Her anger then increased slightly, when she saw that Sachiko had not even bothered to turn around and had started brushing her hair again. Wasn't the ice princess supposed to be at least polite and face others when they were having a conversation? Apparently not.

"I am your roommate, not your servant. The least you could do is ask me to do something not order me around! I deserve to be treated with some respect." Yumi explained, while crossing her arms and then added, "And that includes facing me when you're talking to me, ice princess."

The last sentence seemed to have the desired effect for it had gained Sachiko's full attention. The girl had turned around but something seemed off about her. Her glare was harsher, her jaw was tightened and her nostrils were flaring. She was pissed. And Yumi could not help but feel slight fear crawl inside of her, but she pushed it back into its hole and prepared herself to face Sachiko's wrath.

"I will treat you with respect when you earn it. As for the roommate situation, do not get your hopes up." Sachiko explained in the coldest tone she had used throughout the entire day. Her hand had gripped the brush so hard, her knuckles turned white and it hurt, but she didn't care. She knew what this girl was trying to do and wasn't just about to give her what she wanted so easily. No, she would make sure Yumi never managed to 'piss her off' as so many had tried before. A victorious smirk made its way onto Sachiko's face as she noticed Yumi's red face. Obviously she had won the first battle.

Soon Sachiko was finished with brushing her hair and stood up. She went to her bed and lied down. She noticed that Yumi had gone to the bathroom and was now probably showering because Sachiko could hear water running. The raven haired girl sighed in frustration. It seemed that no matter how hard she tried she could not keep her instincts or competitive nature for that matter at bay. Both were quite strong and she had to admit that defeating Yumi in banter was not as bad or insignificant as she had originally thought it was.

Suddenly the door to the bathroom opened and Yumi came back into the room in her pajamas. The pigtailed girl brushed her hair and then went to bed. She turned her lamp off and the room fell into darkness. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard someone murmur:

"It's late. I figured she was sleeping. You can call it a lucky guess."

Yumi's eyes shot open and she was just about to switch the lamp on and ask Sachiko whether she couldn't have just said it earlier, when it hit her. This was the first and probably last time in a long while Sachiko was going to be nice to her. Her eyes slightly widened when she noted how warm Sachiko's voice sounded when she decided to be kind. Soon her eyes returned to their normal size and as she smiled, Yumi said:

"Good night."

She soon fell asleep and didn't hear the softly whispered 'good night', coming from the other end of the room.

Disclaimer: I do not own Maria-sama ga Miteru or its characters. This story was made for entertainment purposes only and I make no profit out of it.

A/N: This story has been nagging at me for what….six months? Probably seven? Maybe less? I don't know. Point is, it's been a while and I finally got myself to write it. I hope you guys liked the first chapter. There will be more coming soon. Unfortunately, I can't give a specific date.

Also I just want to warn you that at first Sachiko and Yumi will act differently towards each other than the way they do in the anime. I can't make them become friends instantly. It will take time. Bear with me please! :D

Please review!

Until next time I update and/or post another story (possibly add a surprise chapter to one of them * hint * * hint *) my fellow readers,

~ QueenofRhymes ~