Yet another ST fic

Yet another ST fic. Yeah.

(alternate titles: "Sequel to: ''Just another ST fic. Yeah."' or 'The Return of Kouran's Time Machine.' or 'A New Enemy from the Past.')

~All Sakura Taisen characters belong to Red, Sega and Bandai. Anybody I've left out?

Author's note: Another dangerous chapter...What's getting into me these days??? Oh well. This is gonna be one long fic. BEAR WITH ME!!!

Translation: nani - what?! gomen nasai - I'm so sorry Sou ka - that's right... Demo - but Minna-san - Everybody

Chapter 3 - The Grudge of Yesteryear

Maria woke up in the early afternoon, about 2 p.m., in her room. Kanna was beside herself with worry when Maria was unconscious. She was very concerned about her friend, and realised that without Shinta's help, she would have died. Maria was very woozy, and her head felt heavy.

"I...don't feel...too good."

"Oi, Maria, keep your head on the pillow, for goodness' sake."

"Kanna-san is right. Maria-san, you really must rest," Shinta said, blushing a little upon seeing her wrapped up only in bandages and her coat, which was unbuttoned as well. *revealing a LOT, by the way...*

Hanae knew what was happening. She excused Shinta and herself from the room and dragged him out.

"Your nose is practically bleeding, Shinta. And please clean up your drool," Hanae told him in English.

"Hana-chan!!!" Then he self-consciously added, "It's so obvious?" Then his hand moved up to his upper lip to check whether he was really nose-bleeding or not. They were more comfortable with the language they were using as their military training academy was in New York and they used English freely in the Shingumi.

"You actually took me seriously? Come on, Shinta. You just met her!"

"I judge people well."

"Yeah? And look at me, Shinta, LOOK AT ME!"

"What?!"

"I'm a big, bad girl. Don't you think?"

"I think you're pretty nice. Although you're younger than me, you behave like my MOTHER."

"Oh, and I'll be taking that as a compliment. Or should I take it as an insult?"

"Oh, the sarcasm!"

"You know me, Shinta."

"Of course I do."

"Don't act stupid."

"That's an understatement."

"NO IT IS NOT."

"We'll better get back."

"You're changing the subject."

"Just get back inside. Maria *blushes a little at saying her name* has just woken up."

"Whatever, Shinta, whatever."

So they went back inside.

Maria was sitting up. Shinta said that it was okay, as she was going to recover soon. "Thanks for saving me, Shinta. If not for you..." Maria trailed off. Hanae was whispering in his ear, "Don't swoon, don't swoon, don't swoon..." Shinta swallowed and said, "It was nothing." Then he caught himself and said, "NO! I mean, saving you was something, but really, I...Don't deserve your praise." He blushed deeply and wanted to hit himself. Why am I so muddle-headed? Kanna sensed something weird and got up. Pulling Hanae outside, she began asking a series of questions.

"Is Shinta interested in Maria?" Kanna asked, smiling in interest.

"I guess so. You know, you can practically see it on his face."

"I guess. That's so cute! Wanna help them?"

"How? Any ideas?" Hanae then looked into Kanna's mind. "I guess not, huh, Kanna-san?"

"Oh. Just call me Kanna, please! And, yeah. But I know Maria has a soft spot for our ex-commander, Oogami-san...Although she did not tell me."

"Not bad. You can mind-read pretty well."

"Heheh...Not at all...It's just that I know her too well. Even though she's a person with many concealed feelings..."

"True."

"Does the Shingumi know about it?"

"I don't think the rest of them will be interested to look at that dope's mind."

"Aw, he's not that bad."

"Really!"

* * *

Then, there was the emergency meeting. The Shingumi were invited too.

"We suffered heavy casualties, but most of the Hanagumi have recovered quite well now," Kaede noted, scrutinising the room. "Thanks to Shinta-san," she added. Shinta nodded. "And this little one has come up with a plan to destroy the enemy once and for all. Komugi?" Kaede told the team proudly, presenting Komugi to the Hanagumi as if Komugi were her own daughter.

"To completely wipe out the enemy, we must go to the place and time where and when the demon first appeared. It's like a grudge from yesteryear...It's hard to explain," Komugi said. "Nani? That would be DANGEROUS de~su!" Orihime protested, wincing as her ankle was moved. "You people have your Koubu, I don't see why not. And Taichou-sama told me you have a time machine. And it is rather big," Komugi retorted quietly. Kouran interrupted with a look of pride on her face. "3 Koubus wide and 1.5 Koubu's high!" Everybody face-faulted except for Komugi and Kouran herself. Maria sweat dropped and said, "Isn't it an inappropriate time to talk about your wonderful creations now, Kouran?" Sakura then asked, "Gomen nasai, Komugi-chan, demo...Wouldn't it be dangerous? And furthermore, my injury, Sumire-san's injury and Orihime-san's injury takes a long time to heal. Like this, the Hanagumi will only be reduced to Kanna, Kouran, Leni, Iris and Maria-san. How can we fight such a big monster with only 5 Koubu?" "Sou ka..." Kouran voiced out loud. Iris and Sumire were not at the meeting because Sumire was the most seriously injured at present (some glass had shattered and the shards cut her badly) and tended to faint suddenly. She was in her room with Iris looking after her.

Then Ryuue suddenly spoke.

"As the Chinese say, When you drink the water, think of the source where it comes from. It teaches us to look for our roots. What I'm driving at is this: We should think carefully. The monster suddenly appeared. I know some of you think that it may be a curse. It is not impossible. But who is the one casting the spell? It must be an enemy of the Tsukigawas. Or else the monster would not come and look for trouble, right? That's why we must look deeper and try to discover where is the root. It could lead to some witch doctor, or maybe just a spiteful victim of the Demon War of Hokkaido who was in control of the monster. Or maybe the monster was a victim who was later transformed into a demon and came to seek revenge on the Tsukigawa family because although they could help, they refused to. There are many options. We just have to find out what happened. Komugi is right, we really must go into that period of time. As for the lack of man-power...Taichou?"

Ryuue looked expectantly at Hanae. "Now, don't ask me...Shinta?" She raised her eyebrows at the higher-ranked officer. He said, "Of course! Anything to help the Hanagumi. Yes..." Kanna and Hanae exchanged a look. Anything for Maria, rather... Then they snickered, as they both knew they were thinking the same thing.

* * *

They decided to move off the day after the next. The Hanagumi would take Tokirou-chan while the Shingumi could just teleport themselves through time. However, only 5 Koubu could go at one time, and only Kouran could work the the machine. So, she was to be the 'chaperone' and send two other Koubus, besides hers, to that period in time.

And finally the day came. What was to become of them?

-TSUTZUKU-

Author's note: I'm really getting scared now... Anyway, from this chapter onwards, I'm going to do voice-overs, like the one below. It gives the fic more life, doncha think?

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Yuri: The Hanagumi are going off now!

Tsubaki: I hope they'll be all right.

Kasumi: The Shingumi is with them, we should not worry. They're really very strong...

Tsubaki: Okay then. Sumire-san, what are you doing out of bed?!

Sumire: I cannot...miss out...a fight...

Sakura: What will happen? I'm really worried...Stay tuned for the next chapter, "A Quest To The Past"! Featuring the Hanagumi and the Shingumi in the tumultuous Tokugawa era!

Orihime: Please be careful, minna-sa~n!