ACT 4

OoOoOo

Afternoon. At the stage.

"How now, my love? Why is your cheek so pale? How chance the roses there do fade so fast?" Kanna said dramatically as she approached Sumire.

"Belike for want of rain, which I could well beteem them from the tempest of my eyes," Sumire replied, her right hand touching Kanna's opposite arm.

Kanna looked at the opposite direction. "Ay me! For aught that I could ever read, could ever hear by tale or history, the course of true love never did run smooth. But either it was different in blood-"

"Oh cross! Too high to be enthralled to low," Sumire exclaimed overflowing with emotions.

"Or else misgraffed in respect of years-"

"O spite! Too old to be engaged to young."

"Or else it stood upon the choice of friends-"

Sumire brought a hand up to her forehead. "O hell, to choose love by another's eyes!"

As Sumire and Kanna practiced, Sakura silently sat on a chair holding her scripts. But the raven-haired girl was not reading it. Her eyes were still swollen from crying.

'Why do I have so many tears? I wish that they would run out quickly so that I'll never cry again in anxiety.'

The scene for Lysander and Hermia to embrace came closer. Kanna looked awkward. "Oh, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee; and go to that place where the law cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me, then steal forth thy father's house tomorrow night. . ." Kanna locked her arms around Sumire.

"Aww, man, this is humiliating!" Kanna muttered.

"Shut up, you brute, and continue your lines!" Sumire snapped.

The red-haired woman rolled her eyes. "Okay. Okay."

Tears flowed down Sakura's cheeks and she quickly wiped them away with her hand.

"I will wait for thee. . .," Kanna continued.

Sumire leaned and gave all her weight to Kanna's arms. "My good Lysa—KANNA! I'm going to fall if you don't hold me tighter!

"Okay..." But the smaller woman had already lost her balance. Kanna tried to stop her but she, too, was caught off balance and they both fell to the floor. Kanna landed on top of Sumire.

Quite by accident, though no less shocking for it, Kanna found herself kissing the smaller woman.

Both their eyes wide open.

Both their hearts stopped at that moment. . . both had blushes crossing their cheeks.

Luckily no one was hurt by the fall.

It was not long before they pushed themselves away in opposite directions.

Still flushing.

Sumire gulped. Kanna felt sweat flowing down her face.

But then they heard a sobbing from a distance. They had almost forgotten that they were not alone. Both of them were alarmed and turned to Sakura's location.

'I hope she didn't notice!' Sumire and Kanna thought in unison.

Sakura was totally unaware of what had been happening to them. She was crying silently to herself, thinking about her feelings for Maria and also about Ohgami's actions to the Russian.

Her vision was so blurred by tears that she could not behold a thing from where she was sitting.

Kanna looked at Sumire, her gaze questioning. 'Did she see us or not?'

Sumire shook her head slowly. 'She doesn't appear to be paying attention!' her wide eyes seem to respond.

Sakura covered her face with her hands. Her sobs were much more distinct now. It seemed that crying must have been her talent after all.

'Ara! But why is she crying?' Sumire eyes were asking.

'How should I know?' Kanna gave her a bewildered expression.

Sakura felt the intense silence. She suddenly remembered that her turn was supposed to come next, after Kanna's and Sumire's embrace. She lifted her head and finally faced the two. She was surprised when she saw them on the floor staring at her. She wiped another tear before she spoke, "Ah. . . what happened to both of you?"

Kanna and Sumire sighed in relief before they got up on their knees.

OoOoOoO

Yoneda's office.

Ohgami opened the door and entered it. Maria followed close by.

"Ensign, this is the Manager's Office. Why the hell are we here?"

Ohgami closed the door behind her. "I guess this is the most private place around here," he answered.

Maria stared at him for a while. Various thoughts were flowing in her mind.

Ohgami gazed at the floor. He was completely out of words. 'There's only the two of us. This is the chance you've been waiting for. . .Confess to her NOW!'

"Ma-" His words were cut short by the Russian.

"Now listen, Ensign, if we are here to discuss important matters then that's fine with me, but if not, then it is nothing of significance and a waste of time. There are many things that need to be taken care of."

"Yes, I know that," Ohgami said smiling to himself then turned serious again. "But what I wanted to talk about here is the event a while ago and last night. . . "

Maria felt her own hands moving by itself and slapped his face. "Don't even think of me as a LOWLY woman! Playing with my feelings is like playing with DEATH itself."

Her hand left a red mark on Ohgami's face. He was surprised by her sudden attack. 'But a while ago, she was-'

His eyes depicted so much misery that Maria felt a little guilty about it.

"I'm sorry," she said in a rather low voice before she left the room.

OoOoOoO

When Maria entered the stage, she came across Sakura. As her eyes were red from tears once again, the girl in the pink kimono tried to hide her face from the blond. But, of course, she could not.

"Sakura?" she started. "You've been crying again. What happened to you?" Sakura didn't respond. Maria swiftly moved her eyes to Sumire, accusing her.

Sumire shook her head, indicating that she had nothing to do with it. Kanna seconded that by shaking her head too. The Russian felt slightly curious about their silence.

"Where is Iris?" Maria asked again after noticing that the French girl was nowhere in the area.

Sumire and Kanna shook their head once again at Maria's query.

"How I wish I have Iris' powers to understand you," Maria said.

OoOoOoO

Sakura set her gaze to the floor, unable to contain her emotions.

Maria turned her attention back to her. "Sakura?"

Sakura's eyes were still on the floor.

"Sakura," Maria repeated.

Still no response.

"SAKURA!" Maria held both her shoulder and shook her. "Now, look at me!"

Sakura remained stiff.

"Let's pretend. . ." Maria cupped the younger woman's chin firmly and lifted it to bring her closer. "Sakura, listen. Please look at me."

Sakura closed her eyes. Therefore, she completely missed seeing what about to happen next.

'I can feel her breath coming closer. What--?'

Sumire's and Kanna's eyes widened when the Russian woman tenderly enveloped the Japanese girl's lips with her own.

It was an electrifying moment for Sakura.

She opened her eyes slightly only to see up close the face of the blond woman she loved. The taste of her lips was sweet.

She closed her eyes again and responded to the kiss with one of her own. Sakura couldn't resist slipping her tongue inside Maria's mouth. It amazed the Russian how well she could kiss back. Their tongues met like wildfire. . . as their arms wrapped around each other, locking them in an embrace.

Sumire and Kanna stared at each other, blushing at the sight they were witnessing.

"Well, I guess we're not alone," Kanna said in a whisper.

"Baka! What we did is unintentional but this one is different," Sumire whispered back.

"Sure."

OoOoOoO

"EVERYONE!" Iris yelled from outside the stage.

Maria quickly broke the kiss and slowly released Sakura. "Iris. . ."

There was a new feeling blooming within Sakura after that moment. She felt like floating.

When Iris entered the room she raised two scripts on her hand. "Look!"

Kanna didn't get what the French girl was trying to tell them. "Yeah, that's a script alright."

Iris narrowed her eyes at her. "Iris knows that! But this is not only Iris' script, the other one is Kohran's!"

"What do you mean?" Sumire asked unable to catch up what she's saying.

Maria answered, "Kohran forgot her script."

"NO! That can't be, what will happen to us? We're all doomed!" Sumire said, sounding frantic.

Maria went to Iris and took Kohran's script from her. "I'll go and give it to her."

"No, I'll go," a voice from behind Iris interrupted. It was Ohgami.

"Ensign, your duty is to stay and protect this place."

"But we really both know that YOU can do it BETTER than I am."

"Taichou!"

"It would be safer if you remain here with the others."

"Don't make me slap you again . . . or, worse, shoot you!"

"Then do it!"

"I will!"

Iris can't bear them fight anymore, "Huuuuh! Why are you fighting? Iris hates fighting. . .You're making Iris really mad by fighting." The French girl began to glow as she called on her powers

Then, moments later. . .

"Uh-oh," Kanna uttered.

KABOOM

"I guess we're really not different from them are we?" Kanna said to Sumire, whose hair was also messed up. "Hey, do you need a volunteer around there?"

OoOoOoO

Night.

Sakura's bedroom.

Sakura was staring at her window, smiling.

Sakura's eyes twinkled like stars. She sighed in contentment as she recalled Maria's kiss. 'She kissed me.' A wider smile crossed her lips. 'I hope it's not going to be the last.'

She crawled into her bed and hugged her pillow. 'I hope I'm not dreaming. If I am, I don't ever want to wake up.'

Sakura closed her eyes and soon fell into a good night's sleep.

"Aishiteiru, Maria-san. Goodnight."