Author's Notes

Disclaimer: I do not own Sakura Wars or Warhammer 40,000.

Finally finished writing this part and it's a bit long. Couldn't update at all because I had tons of projects to do and now exams are just a few days away.

MurasameWarrior Well, I'm trying not to make them too buddy-buddy too quickly. After all, he was a bad guy hehe.

Hesquidor: What's a Gary-Stu self insert? Anyway, thanks for reading my fic. Warn me if I get to that level.

"So how old are you Icharus-san?"

"Seventeen."

Plus 283 of course.

"Wow! Really? You are as old as Kohran and me!"

"I don't believe you Icharus-han, you don't feel seventeen."

He scowled.

"Hahahaha! Onichan's face is so funny."

"It's not and I AM seventeen."

"Alright we believe you Icharus-han." Kohran giggled.

Icharus scowled again and it caused Iris bursting in laughter again.

"Icharus-san, why are your eyes red?" Sakura asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah! I noticed it too. Did you peek into the women's bath too many times?" Kohran teased.

"Wh-what?"

"He's stammering. I think we hit something."

"What? Onichan is a peeper? No! Iris won't allow it!"

"What? No! It's not like that!"

And the conversation continued on with Icharus defending his name and wondering what peepers are at the same time.

The Hanagumi, including Icharus but minus Sumire, Maria, Ohgami and Kanna were all at the dining room, grilling the poor youth with questions and waiting for Kanna to finish cooking.

Earlier in the day, while exploring the theater with his two guides, Icharus had bumped into Kohran who was fumbling with the doorknob and carrying a huge pile of gadgets on her good arm. Accepting one of Yoneda's earlier advices telling him to get along with the other members, he had helped the bespectacled Chinese through her door. As a bonus, he twisted her arm to a weird and painful angle causing the inventor to at first react angrily but later thank him as she felt the painful sprain she had had magically healed.

After that little incident, Kohran found herself tagging along the little tour group and befriending their new and bizarre member easily. Icharus was easier to approach than she had first thought. With his drop-dead good looks which rivaled Ohgami's and his often quirky and humorous (but suspiciously unintended) comments, it was hard to want to keep him at arm's length.

When Iris and Sakura excused themselves to head towards the kitchen to help Kanna, Kohran saw her chance to ask Icharus about some of his gear.

"Umm… Icharus-han, I was wondering if I can ask you a few questions about your gear. They are nothing like I've seen before."

"Huh? What about?" he answered, still a bit confused by the conversation before.

"Your sword, I detected some energy from it with one of my instruments and I figured out where the power switch is but I can't activate it."

Icharus' expression warmed as if Kohran had mentioned someone dear to him. "Ah… Death Singer. It can only be powered up by me. It's made to recognize its owner and I wouldn't recommend powering it up anyway. It can slice through your thickest armor like air given the right conditions."

"To generate enough energy to do that, I estimate it needs a lot of power but I don't see any place to fit a power source."

Icharus raised his eyebrow in amusement. "It would take a huge steam engine to even try to power my sword if you are thinking in terms of the technology you have access to. No, my sword uses a much different power source. Unfortunately, I can't tell you much more."

"A secret?" Kohran said, disappointed.

"Nope, I don't know how it works too. Some people I worked for a long time ago made it for me and I never bothered asking them how it works. I used to be able to strengthen the sword even more with my willpower alone. Now it's just a sword with a power switch." He shrugged helplessly about his last remark.

However, Kohran was more interested about something else. "Willpower huh? I wonder if your sword is anything similar to our Koubus."

"Koubus? You mean those robots you people pilot?"

Kohran nodded excitedly when he inquired about her favorite subject and launched into a lengthy and detailed technical explanation about how the Koubus functioned. Kanna came to the Icharus' rescue when she served dinner: a plateful of rice with rich, spicy smelling golden-colored meat with gravy piled at the side.

"What's this?" Icharus asked, completely clueless of the meal he had been served.

"It's curry." Kanna replied, blinking at his question. She was clearly intrigued that he didn't know that.

The answer cleared up nothing as Icharus examined his supposed meal carefully, wondering if the big redhead was still angry at him for tripping her. Seeing Iris, Sakura and Kohran digging into their meal eagerly, he tested the food with his fork.

"Is there something wrong with my cooking?" An annoyed Kanna demanded. Even though the others had obviously become his buddies, Kanna resolved to not be so easily be brought under his fold. After all, she wasn't so ready to trust someone who was an enemy a few hours ago.

"Uh…no…I've just never seen this before and it smells funny. You sure this is food?" He sniffed the meat on his fork, unsure whether he should put the alien thing into his mouth.

Kanna did it for him eventually as she shoved the fork into his mouth and forced the meat to go down. At first, Icharus looked as if he had swallowed a toad but after a few moments of imaginary agony, he thought it tasted quite good.

It didn't take him long to take one more mouthful, then another and then another until he finished the whole plate and with a stern look, he handed his plate to Kanna.

"More."

Kanna obliged and before she could return to her seat to attack her own meal, the plate was in front of her again.

"More." Icharus said again with a look that seemed to say it was a matter of life and death that he had more curry.

Kanna was impressed. After all, people with big stomachs are respectable, especially those who devour her food so eagerly. She happily gave him another serving which he downed in another minute. When he asked for more again, Kanna let out a big guffaw, her dislike for the teen evaporated.

"You'd better give it a rest cowboy. There are still others who haven't eaten yet." Kanna said in between laughs.

"By others, you mean yourself right Kanna-san?" Sakura poked playfully.

"Hehe… Correct! If he continues to eat like that, there won't be much left for me."

This brought giggles from the girls.

"Too bad then," Icharus sighed as he got up to leave the table. "I guess I'll have to wait for next time."

Before he left, he turned towards Kanna.

"You are very good cook. Best I've seen in years in fact. You're mate must be a very happy person."

"Wha-Whaaa? Mate?" Kanna blushed. "I'm still single and besides I don't think a man would want to be paired up with me."

"Why not? You are a woman are you not?" He cocked an eyebrow as he asked the question. "Anyway, I'll be in my room if I am needed."

"See you later onichan!" Iris called after him as the others mumbled their goodbyes through their stuffed mouths.

A woman huh? Kanna thought to herself, unsure why she felt happy that someone besides Ohgami notices that.

After reaching the level above, Icharus found the tall, sharp-eyed blonde occupying the balcony he was at before. At first he didn't want to bother her but the young woman turned around and beckoned him to come closer. It appeared that she had been waiting for him.

"Mr. McKenzie." She said, her green eyes peering into his red ones as if trying to dig out his secrets.

"Miss Tachibana." He didn't turn away from her gaze and instead admired her beautiful emerald eyes. They were eyes he was familiar with; battle hardened and cold.

At least they don't look like she wants to kill me anymore.

He remembered how chilling they had looked while she pointed the gun at his head.

"Call me Icharus. I presume you would like to be called Maria as well."

The blonde nodded and the duo was silent. Maria never averted her gaze ad Icharus was feeling a bit impatient. He wasn't a person to feel intimidated by Maria easily.

"Look Maria, whatever you've got to say, please say it before you melt my eyes with yours."

The comment successfully brought a smile from Maria but it wasn't a warm or friendly one. It only showed that she appreciated his humor.

"Fairly charming, no wonder everyone is letting their guard down easily."

"And not you?"

Maria shook her head. "I've seen your types before. One minute you are all smiles and the next you've got a knife in everyone's backs. Besides, you have a lousy habit of betraying your comrades from what the manager told us."

Icharus smirked. "It's good to know that there is at least one of you who think that. I was beginning to wonder how this team ever survived this long. It seems they have a shrewd Vice-captain to look after their backs."

"Don't worry," he continued, "I won't be doing any backstabbing any time soon."

"Not until you've got whatever you want?" Maria asked, sounding wary.

"Possible," he said almost to himself and turned towards the direction of his room.

"Remember that I am watching you Mr. McKenzie. Don't complain when you find my bullet in your back when you make the wrong move."

"As long as you and your team don't get in my way, you won't have anything to fear from me." Icharus replied and continued towards his room. He turned around once more and with a look that gave Maria shivers, he growled softly, "And do not threaten me again Miss Tachibana, unless you value your life."

Maria watched him disappear at the corner and headed downstairs herself.

Whoever you are Icharus McKenzie, I'll find out sooner or later. The Russian vowed silently as she approached the dining room.

Sooner or later.

Ayame sat down heavily as she looked in disbelief at manager Yoneda.

Ayame had been the only one who knew the truth about Yoneda's true identity since the death of Shinguji Kazuma and the disappearance of Yamazaki Shinnosuke and Yoneda confided in her just as often as she did in him. After all, they were friends and comrades who had been through thick and thin together. Nothing much was a secret between them.

It was no surprise when Ayame wanted to know about Icharus, he obliged by telling her everything he knew about him, which was pitifully few and shocking.

"Advisor to a Champion of Khorne? Leader of over six companies of the Traitor Guard? Personally responsible for the massacre of two hive planets? Sir, please tell me you are joking! Are you telling me that that young man is actually a monster?"

Yoneda nodded grimly rolling a small purplish crystal in the palm of his right hand.

"But there is something I don't understand. I thought all of the favored servants of Chaos are usually granted powers from their patron God. He doesn't look like one of the twisted demons you once told us."

"Icharus is a 'monster' metaphorically. It was the atrocities he committed that made him something no better than a true monster. As of his physical appearance, don't be fooled by it. He may still look seventeen but he's actually 300 years old and his movements and reactions can even make a Space Marine look clumsy and slow."

"I saw him hanging out with Sakura and Iris a moment ago and he doesn't look like he's acting nice."

"That, I don't know. All I know is that he had somehow rejected Chaos' influences and defected out of the blue."

"Why did he do that? Defect, I mean."

Yoneda tossed the bauble he was examining towards Ayame.

"Apparently for this," he added.

"What is it?" Ayame asked as she examined the crystal, feeling strangely warm and reassuring at its touch.

Yoneda shrugged. "All he would tell us is that humanity will forever be destroyed if it falls in the hands of Chaos and I'm not willing to find out if it's true or not. Better to err on the side of caution."

Ayame remained silent as she let it all sink in and thought of what to say, unconsciously flipping the crystal between her fingers and admiring its mystical beauty.

"Sir, you haven't told me how you met him yet."

Yoneda sighed and took a huge mouthful from his sake and remained silent for a few moments. Ayame was beginning to think that he had fallen asleep when he finally spoke.

"I never met the 'evil' Icharus if there is such a difference. The first time I actually met him is during the time my company and I was assaulting the battlecruiser Dawn of War which Icharus had purposefully arranged to fall into our ambush. If we hadn't had direct orders to assist Icharus in obtaining the Chimera, we would have killed him as soon as we laid eyes on him."

"A lot of good men and women died for this puny crystal," Yoneda added with a sad look in his eyes. "All this happened because of Icharus."

"Then why are you allowing him to stay?"

The old man made a crooked smile, "Ironically he was the reason why I'm not dead and we need him. That is why I swiped the crystal while he was unconscious so I could force him to stay, to train and to prepare him and the Hanagumi for the fight ahead. His obsession with the Chimera is probably the only reason he agreed to join us and my only hope is that the Hanagumi would be able to change that."

"But why all this trouble to keep him here sir? The Hanagumi doesn't seem to need another member to combat the current threat."

"That you are wrong my dear friend. We need Icharus to fight another threat."

"What threat sir?"

"The threat that followed us here or more accurately that will follow us here. Maybe not now but he will come sooner or later. Icharus' arrival now confirms my worst suspicions all these years."

Ayame caught his meaning as she remembered the tales he told her all those years ago.

"You don't mean…"

Yoneda swiveled in his chair and faced Ayame. His face was matted with perspiration and there was genuine fear in his eyes.

"I saw Icharus' former master drop into the Warp with us."

As if to emphasize his point, a tremendous boom shook the building followed by the heavy roar of rainfall.

A shriek rang down the hallway amidst the din of the roaring rain and thunder, causing both Icharus and Ohgami to spin around towards it just as all the lights in the theater failed, leaving only the small lantern Ohgami held to provide any illumination.

"Was that Iris?" Ohgami asked worriedly.

"Sounds more like Sakura if you ask me," the shorter youth replied.

Ohgami stared at Icharus for a second, wondering how he could tell who the shriek belonged to before he returned to reality and realized what must be done.

"One of us has to see what's wrong and the other one should see to the circuit breaker." The young captain suggested.

"I'll go check the basement. You'll go check on the girls." Icharus said and without another word he headed towards the stairs.

"Wait! It's dark down there!" Ohgami called after him but Icharus only gave him a lazy wave without looking back.

Shrugging to himself, Ohgami headed upstairs from where he and Icharus had just come.

Moments ago, he had asked the red-eyed youth to accompany him in his night patrol so that he could get to know him at the same time. His first impression of the youth was that he was extremely silent until he realized that he was waiting for him to say something. It was pretty awkward at first as Ohgami was more used to having the other person starting the conversation first like with the girls.

They started with a lame and brief introduction of each other and talked about unimportant stuff like the weather before they finally landed on a topic both of them had an interest in: the Hanagumi. Ohgami was glad that Icharus had felt relatively positive about the people he had met so far and despite Maria's warnings, he found the youth likable. After all, anyone who likes the Hanagumi couldn't be a bad person, could they?

Ohgami had not bothered to ask about Icharus' past as he knew that the youth would tell him when he felt like it. It wasn't polite to be asking about people's pasts anyway. Just as he was thinking this, he had reached the first of the girls' rooms and raised his fist to knock.

Icharus made his way in the dark quite easily thanks to his night vision. It wasn't perfect but he could tell where an obstacle was in the dark and that was enough. Besides, the red emergency lights located some distance between themselves in the basement helped ease matters a bit.

He hadn't walked as fast as he could have as he wanted to take advantage of the current situation. The storm had been a blessing for he was a bit tired of the company of the Hanagumi. Not in a harsh way of course. It was just that he had always preferred the peace of mind that he could only find in solitude. After all, he had spent almost 300 years alone and had gotten used to that fact.

He reached the basement and as he tried to figure out which way the circuit board was located, his mind wandered again.

Not too long ago he was an individual who commanded the lives and deaths of his underlings as easily as a flick of his wrist. Although he had to feign obedience and kowtow to a Chaos Lord with only brawns and muscles for brains all the while, life was rather good. He was ranked relatively high on the food chain and most feared him more than they did his master although he had to suppress such whispers if he wanted to make sure he was completely indispensable in his master's eyes.

Part of him missed it already. Another part of him chastised himself for doing so. After all, one cannot bemoan the lost for what he did not fight to keep. He had made a decision and that was it. No point in regretting.

Even if the decision ended him up in some other reality to flip a switch to bring power back to a flashy theater.

He was in front of a door with a lightning bolt drawn on it and just as he figured he was at the correct place, there was a scream followed by a cry of help and frantic sounds of splashing from up the hallway from where he came.

His first reaction was to grumble under his breath. Screams of help never did bring him any good. It was the root cause that led him to the Chimera, to his defection, to his unwilling journey to this reality and finally to being drafted into a secret task force fighting some evil organization he cared nothing of. He knew something bad will happen if he came to whoever's rescue this time.

Oh Fate, you spoiled little brat, do you really think I'm gonna walk into your twisted schemes again? Don't mess with me just cuz you're still single and all cranky about it!

Feeling not even a single shred of guilt, he turned away from the cries and faced the door in front of him. Someone will save the damsel in distress sooner or later. He didn't notice that the screams were getting more desperate every second.

His hand was just turning the knob when the screams stopped abruptly. Puzzled, he listened for a second. Shrugging at the renewed silence he turned the knob fully and was just taking his first step through the portal when a bad feeling chewed at his nerves.

The feeling got worse as he took another step.

Oh frak it! You win old woman!

Icharus turned and ran like his life depended on it towards the direction of the swimming pool. The splashes were clues enough for him to tell the person in distress was most likely drowning and the only place you could drown in here was the pool.

It was pitch black at the pool area and he cursed himself for not switching on the power before he ran in here. He figured there was no time to turn back therefore he ripped off his borrowed shirt and shoes and dove in.

The water was warm, probably due to heating, so there wasn't much of a shock to his systems when he went under the surface. The water wasn't the problem, the ominous sphere-like objects floating on and under the surface which looked suspiciously like sea mines to the youth were and whoever was in trouble was in the middle of them.

Avoiding the mines weren't hard but the darkness made it rather tricky and Icharus had accidentally bumped into two of them at two separate attempts. The result wasn't pretty as he found out. The mines which exploded blew the air out of his lungs and forced him to surface to take in more air, wasting precious time.

His third attempt was more successful as he avoided the mines with painstaking slowness and pulled the girl to the surface and over the pool's side. His troubles weren't over however, the girl had stopped breathing.

Icharus almost screamed obscenities that would make anyone in hearing distance turn away in shame but he swallowed them. It took him some moments to recall vaguely how someone else had performed CPR and he mimicked it without caring that he was doing it wrongly. For instance, he was pushing the girl's breasts instead of her chest and sucking air out of her mouth instead of blowing it.

It took him a few more seconds of logical thinking to realize he was doing it wrong and correcting the procedure. After all, it was her lungs that were filled with water, not her breasts and he needed to give her air, not sucking it out.

Miraculously, after what seemed like eternity to Icharus, the girl finally started choking, sputtering and vomiting water. Icharus wondered if something was still wrong as she was still coughing and panting for air. He never did know what happened after CPR had been performed. He had been more adept at taking lives instead of saving them.

While the girl continued to cough, he decided he must have missed something so he pushed the sitting girl back onto the ground and pressed his lips onto hers again. He was about to blow air into her mouth again when he heard her murmuring something into their mouths. He pulled his lips away instinctively and sat back. The girl sat up again and in the darkness he could see she was avoiding looking in his direction even though he knew she could not possibly see him.

"Sho-showei… How daring of you…" The girl protested with an I-don't-mind-what you just-did tone in an unfamiliar voice. He couldn't see her features clearly enough to tell who she was.

Icharus didn't know why she called him a lieutenant but decided it doesn't matter.

"Are you all right? Can you stand?" He asked.

"I think so." The girl answered and tried to stand up at the same time but she dropped back to the floor again with a yelp.

Icharus sighed.

It's just getting better and better.

"What's wrong now?" he asked a bit impatiently.

"Nothing's wrong." The girl said in an indignant tone and tried to stand up again and failing miserably as she drop onto the wet floor again. Icharus could tell that her right foot was giving her trouble.

Sighing again, he turned his back to her and knelt down. "Climb onto my back. I'll carry you back to your room."

"W-what? I can't let people see me being carried around like some commoner! It's already humiliating enough that I had to be saved from drowning." She complained and her voice was thick with annoyance.

GREAT! Just great! A noble! He forced himself to be calm and thought of what to say.

"The lights are out and everyone else is in his or her rooms. If we hurry no one will see you. Or you would rather sit here all alone in the dark and continue to be a wet, miserable princess."

"Miserable princess? How dare you! I never thought you were this mean Showei!" She snapped at him.

"Then I'm leaving!" He snapped back.

"Humph! Fine!"

Icharus turned and stomped back towards the exit, grumbling all the way when he heard another yelp from behind him. He stopped and looked back to see the girl trying to support her weight against the wall and walk at the same time, moaning each time her right foot touched the floor. Even though it looked like she was having extreme difficulties just moving an inch, she pressed on anyway.

Icharus found himself admiring the girl's determination.

Might as well help her all the way, he thought to himself, resigning himself to whatever Fate had in store for him.

He grabbed his shirt from the ground and went back to her again.

"Hey!" He tapped her shoulder, causing the girl to shriek in surprise. He hadn't realized he had been moving silently.

"W-what? What are you doing back here! Have you come to mock me? Clearly Showei, you are not the gentleman I thought you were. Go away!"

Icharus didn't bother to answer her. He draped the shirt around her shoulders and before she could protest, he snaked each of his arm behind her knees and lifted her. This forced the girl to grab onto his shoulders to prevent herself from falling down.

Then he walked, ignoring the girl's insistent protests and threats.

Sumire was exhausted from her fruitless objections and decided to clamp up when they've reached the stairs to the first floor. She was too tired to scream anymore and she didn't want anyone to hear her. It didn't mean that she wasn't still angry.

She was, cold, tired, and hungry. One of ears was blocked, the world sounded funny and Ohgami was acting so uncharacteristically ungentlemanly. It seemed like he had changed into another person. To think she had felt delighted that he had rescued her like a prince and stole her first kiss just like that made her madder. Now he was even piggybacking her around like some peasant carrying a grain sack. So common and unseemly!

She was still seething in anger at this insult when she noticed something about 'Ohgami' when they passed by under a red emergency light. His hair looked different. It was longer and more chaotic but she dismissed it as a result of it being wet. After passing another emergency light, Sumire couldn't help but feel that 'Ohgami' was a lot shorter.

"Showei?" She tapped his head like she was rapping on a table.

"What!"

Sumire could feel 'Ohgami' turning his head to look at her when suddenly the lights went back on.

Ohgami Ichiro heard another shriek. This time it came from outside of Iris' room which he was currently in and he dashed towards the door with Iris a few steps behind.

Upon exiting the door, the captain was almost run down by the running figure of Sumire in her swimming suit. Before he could ask questions, she had slammed the door shut to her room.

"Eike-Onichan!"

Following Iris' surprised gaze, Ohgami saw Icharus sitting on the ground rubbing his face and cursing lightly at the opposite direction Sumire had ran. Instructing Iris to stay put, Ohgami approached the other youth and didn't know whether he should laugh or feel sorry about him when he saw his face.

Icharus' right cheek was as red as a tomato, obviously the result of a huge slap, and his left cheek was no better. Three parallel red lines ran across his cheek and they converged at his chin, dripping the sticky red blood on to the well polished floor. The teen looked like he could kill someone that instant.

Ohgami shook his head.

Could this be the sign of things to come?

He sighed at the prospect of his future. He could see all the problems coming his way already.

End Notes

Finally finished! Procrastinated a long while before posting this hehe.

Please R&R and feel free to drop any questions!