I do not own Sakura Wars or any of it's characters…'cause if I did, I wouldn't be calling this a fanfic and I would be sailing on the Caribbean in my private yacht, literally swimming in pools of money.

So, now that that's over, you can read the fanfic. Enjoy!

Oh, and this is set in sort of a past/future sorta way and it's based on if Orihime and Reni hadn't come in ST2.

Chapter 3

The once empty seats in the Imperial Theater were now filled with people. The once silent theater was now filled with the noise of talking people. The once bright lights in the theater turned down low. And the once calm heart of Maria Tachibana began to beat faster. "Everything okay?" Ohgami's voice startled her. Maria whirled around and lost her balance. In a desperate attempt to stand up straight, Maria flung her arms around Ohgami's neck. Ohgami wrapped his arms around her in order to keep her from making them both fall over. "Say cheese!" Kanna said as she took their picture. "KANNA!" they both yelled. There was a click and then a blinding flash. "This is gonna be a good scrapbook photo." Kanna said grinning. "This isn't what is looks like." Ohgami said quickly. "Oh sure…you just keep telling yourself that." Kanna said, still grinning. "I gotta go. Who knows what else I might be able to take a photo of. I'll take another picture of you two lovebirds later." Lovebirds? Maria thought. Why does she still attempt to make a joke out of everything? Or is it a joke? Does she truly think that Ohgami and myself are in love?

How could Kanna make such a statement? Ohgami wondered. Us? Lovebirds? No way. "Are you two going to just stand there like that so I can take that other picture?" Kanna asked. Ohgami and Maria immediately backed away from one another. "I've got to go get some stuff done." Ohgami said quickly. "See you guys later." "Bye." Kanna said. Maria simply smiled and waved at him. After he left, Maria turned around and faced Kanna. "If you say anything about this, to anyone, I will personally-" "I won't say a thing." Kanna interrupted, not wanting Maria to snap at her. "Come on you two." Ayame said as she briskly walked backstage. "The play's about to start."

Maria took her place onstage and was surprised to see Ohgami standing across from her. "What are you doing?" she asked. "I'm filling in for the guest actor that was going to come tonight." Ohgami replied. "You mean that you are playing the part of Dimitri?" Maria asked. "Kanna's really going to think that we are lovebirds now. I'm so nervous." "Don't be." Ohgami said. "Just relax. Who cares what Kanna thinks? Our secret's safe with her." As Ohgami said those words, the curtain began to rise and the stage lights turned on. "Good luck." Ohgami whispered. "Same to you, Ohgami-san." Maria replied. Ohgami-san? Ohgami wondered. The only other person who's ever called me that was Sakura…and that's when she had a crush on me. When Sakura said it, she meant it affectionately. Does Maria mean it like that as well? Or did she say it just because of the part I'm playing? Ohgami sighed. Man…I wish women weren't so hard to figure out. It would be a lot easier if they were.

Maria just realized what she had said. Oh my gosh. She thought. Did I really say that? I am letting myself become carried away with my emotions. I hope Ohgami did not notice… Maria looked over at Ohgami who was deep in thought. Oh no. He did notice. What if he asks me why I called him that? What will I say then? Maria snapped back to reality as Sakura came out onstage to narrate the play.

Kanna had seen the whole thing from the wings. Her eyes were gleefully shining. She had noticed the feelings that Maria had towards the Captain several years ago. Kanna was pleased that Maria was finally starting to show those feelings and was even more pleased when she saw that Ohgami had been feeling the same way towards the Russian actress. "It's about time those two got together." she murmured. "I was beginning to think that I might have to play cupid."

As the play drew closer to the final scene, Maria and Ohgami became more nervous. At the final scene, Ohgami was supposed to kiss Maria as the curtain fell, but now Ayame could see that this wasn't going to work out. "Come on you two." she said to them backstage. "You only have to do this once. That's not too much to ask…is it?" Maria gently bit her lip. Only once…she thought. Everything except my heart says that it's okay. And yet it was the one thing that ached for something like this last night. Should I betray my heart and do as I please? It's just one time…and who knows, maybe the only other time I will receive a kiss from Ohgami. "All right. But I am a bit nervous." Maria said aloud. "Great." Ayame said. "Ohgami…what about you? Are you willing to do this scene?" Am I willing? Ohgami thought. Of course I am. But I just don't know if Maria is or if she's just saying that because she just wants to get this over with. Wait a minute…why would she be nervous if she just wanted to get this over with? She really does want me to say yes. "Okay." Ohgami replied. Ayame sighed with relief. "Thank goodness." she said. "And just in time too. The final act is about to start. You'd better get in place."

As the curtain went down after Kanna, who was playing the role of Rasputin, had made her speech, Maria and Ohgami went onstage and stopped after they were in the middle of the stage. Ohgami he wrapped his arms around Maria as the curtain went up again. Now they were standing there like that in front of so many people. Ohgami could feel his face turn red out of embarrassment. He heard Maria take a deep breath and look in his eyes as she recited her line. "You have a confession? What is it?" Ohgami smiled warmly at her as he felt himself become his character once more. "I love you." he said. "But why?" Maria asked. "Your stubbornness would be one reason," he said. "But mostly because of your kindness underneath. And let's not forget that you are also beautiful. Alas, I will never be able to love you truly, for you are royal. Princesses don't marry kitchen boys after all." "I have a confession as well." she said. "… I love you too." Ohgami pulled Maria into a kiss and Maria slipped her arms around his neck. They could hear the crowd cheering wildly. Kanna, who was working the curtains, slowly brought the curtain down hoping to keep the Captain and Maria standing there for a long time. "Reni." she whispered. "Take this camera and get a picture of Maria and Ohgami kissing." "Don't you'll think they'll be mad?" Reni asked. "Heck no." Kanna replied as she handed the eleven-year-old the camera. "They won't even notice." "Okay…" Reni said. Kanna was right. Reni thought after she got the picture. They didn't even notice. I guess they really are in love with each other.

"The curtain is down now." Maria said as she slowly pulled her lips away from Ohgami's. "Oh, right." he said, a little disappointed that this moment had to end. But hopefully there will be other times. He thought. Like tonight… "You guys were great!" Ayame exclaimed. "I thought I'd never see the day when you two played this kind of role so well. It was as if you two knew exactly how your character felt in their situations." "Yeah, well thanks." Ohgami said. Maria nodded. "Thank you for the compliment Ayame." she said. "I'm going to ask the General if we can plan a party tonight…in honor of you two, the stars of the show. "Thank you very much Ayame…but I have plans tonight." Maria said. "Oh?" Ayame asked. "Like what?" Maria blushed. "It's nothing really…" "I've got plans as well." Ohgami said as Maria trailed off. "Both of you?" Ayame asked. "What could possibly be more important than a party?" Ohgami and Maria became very silent. They didn't want Ayame to figure out what they were doing that night. But it was too late…she had already figured it out. "Ah! I get it." she said grinning. "All right you two. Since when has all of this been going on?" Maria and Ohgami were at a loss for words, but didn't need to explain to Ayame because just then, Kanna yelled out "Curtain call!" Ayame walked backstage, but before she did, she called out to Maria and Ohgami. "I won't forget our little conversation, so you'd better have some answers when curtain call is over."

Ohgami took Maria's hand and led her onto center stage. "Come on." he said. "Our audience awaits." Maria, who was still blushing from their conversation with Ayame, stood next to Ohgami as the curtain went up. The audience was cheering and someone started to chant: "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Maria's face became redder as the rest of the audience did the same thing. "Why not?" Ohgami whispered to her. Maria looked at him as if he was crazed. " Are you kidding?" she asked. "No." Ohgami replied. "I'm dead serious." Maria sighed as Ohgami said those words. She knew that the curtain wouldn't go down until they kissed. "All right." Maria said, and was about to lean in just to kiss Ohgami on the cheek, but he was much quicker. Ohgami grabbed Maria around her waist and pulled her into a serious kiss. Backstage, Kanna could hear the crowd going wild. She sighed and said to herself, "Ah. Isn't love a wonderful thing?"