Chapter 13

"Okay everyone. There's really no reason for you all to stay in here, so if you don't mind…" "Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry about that Chief." Kanna replied, backing out of Ohgami's room. "Alright everyone! You heard Taisho! Move it!" Within seconds, everyone was out of the room and bustling about the theater, trying to do one thing or another. Okay Ohgami…everyone's gone. Now what? Well, that was obvious. He had to clean this mess up. Maybe he'd find a clue as to who was behind all this. Get real Ohgami! You're a Captain of a secret military group, not a detective! You couldn't solve a mystery if your life depended on it! Ouch. That hurt, especially since it was Ohgami's own voice who was making the comment in his head. "That's not true. If Maria was the one in danger, I'd risk my life for her." Ohgami muttered. He then realized how stupid that sounded. Here he was, in his room, arguing with a voice in his head. The only thing that could be worse was if- "Talking to yourself again Ohgami?" Maria's voice was cynical. Double ouch. Talk about screwing up big time. "That was a nice comment I must say." "Oh…you heard that?" Ohgami asked, turning to face the blonde. "Unless you said something else out loud, that one statement was the only thing I heard." Maria replied, walking up to Ohgami. "May I?" she asked, gesturing towards the bed. "Oh, yeah. Go ahead and sit down." Ohgami said as his ears turned a deep shade of pink. Well… Maria thought as she sat down. He's certainly amusing, I'll give him that. "I appreciate you trying to look after me…but…" Maria trailed off, not exactly knowing how to finish the sentence without hurting Ohgami's feelings. "Oh! It's okay Maria. I realize that you are perfectly capable of handling anything. I shouldn't have tried to stick up for you like you were defenseless or something." Ohgami replied. "Well…I'm glad that's okay with you…I was afr…er…concerned that it might not have been." Maria said. She got up and was about to leave the room, when Ohgami's voice stopped her. "Are you going to do as the note said? Are you going avoid me?" Maria looked over her shoulder and a small smile crossed her thin lips. "Whoever sent the note doesn't know me very well. It'll take more than that to provoke me to do something that I don't want to." she said, then left.

You almost said that word! How could you say that? You almost admitted your emotions to Ohgami! One more move like that Maria Tachibana, and you'll become as weak as the rest of them. Unable to control their emotions, and always cheerful. Do you want to end up like that? Stop acting so weird around Ohgami! Maria tried her hardest to ignore the little cynical voice in her head, but every time she almost succeeded, it said something else that was very upsetting to hear. And the worst part was the fact that it was her own voice, telling her all this. Mocking her, laughing at her, making comments about her… it was worse than Sumire, Orihime, and Yuri Sakakibara put together! The blonde quickened her pace, and was relieved when she reached her room. She shut the door behind her, just as the voice said the most upsetting thing yet. Follow the note's instructions, Maria. It's a good excuse to get away from Ohgami for a while. "No…" Maria hissed as she mentally slapped the voice. "No. I won't listen to this any more!" she grabbed her revolver and headed for the target range.

"Hey, has anyone seen Maria? She's supposed to come with me to pick up the scripts." Kanna asked to no one in particular. "I saw her about an hour ago, when Taisho's room was ransacked, but not since then." Sakura said. "That's the last time Iris saw her too." Iris spoke up as she walked into the lobby. "What are you guys talking about?" Yuri asked as she, Tsubaki, and Kasumi walked into the Theater. "Nothing!" Kanna and Sakura chirped simultaneously. "We don't know where Maria went." Iris replied with a sweet smile, not understanding that those words were the key to instant gossip. "And the last place we saw her was in Oniichan's room." Iris added, not noticing that Kanna was shaking her head, while taking her index finger in front of her throat and making a slashing motion. Sakura on the other hand was waving her hands in an alarmed manner, her lips mouthing the word 'no.' "Oh! Tell me more Iris." Yuri said. "Do you know where Ohgami is?" "Come to think of it, Iris doesn't know where he is either-" "OKAY! THAT'S ABOUT ENOUGH IRIS!" Kanna exclaimed. She grabbed the little girl and they left. "WAIT! IRIS ISN'T FINISHED TALKING!!!" "YOU ARE NOW!!" "WAIT A MINUTE!!!" Yuri called out. "Come on Yuri. We've got work to do." Kasumi replied. When Yuri didn't budge, Tsubaki and Kasumi took one hand and dragged Yuri away. (And she was still yelling for Iris to tell her more.J )

Every bullet hit the center of the target. For today not being one of Maria's best, she certainly did well. Slowly, she lowered her hand, and stared at the target. After a minute or two, Maria pocketed her revolver and turned to leave. Just as she closed the soundproof door, a bullet broke the glass and grazed her cheek, drawing blood. Not even caring that the red liquid was starting to make it's way down her face, Maria opened the door and looked inside the room. To her annoyance, and relief, no one was in there. In fact, it looked the same way it had just seconds ago. Whoever her assailant was, they were extremely clever. This was no freak accident. Someone is definitely stalking me…and as far as I know, it's no one from the Imperial Theater… "Maria?" Kanna's voice cut in on the blonde's thoughts. As she turned around, Kanna gasped. "Maria! Your face! What happened?!" "It's nothing really." Maria replied, waving her hand airily, dismissing the matter. "You call that nothing really?!" "As I recall, Kanna, you said the same thing about my dress." "That was in a good way. This is different. As your friend, I'm worried about that cut on your face!" "And as your friend, I'm telling you that I'm fine." Maria retorted. "Now Kanna, did you come down here to check on me or do you have another reason?" "Yeah, you were supposed to come and help me pick up the scripts, but now I'm not sure. Maybe Kohran should have a look at that-" "I'M FINE!" Maria blinked for a moment, surprised at her angry words. Kanna did the same, then turned to leave. "I still say Kohran should have a look at that." she said halfway up the staircase. "But it's up to you. I'm gonna go ask Iris to come with me. See you later Maria."

"So did you find her?" Sakura asked as Kanna and Iris were about to leave. "…………no." Kanna replied before pushing the door open and ushering Iris out. "Oh…" Sakura commented as Kanna walked out and the door closed with a slam.

"Kohran…are you down here?" "Maria-han I'm right…ahh! What happened?!" "Keep it down! I don't want to worry the others!" "Oh. Sorry…but what happened to your face?" "Never mind what happened. Can you get me something to clean the cut with?" "Yeah. Gimmie just a minute…" A minute can last forever when it comes to Kohran…(sigh) guess I'm going to have to wait for a while…

Ohgami walked downstairs to the Yoneda's office. Wonder why he wants to see me? Hope I didn't screw something else up. He knocked on the door twice before Yoneda told him to come in. After seating himself, Ohgami looked at the manager and waited for him to say something. Not looking up from some paperwork he had in front of him, Commander Yoneda began to talk. "Ohgami…you know that I like to think of all the girls in the Flower Division as my daughters. Now I'm just giving you a fair warning, like any father would…" Oh no. Here it comes… "IF YOU EVER DO ANYTHING TO HURT MARIA, YOU WILL REPORT STRAIGHT TO ME AND YOUR HIDE WILL BE ON A BOAT TO ANTARCTICA!! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!" Ohgami, who was wincing at the loudness of the commander's voice, nodded. "Good. And one other thing." "Yes sir?" "Try to get her to loosen up. The poor girl has so many burdens on her shoulders, it's a wonder how she stays together." "Yes sir." "Good. Dismissed."

"Ouch! Kohran!" "Sorry Maria. I know it stings, but that means it's cleaning the cut." "Yeah. I know that. But that's not the reason…ouch." "Huh? What do you mean?" "Kohran, you're stepping on my foot!"

Ohgami had something on his mind and he knew that if he asked Yoneda, he wouldn't be any help…but still. After that talk, perhaps he would agree… "Sir?" "Yes, what is it?" "Um, well you see sir…" "Go on son, speak up." "Sir, after that talk, I was able to see things a different way…" Oh man, I'm no good at trying to say this… "And I feel it only proper to come to you with this question first." "Yes……" "And well, sir, if you were Maria's real father-" "OUT WITH IT OHGAMI! WHAT THE DEVIL DO YOU WANT?!" "Sir, I want to ask for Maria's hand in marriage."