Disclaimer: Sakura Taisen is copyright of whoever it belongs to, and I don't have anything to do with it if something is wrong in the production of...er...anything except this fic.
Author's notes: The Maria part in the last paragraph may be disagreed upon by many of her ardent fans, but hey, I'm one of her long time fans too! Wanna know why I did it, you have to understand that I have a good idea of who Maria's husband is...
The Passing
She was lying there, unmoving, under the shroud.
Oogami showed no feeling, but he was feeling a deep emptiness inside him. His mind was a blank, and all he knew was somebody dear had left him. He rushed up to the coffin and opened it. Everybody gaped at him, he just lifted the shroud and took her hands. The calloused from all the sword-handling, and yet slender pair of hands were limp. He held it close to his face and softly mouthed her name. He called a few more times, and yet she did not wake up. She remained in her everlasting sleep, and at that moment, her family arrived.
Her mother went over and pushed Oogami away. She wept at the loss of her child. Moaning, she said, "Why did you have to leave? My child..."
Performances were cancelled since the day before, when the star died. No news was disclosed to the public, but somehow her fans got wind of it. Notices were put up, stating that nobody was to be at her wake, because it will disrupt the peace that she was having. Teito had just loss a shining, vibrant star, and she would be remembered in generations to come, for saving the Imperial Capital, as her father had been.
For a few months, the Teito was in a dismal state. Then it all cleared up as fast as it had come, but the impact on the Teigeki was greater. The theatre was still running, but recent performances had been bad as the girls were forgetting lines. Nobody was very upbeat, and the plays were all very dispirited. Slowly, the bad news came: They had to wind up if they did not try to cheer up from the loss of the life of the stage.
Years passed, and the day was sad for the Hanagumi, as they remembered the incident that happened. The theatre had closed down a year ago, they split up, and they met yet again in Sendai. They reminisced as they had lost their good friend that very day, and as they visited her grave, they talked about the memories she gave.
Iris, now in her late teens, looked at the tombstone without much joy. "She was such a nice big sister...I really miss her, Leni, don't you?" Leni nodded. "She was a nice person to be with." "Although she was naive at times, she had a good heart. That child..." Yoneda said, looking away and drying his eyes. Maria was heavy with child, and her husband had to support her to put the flowers on her grave. Maria was silent and she told herself that she would tell her child how great the girl was. Sumire sniffed a little, and her own husband asked her if she was all right. She just replied, "Baka bakashii... That country girl was just so...So kind..." Then she started weeping into her husband's shoulder. Kanna had not wed yet, but nevertheless she looked sadly as she felt the cool marble tombstone. Kouran had come back from Shanghai just to be present for the death anniversary. Orihime just cried into Kouran's shoulder and said that although 'she was a bit clumsy at times she was still very nice de~su' and Kouran tried to comfort her but still broke down in tears herself. The San-nin Musume were just remembering the first time she had come in and asked them about the Hanagumi, whether she could apologize to them for disrupting the play. Kaede was supporting Yoneda, whose bones had become so brittle it was hard for him to stand straight. She looked forlornly at the words inscribed on the tombstone. Oogami was standing away from them, clutching her photo in his hand tightly, and whispering to himself that he would only love her. He walked slowly up to the tombstone beside the tombstone of the girl's father. He kissed his finger and traced the characters with it, slowly, not missing out each stroke, which he himself had carved in the marble with the help of the family scribe. Since then, the words on the marble remained...
The grave of Shinguuji Sakura.
(Revised on the 4th of November, 1428 hrs, for correcting purposes.)