Hanagumi Nights

by Sean Gaffney

Sakura Taisen (C) 2002 Sega and all its tentacled subsidiaries.  None of these 
characters are mine.  This series of vignettes takes place at some 
indeterminate point after the game Sakura Taisen 2, but doesn't make much 
effort to fit into canon after that (for reasons that will likely be obvious).  
Apologies to fans of Maria x Kanna, or Ohgami x Anyone.  This isn't that.


One.  Sakura Shinguji and Maria Tachibana


Maria sat on the floor of her room, staring out of the window.  She was 
leaning up against the bed, cradling a glass of vodka in her hand.  The 
moonlight managed to hit her face in such a way that almost all of it was in 
shadow, making it look almost like a death mask.

She took another sip from the drink.  She mostly drank in private; the others 
couldn't stand the taste of vodka.  Even Kanna would only drink it mixed with 
something else, and reluctantly then.  But it was her favorite drink.  Harsh.  
Bleak.  Unforgiving.

She turned as the door creaked open and a head peeered in.  It was Sakura, of 
course.  No one else would do when she was in a mood as grim as this.  She 
already felt her heart beat faster, and her cheeks flushed even more than the 
alcohol was allowing.

Sakura walked in and sat down next to Maria.  "I've talked to Reni.  She'll be 
fine.  She's already in her room, resting."

"That's good," Maria said.  "I'll go to see her in a few minutes."

"Please don't."  Maria started slightly, and turned to see an annoyed 
expression on Sakura's features.  "We all knew you crawled in here to get 
drunk, we don't need you reminding us of it by going to offer Reni another 
awkward and unnecessary apology."

After a moment, Sakura continued.  "I've tried being nice to you, Maria, and 
it doesn't seem to work at all, so I thought I would try being rude."  She 
glanced down at her hands.  "Sumire coached me a bit," she admitted.

Looking at the glasss in her hand, Maria set it carefully down next to the 
nightstand.  "There.  Now I'm not drinking anymore."  She was rewarded with a 
small smile from Sakura.

"I suppose it's a start.  Now we just have to get you to stop blaming yourself 
whenever anyone gets hurt or something goes wrong."

"It is my fault," Maria countered.  "I'm the company commander, it's my duty 
to lead you all while the Captain is in Paris.  If I had been just 3 seconds 
slower Reni would be dead now."

"And if I hadn't been busy arguing with Sumire Reni would never have been put 
in that position.  And if Kohran's machine had actually worked, none of the 
fighting would have been necessary."

"Yes," Maria admitted.  She reached out and picked up her drink again.  "He's 
gone, and everything is falling apart.  How did they ever expect me to--"

A hand reached out and grabbed the drink, throwing it hard against a wall.  It 
shattered.  "STOP THIS," Sakura cried.  She was holding Maria's face in her 
hands now.  "It is not your job to make sure we are all perfect!  Were we 
always fighting in top form when Ohgami-san was here?  At times we were even 
worse!  But Ohgami-san never acted like it was a burden.  He always... he 
always made us feel happy.  That was what Ohgami-san did so well.  He made us 
believe in ourselves.  He made us want to do well.  But he always made sure we 
were happy."

Maria was breathing even harder now, seeing Sakura this close to her.  She was 
regretting the vodka.