SAKURA TAISEN/WARS and all related characters, names and indicia are TM & © SEGA RED and are used here without permission.

Author's Note: Please accept my deepest apologies for the exceedingly long delay in updating. My life has been blessedly chaotic lately with my actual job. But I miss the fun stuff! This really is in answer to three challenges, but I've only gotten to two of them, thusfar. The third will take several more chapters at least! And the fourth... I don't think I can work it in. But if it happens, whee :D

REPOSTED due to typos and a very correct reviewer's observation.

Rated PG-13, SHOUJO-AI WARNING (aka f/f)

To The Motherland

"The Ice Maiden"

"Yeah?" Kanna called from inside her room, untaping her fists and letting the punching bag sway slowly to stillness behind her.

The door to her room creaked open just a sliver, then slowly a little further. A dark-haired head poked in, contritely. "Gomen-nasai, Kanna-san…" said a soft voice laced with an Italian dialect.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Kanna tossed the balled-up used tape to her rumpled bed. "Whatcha standin' out there for? Come in."

Orihime slipped inside, her head still lowered and her hands clasped before her, flattening the front of her voluminous red skirts. "I didn't realize it was…" Orihime stopped here and reformulated her apology. "I never would have made fun of you if I thought it was real."

"Huh?" Kanna plunked down on her bed, her elbows on her knees and her hands folded together between them. "Whaddayou mean 'real?'"

Orihime heaved a long sigh, as if it was part of her punishment to be this specific. "I… I just was making jokes… I never thought you and Maria actually… actually DO… that you two actually ARE in love," she said very quickly.

"What!" Kana stood up again, her ful height making Orihime recoil a couple of steps.

"I'm sorry, Kanna! I truly am! I never meant to hit so close to home! I thought they were all just rumours! I didn't know it would hurt you like that! I…" A dawning came over Orihime as she watched the confused expression across Kanna's face. "Wait…" Orihime looked even more contrite, if that was possible. "Maria-san doesn't know… does she?"

"Doesn't know WHAT?" Kanna threw her hands up. "There is NOTHING going on!"

"Because you haven't told her yet…"

"Orihime! Look. It IS all just a rumour because there is NOTHING going on, and I haven't told Maria anything because there is NOTHING to tell her! Got it?"

Orihime stared blankly at Kanna for a moment after that declaration, trying to sort out what she really meant. "If… if you say so, Kanna-san…"

"Orihime, look…" Kanna took the Italian girl by the shoulders, gently, confidentially. "Maria is my best friend, all right? We joined the Hanagumi together. We're the two oldest, and two of the three first members. I trust her, and she actually trust me back sometimes. Even the coldest person needs a confidant every once in a while. And that's all. Really."

Kanna kept her held by the shoulders for a moment longer, looking directly into her eyes, as if she could send the truth like beams into Orihime's mind and convince her. "Do you believe me?"

"Hai, Kanna-san…" Orihime whispered, sorry all over again for all new reasons. "I won't make fun of you anymore."

"Bah!" Kanna grinned and straightened, whapping Orihime on the shoulder hard enough to make the girl stagger. "You wouldn't be you if you didn't do that. Besides, you make me miss Sumire less."

"Er… thanks…" Orihime smiled uncertainly and rubbed her shoulder where Kanna had struck her.

Kanna only hesitated for a moment before she knocked softly on Maria's door. There was no answer. "Maria? It's me…" she spoke softly through the door, then rapped again with the back of her knuckles. "You there?"

Then the Okinawan seemed to summon courage from somewhere, and opened Maria's door. Slowly, as not to draw the aim of a particular .38. Maria was indeed inside. But if she was aware of Kanna's presence, she showed no sign. This was the second time today Kanna had found Maria so lost in thought that she did not know what was going on around her. And frankly, that worried Kanna.

Maria's back was to the door. She was standing at her window, watching the gathering twilight over Tokyo, as the lights of the city flared to life along with the lights of the night sky. Her locket was closed in her left fist. Kanna had not seen her like this in years. The martial artist knew her best friend so well that it was almost as clear to her what was going on in Maria's head as if Kanna had stepped into her world.

Kanna shivered. She could almost hear the dry, brittle whistle of the wind, almost see the whirling snow, almost feel the heavy depth of winter slowing her legs, stopping all progress, almost. But Maria was currently as lost in it as she had been when she came to them from New York so many years ago.

A suitcase was set out on her bed and several small stacks of clothing were laid next to it. The letter from Stalin's secret police was on her pillow, its seemingly nonsensical typewritten Cyrillic letters bearing, Kanna was certain, some mysterious threat.

Maria's situation was perfect. An exile from Russia in a position of knowledge and power in Japan. Her cooperation would earn her a pardon. Her disobedience… Kanna didn't want to think about what might happen to Maria if she didn't do what Stalin's regime commanded. Death might be the nicest part.

They knew everything. Chances were they had even gotten to Valentinov, if they were seeking out former Revolutionaries. Hell, Valentinov had already helped them do away with some unwanted opposition once… specifically the man in Maria's locket. Kanna'd had the feeling that Maria would live to regret sparing his life a second time. …not that Kanna would have done any differently in her place. Kanna herself had gone to avenge her father and stopped short of killing as well.

They knew about the New York Mafia. They knew about her position in the Hanagumi in Japan. They knew about her performances on the Imperial Opera Theatre's stage. They knew her whole past. Every bit.

What they did not know might be what would spare her. They didn't know her friends. They didn't know how devoted they were, and they didn't know that her friends would stop at nothing to save her from what she was about to become.

She would become a traitor to Japan, a Russian spy within the Hanagumi -- no, Maria could never do such a thing… could she? She had almost become an assassin in New York -- but that was all in the past, right? Or did Josef Stalin just dredge Maria Tachibana's past back up again?

"…Maria?"

The Russian whirled around, her icy green eyes wide, and reached under her left arm for her revolver.

…which wasn't there. It, and its shoulder holster, were laid out on her bed near her suitcase.

Her right hand dropped, empty, and her left hand withdrew from her unbuttoned shirt collar where she had just tucked away her locket. Her jaw was slower to unclench than her fists. She exhaled slowly through her nose, her eyes locked with Kanna's, expressionlessly. She said nothing.

Kanna's gaze quailed under the weight of the Russian's and drifted to stare at the waiting suitcase. "You can't really be considering leaving, can ya?"

Maria turned back to her dresser to resume, presumably, where she had left off in packing. She returned with a pair of folded pants and set them on the bed. "I told you, I have no choice," Maria said, her voice soft, flat, dead.

Kanna suddenly got the feeling the letter had a few particular details in it that Maria had left out of her summary. "Yes, you do, Maria. We fight demons all the time - these are only men--"

"Men are more dangerous than demons."

"Maria, come on, we can fight these guys. Let them just TRY to come for you! ONE Koubu and th--"

"No."

It was a tone which would brook no argument. Kanna knew she must have her reasons, she just wished she would share what they were. "Why won't you let us try to save you, Maria?" Kanna asked, the tone of her voice revealing a little of the hurt the tall redhead was feeling.

Maria ignored her, her back turned as she set things into her suitcase.

"When are they coming?" Kanna persisted despite being ignored. "Do you even know? Will you tell anyone, or will you just… disappear one night?" Then Kanna's voice dropped to the sad little whisper of a small girl. "Will you even say goodbye?"

Maria stopped, her shoulders stiffened. She lowered her head and buried her face in her hands. She drew a long, controlled breath and held it.

Kanna did not relent. "We've known each other since we were 19 years old, Maria, doesn't that mean anything? Don't you trust me? After all this time, you would still just walk away in the night, like you did to the Mafia and to the Revolutionaries when--"

The deadly glint in Maria's eyes when she turned to face Kanna was so terrifying, so unprecedented, that Kanna fell back a pace in fear. "Get out," Maria whispered almost inaudibly. Her fists were clenched so tightly that they were trembling, but she made no move either toward or away from Kanna.

Kanna turned toward the door. But instead of opening it, she locked it, took the key out and dropped it into the front of her shirt. Then she turned around, leaned her back against the door and folded her arms. "No. I care about you too much to let you do this."

Maria's brows shot up in what Kanna was sure was a reaction to unexpected insubordination. As Captain again since Ohgami's most recent departure for Paris, Maria was in no way disillusioned enough to expect to have absolute control over her soldiers. But she did expect, at the very least, to be left alone when she chose to be alone.

Well, if Kanna was going to be insubordinate, she'd better take charge. She strode back toward Maria's bed and snatched up her Enfield before Maria could realize what she was doing. Maria gasped in stun and reached for her revolver, but Kanna caught her wrist -- and Kanna was easily twice as strong as Maria was.

"What else did the letter say?" Using her thumb, Kanna triggered the breach of the revolver and it fell open at the cartridge. She dumped six bullets out of their chambers and onto Maria's black and gray jacquard beadspread. Still holding Maria's wrist, she tossed the breached gun across the floor.

"Kanna! What in hell do you think you're doing?" She yanked fruitlessly at her wrist. "Do you honestly think I would shoot you?"

"I had hoped not, no. But I also never thought I'd find you packing your bags to become a traintor to the Hanagumi and to my country. So now I'm not so sure."

"I've told you a dozen times, Kanna, I have no choice!"

"And I think that's utter crap. We're a team! You don't operate alone, and I don't see that you're backed up against a wall, here. What did they threaten you with, Maria?"

"This is not a Hanagumi operation. This is a private--"

"Maria. What was the threat?"

The Russian did not answer. It would almost appear that she was about to punch Kanna in the chin if it weren't for Kanna's hand gripped tightly around her wrist. Maria glared over her clenched and restrained fist at the slightly taller woman. She gave no answer, but her anger was weakening. Maria was too tired, too resigned, too well-hidden to be angry. Her green eyes dropped away from Kanna's gold ones.

"What was the threat?"

"Please leave me alone, Kanna…" it was a weary plea, to be sure. "Please…"

"I can't," Kanna's voice softened, too,and when Maria looked back up at her, she shrugged. "I dunno. I just can't."

Maria regarded her silently, then, and unblinkingly. She would give Kanna no more, but she lacked the energy and anger for a fight that would drive the Okinawan away.

Kanna could hear the wind again, then, a low, hollow moan, dead and empty, surrounding her best friend. Kanna fought it, feeling the fire of her strength warming her hand around Maria's wrist, even as she imagined that Maria's skin was growing colder. Kanna could almost see the drifts of snow sweeping up around Maria's boots, freezing her in place, making it impossible for her to move either forward or back.

Kanna was losing her. The ice maiden ironically known as Kazuar was returning. She could practically see an intricate frost crawl over her emerald green eyes. Her spirit was drying, frozen to death by a winter of necessity. Emotions neatly packed away and set aside, ties carefully and surgically snipped, memories sent on their way with a practiced, indifferent farewell.

The ice didn't seem to mind the silence, but fire cannot stand still. And flame-red-headed Kanna knew one thing: she would not lose her best friend.

Kanna realized when she felt Maria's jolt of surprise that she was kissing her. She could not recall telling herself to kiss Maria. She could not recall the thought ever occurring to her as something she should possibly do. Maria's impulse to draw breath to protest was thwarted by Kanna's mouth. Maria's half-hearted attempt to push Kanna away won her a freed right hand, but then the Russian was immediately enfolded in very strong arms. Kanna's arm was wrapped around Maria's waist, and her other hand held the back of Maria's head.

What the HELL was she doing! It was too late to change her mind, too late to surrender to being subordinate again. She'd taken control, and like a Siberian wolf, to give it up now would be to lose it forever. Maria was stiff in Kanna's arms, her mouth tense against Kanna's lips, her fists gripping Kanna's sleeves, either pulling or pushing, she could not be sure. Kanna did not release her, did not let her breathe, until she felt Maria shudder, felt her muscles uncoil. Then she broke the kiss and held the shivering Russian tightly in her arms, feeling a cool dampness against her neck where Maria buried her face, hiding against the very person she was hiding from.

"I am NOT letting you go," Kanna whispered, emphatically, to her silently weeping prisoner. "Like it or not."