- Some Sakura Taisen, Sumire/Kanna angst drabble
Find some S/K graphics here: http/www.cjb.cc/members/kyanite/kansum/index.htm
A/N: This is seriously getting out of hand, length-wise and story-wise. I have no idea where it's heading, lol, I'm just as curious as you :P The chapters seem to get shorter, but that's only because the plot is thickening and I'm writing on the fly here, taking step by step, scene by scene.
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"Good Morning."
A groan greeted Maria from the bed and she was glad that Kanna had awaken from unconsciousness, even if the sleep that had engulfed her ever since had been anything but healing or regenerating.
"I'm sorry for waking you so early. I figured you'd appreciate your breakfast while it's still fresh and warm."
"F-food?"
The slightest smile was tucking at the corners of Maria's mouth, Kanna's most vital organ had apparently recovered quickly from the shock - her stomach seemed to be as indestructible as her ego itself.
"Yes, Kohran took over in the kitchen and made some soup."
"Is it good?"
Maria was never one to make a fuss over something like food. As far as she was concerned, eating was merely means to an end. Taste was irrelevant.
"It is edible."
"Did Sumire eat it?"
The question almost took Maria by surprise. Usually her friend would not be as open about... that.
"She had two servings."
"Hm, ok, the let me have it." Her hands rose and reached for the bowl, but the movement stopped mid-air. With wide eyes she stared at the thick bandages around her hands.
"Maria..."
The look almost broke the blonde's heart. She turned and closed the door, locking it carefully.
"Kanna, I know we have to talk, but you need to eat first."
"How..."
She was aware that the question was not about the food. But she had to take things one step at a time, and right now, food was more important.
"You have no choice. You will have to let me feed you."
"Maria, there is no way- "
"I will get nurse Kanzaki, if that's what you prefer," Maria threatened with a wink.
"No! No, I mean, ...," Kanna closed her eyes and sighed in defeat, "ok, then, just let's get it over with."
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To be able to eat, Kanna had sat up against the wall. Maria knew it must have been embarrassing to be fed. She was sure it would have killed her if she had been the one who needed to be fed soup.
After that, Kanna had been apparently tired, but also full of questions about what had happened. Maria figured that the blows to her head during the fight had caused the partial memory loss or rather... fading, since it seemed like Kanna's memories were not lost completely, they were only vague and foggy.
She told her friend everything she knew, how she had found her and brought her home.
As expected, the immediately following question was if any of the others had gotten hurt, and she knew that the question truly meant if Sumire was well.
She reassured her that everyone was ok, apart from the depressing mood and worry that everyone held for Kanna. The Russian had not been sure if it would be wise to tell Kanna about the prospects of her recovery. She realized, though, that it would not only be fair to tell her but even unfair not to tell her when the rest of the ensemble already knew.
There was a long silence after that.
And then a very unusual request.
"Maria, would you hold me?"
She was about to find some excuse, but it occurred to her, that there was no one else who would do it, could do it, and so she slipped herself behind her friend, leaning against the wall and letting Kanna's head fall back and rest on her shoulder.
"So I could lose everything." She paused for a moment, before she continued in a low whisper, more thinking aloud then talking to Maria. "I'd finally be left with nothing. Nothing at all."
Maria had no answer. Nothing came to her mind, nothing she cold say, that would be able to comfort her friend.
Lost in the attempt to find the appropriate thing to say, she traced the bandages with her fingers and eventually placed a light kiss on the head that had slipped forward and was heavily resting against her collar bone now.
Unfortunately, in exactly this moment there was a knock on the door and brought Maria back from her reverie. Her attempt to jump up from the bed was halted by the heavy weight of the muscular body against her chest and she found herself caught.
This feeling intensified by the factor thousand when Kanna asked the visitor to come in. In the slowly opening door Sumire face appeared. She had already opened her mouth to say something but was apparently rendered speechless by what she saw. For a long moment she stared at the picture before her.
Kanna was the first to break the painful silence. "Sumire."
The Hanagumi's star actress visibly struggled to compose herself and witnessing this situation between what she had assumed to be merely stage partners made Maria wish to just dissolve from the room.
She felt like she should say something, do something, but she couldn't really think of something.
"Sumire-san, it's not what it looks like..."
The cold reply was expected, but stung nonetheless. "Of course, Maria-san. However, everyone is waiting for you to and when you're done with whatever it doesn't look like, we would appreciate if you joined us in the theatre."
The door closed and there was the sound of someone running down the hallway.
"Don't worry, Maria, she doesn't mean it."
Maria did not share Kanna's confidence. "I think she does."
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Maria knew that something was wrong. Or at least she knew that the truth was apparently different from what she had believed for some time now.
Ever since Kanna had confided in her she had pitied her friend for such a poor choice for a crush. She thought that being in love with someone and not have this love returned is bad enough in itself, but having this someone mistreat you like Sumire constantly did with Kanna was even worse. Sometimes Maria couldn't take it, and turned away or even walked away when they were fighting again.
She admired Kanna's strength and stamina, the way she never backed down from Sumire, never surrendered, never let any pain show, never let on that what Sumire had said might have affected her.
Things showed in a different light now. What Sumire had said the other night, about how much Maria knew, the way she had reacted just now... How much did Sumire know?
She had wanted to protect Kanna from the snobbish heiress and her verbal blows and attacks, and now she came to realized that may not have been necessary at all. Sumire cared. The former assassin did not really have much experience in dealing with human emotions, but it seemed like Sumire cared more than she would have ever expected.
The question now was, did Kanna know? If they both cared for each other that much, why did they constantly seem to be at each other's throat?
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It hadn't been long before Kanna had fallen asleep in her arms. For a while, she stayed and pondered the recent events. But eventually she had to extract herself from what had become an awkward position in the light of Sumire's sudden appearance. She winced at the thought of having to work so closely, intimately close even, with the agitated actress after what had just happened.
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TBC...