Disclaimer: still the same...

Here's chapter 9, finished a while ago but remained un-posted due to me being out of town. I offer you my sincerest apology should I make you wait too long for this ;). First part is from OC (Noreen) 's perspective, second is from Sumire's, third from a general POV, and the last part is again told by Sumire. There are quite a lot of background information interspersed in all the parts, even I felt intimidated by the amount of information when re-reading XD. Hopefully it's not too much.

Special thanks for James Birdsong for his review, and thanks to all my faithful readers – who stay tuned despite the increasing amount of OC-s in this story. There are times when my own decision of including heaps of OC-s got me down. However, I have had the whole story pictured in mind and therefore I will persevere. Things might get a bit slowed down after this, for I am entering my penultimate semester at Uni. I'm assuring all of you that I'll seek all possible excuses to write the next chapters of this story instead of writing my thesis :P.

Enjoy!

OC guide:

TeiGeki Junior Team:

- Natsue Oogami (Sakura and Oogami's daughter)

- Aki Kayama (Kayama and Kaede's daughter)

- Chiharu Tachibana (Maria's daughter, unspecified father)

- Mifuyuko Asakawa (daughter of Hanagumi's private Doctor, who was adopted by the Hanagumi after her mother and aunt was killed by evil forces)

- Ella Beltz (French cafe singer spotted by Oogami, Maria, and Sakura while they were in Paris)

- Noreen Russel (rich girl recruited from London; has similarities with Sumire)

- two more girls, and one male captain to join later

More about them and their relationships with the Hanagumi/others in the wordpress blog listed on my author's profile.

I guarantee that there is no Mary Sue in this story. I don't do self-insertion, and I don't insert my friends/people I know as well :).

Dawn of Seasons

Chapter Nine: Problems

London

As the car rolled slowly away from the lifeless place which had been her home for fifteen years, Noreen pressed her cheek against the window and took her time having a last look at the huge, cold house.

To tell the truth, she wasn't too sad about leaving the place. There was nothing worth missing, no happy memories. All the vivid memories she'd got about the place was angsty – mainly about Dad and how he clearly showed that he didn't love her. Sometimes, when she sat alone heartbroken from Dad's indifferent treatments, Noreen asked herself what would have been had Dad left her with the woman who had given birth to her. Of course, her Mother might have hated her and beaten her senseless, but there was also a possibility that she would love her much more than Dad did. Noreen might have had a better fate than being Dad's ego-fulfilment, a child and heiress people thought he must have had.

No one really knew that Noreen was leaving for Japan to work there, but she knew that they would think that she was crazy had they known about it. In their opinion, she had everything. Noreen didn't blame them for thinking like that – after all, she had a fortune and good looks to complete her virtues. They might not know how empty her life had been, beneath all the 'fun' she had been having. Noreen needed something to live for, and this interesting job might make her life meaningful. Japan was a very interesting place – Oriental culture and all.

And, also, she might meet her birth mother there.

Noreen's birth certificate – which she managed to yank out of Dad's secured cabinet after he died two years ago – stated that she was born in Japan. Her mother's name wasn't there, sadly, but Noreen had long realised that this woman was Asian. Noreen couldn't have looked the way she did without having an Asian mother, considering that Dad was fair-haired and blue-eyed. There was a big chance that Noreen's mother was Japanese, and that she still lived there.

This whole finding-my-Mother fantasy might be stupid, for Japan wasn't a small place, but Noreen couldn't help herself from hoping. She wasn't planning to tell the Defense/Revue Troupe people about any of her plans, but she would try for it. Let's just hope that she would have enough spare time to go on with this plan.

The house slowly disappeared from sight. Smirking, Noreen turned her head to the road in front of her. She was really ready for the adventure waiting for her in Japan.

Daitekoku Gekijou, Tokyo

Though Sumire disliked training the two rookies, she must admit that it was a very interesting process indeed. Mifuyuko and Ella had little idea that they would one day be actresses, and they had so much to learn compared to the Hanagumi daughters who'd probably been on stage since they were foetuses in their mothers' wombs. Mifuyuko's shyness and Ella's girlish clumsiness added new entertainment values to this process. Sometimes it was so hard not to grin at their accidentally comedic acts. Even Leni – the ever-emotionless Leni – was once or twice close to chuckling. Sumire couldn't wait for Maria and Sakura to get back from England. Watching the two High Commando ladies' reactions to the juniors' abuse of their signature play would be really amusing.

"Now, Ella," Leni said, kneeling and holding the caramel-haired girl's hips firmly, "guys don't sway their hips when they walk. Hold yourself still."

Although Ella's total incompetence was a bit irritating for Sumire, she actually could sympathise with the young French lady. The Hanagumi male-role actresses: Maria, Kanna, and Leni, had naturally been boyish when they started. This new girl, however, did not have even a single boyish fibre in her body. The only manly thing about her was her voice.

Throwing a glance to the other end of the stage, Sumire could see that Orihime and Iris were busy talking to Mifuyuko – probably giving the hundredth briefing not to be poker-faced and show some joy in seeing your lover. The directress pursed her lips. This was no good. Both their leading actresses were equally bad. What could they do to get these girls ready in less than three months?

"Let's not put the usual Ai Yueni stairs on the stage this time," Sumire heard Kanna saying, presumably to Kouran. The two had been sitting on the floor behind her, busy discussing the stage design.

"Why?" Kouran asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Ella can't handle it. What would the audience say if Lord Andre tumbles and rolls down the stairs?"

The image of the ethereal, cool Lord Andre falling down the stairs crossed Sumire's mind. It was hilarious, so hilarious she couldn't help herself from turning around and muffling a cackle. Kanna's wide grin and Kouran's subtle, repressed smile told her that she wasn't the only one who thought that the potential disaster was hilarious.

"You three look so happy."

Sumire halted her cackle and turned to the source of the voice. There, sitting on the first row of the audience seat, was the Commander. He looked a bit dead. Maria and Sakura's absence had apparently taken toll on his health and stamina.

"Ah, Commander," she said, climbing down the stage steps to greet him. "Good afternoon. How's your day?"

He gave her a defeated smile.

"It's been tiring so far," he said. "Revue International is trying to tamper with our business again. Their annoying Troupe Coordinator has been trying to talk me into giving up one of the girls for placement in Germany. He's been taking advantage of Maria's absence – she's the only person who could silence him."

"Which girl is he asking for?" Sumire asked, dropping down to the seat beside the Commander.

"Chiharu," the Commander answered. He bowed down and closed his eyes, slowly massaging the spot between his eyes. "Actually it was a good thing Maria wasn't there – the goddamned Dude called our little niece 'Calico'".

Sumire felt her blood boiling. While Chiharu did have genetic abnormality, calling the little girl a 'Calico' was definitely offensive.

"He should have realised that Chiharu is much better than his own airhead of a daughter," the directress said harshly. "Why don't he send the dumb girl instead, so that she learns that a bit of knowledge in her brain wouldn't hurt? He's just a pathetic egoist."

"Yes, he is," the Commander agreed. "Anyway, the problem's solved. He won't be bugging us again for a while. Now, I just have to bear with the triple-workload for one more day – Maria and Sakura should be arriving tomorrow night, with our newest recruit in tow."

"Let's hope this girl is less clueless than those two," Sumire bluntly said, looking at Ella and Mifuyuko, who were now practising a dialogue – with their usual funny awkwardness. "I've never seen a worse stage couple, to be honest. We've never had a rookie pairing with a rookie – usually it's a rookie and an established actress."

The Commander focused his eyes on the girls, frowning in deep thought. The look on his face indicated that he wasn't fond of what he saw as well.

"Stop this rehearsal and tell all of your sisters to gather in my office," he eventually said, standing up and walking away. "We're having a Hanagumi meeting in half an hour."

Half an hour later, the Hanagumi sisters – minus Maria and Sakura – were all in the Managerial Office, spread all across the chairs and the couch. They were all looking at the Commander, who was sitting on his usual chair. The man's expression told them that he was about to drop a bomb, and they were anticipating it. They'd been discussing what he might be wanting to tell them on their way to the office earlier. The majority of them suspected that he might want to cancel the show or push it back for three more months, filling the gap with another show by the Hanagumi. There were two alternative guesses, though. One of them guessed that he wanted Mifuyuko and Ella to swap roles, and the other guessed that he would arrange Ella to perform as Clementine, with Maria or Leni as Andre. Whatever that was, they knew that it should have something to do with the gender-bend issue they were currently facing. Ella was far too girly to play a guy, whilst Mifuyuko was too timid to be a female lead.

"Alright, ladies," the Commander began. "We're here to discuss the current issues we're having with our newest girls, Ella and Mifuyuko. Whilst I agree with most of you that these girls are somewhat similar with the two other Hanagumi members who are not here today, it seems that we're having rather unfortunate combinations of trait here, resulting in two girls who are neither male leads nor female leads."

All the six ladies, except Sumire and Leni who just smiled, stifled their chuckles. The Commander had just given them a really correct description of the problem.

"Do you think we should put Mifuyuko on heels and ask them to swap roles?" Orihime asked, looking curiously at her former Captain.

"That's unnecessary," the Commander answered. "We can continue what we've been doing so far. We just have to do it in a slightly different way."

"What do you mean by slightly different way?" Kanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Commander smiled meaningfully.

"From now on," he said, looking at the sisters one by one, "I want you to treat Ella as if she was a boy. Double up her physical exercises, and push her to excel in everything, including the impossibles."

The Hanagumi sisters spent the rest of the evening designing the new training regimes for the two juniors. It wasn't at all an easy process, for they kept debating about what was 'too much' and what was 'acceptable'. Nonetheless, everything was settled by the next morning. Ella was woken up before dawn for a boot-camp style workout with the older 'boys', whilst Mifuyuko was compelled to attend a string of social events and go out in public with the 'girls'. It wasn't an easy day at all, and by dinnertime, both girls and the seniors were exhausted.

Right now, Sumire was sitting in the kitchen with the other Hanagumi ladies, having a dinner-and-discussion. They were eating leftovers, but it didn't matter, for no one really paid attention to the food. They were all busy telling and listening to stories about the juniors' trainings.

"For a moment, I almost gave up," Sumire heard Orihime saying. "Mifuyuko looked so lost in the crowd – I could see that she was really close to breaking down."

Sumire put her chopsticks down. While Mifuyuko didn't say anything about the training regime, it was obvious that dealing with the crowd was such a torture for the shy girl.

"She's got a pretty good resilience, though," the directress said, looking at the other Hanagumi ladies. "No complaints, not even a single tear even though she was really scared."

"Ella's got that as well," Kouran commented. "Poor girl, she'll have bad bruises by tomorrow – too many tumbles and accidents. Not to mention that we kept screaming on her ears as well."

"I think you can even ask them to walk on fire without screaming – and they'll do it," Kanna murmured in between her bites. "I haven't known much yet about Mifuyuko, but I can say that Ella can cope with pressure and expectations really well. The girl's really tough."

"Mifuyuko is a bit different," Iris responded. "She gets intimidated by expectations – it's her determination which pulls her through it."

"What would Maria and Sakura say, if they know we're doing this to Ella and Mifuyuko?" Orihime asked, shaking her head.

"Actually I am more afraid that we're slowly turning the youngsters into another Maria and another Sakura," Leni, who had been silent so far, commented. "They should be allowed to retain their own individualities."

Leni was right. It had been Sumire's fear as well; that they were creating two impersonators instead of actresses. Was that tinge of innocence in Ella unacceptable for a male lead? Was Mifuyuko really too timid to be a female lead, or it was just them who weren't used to the way she approached her role? Of course, the girliness and shyness had to be dealt with, but the rest seemed alright, once they were put into perspective.

"Damn, I've never thought of that," Kanna said, dropping her chopsticks hard on the table.

"We might feel it's just natural to expect from Ella and Mifuyuko what our two sisters could give," Leni continued, looking around at all of them. "But that just wasn't right – they should be able to do Ai Yueni their way."

"Let Maria and Sakura have their says in this," Kouran muttered, taking another bite of the food. "I'm sure they wouldn't want to be impersonated, though – it's kind of scary and disturbing."

"Speaking of the two," Orihime suddenly said, "they should have been here by now – what takes them too long?"

"I'm here," someone said behind them.

Turning around to the source of the voice, Sumire saw Sakura – still in travelling attire – standing at the door. The Secretary looked positively exhausted; yet she looked just as calmingly cheerful as usual.

"Sakura!" Iris happily exclaimed, rushing to the door to hug the older woman. "You're home! We've been missing you a lot here, too many things going on."

"I know," Sakura responded, hugging the youngest Hanagumi sister back. "But now that we – Maria and I – are back here, I guess there are something we could do to help sorting out all the fiasco."

"By the way, where is Maria?" Iris asked, looking behind Sakura.

"She's taking our newest recruit for a tour around the building. Your Niisan is with them as well," Sakura answered.

So, the newest recruit was finally here. Sumire found herself excited by this, and glancing quickly at her sisters, she could see that they were excited as well – except for Kanna. Her closest sister seemed a bit disturbed about this; Sumire made a mental note to gorge out what really happened from the Okinawan later at home.

"I can't wait to see whether she will pair up with one of the girls, just like Ella pairs up with Mifuyuko," Orihime commented. "What's her name again?"

"Noreen," Sakura answered. "Noreen Russell. We don't know yet who she's likely to pair with, she seems a bit different from our current girls."

The echoing sounds of footsteps approaching the kitchen startled Sumire. Looking further away from the door, she saw three tall-ish figures approaching. She instantly recognised the Commander and Maria among the three. She sort of recognised the third person as well, though she couldn't recall where she saw this female.

"Ah, here they are," Sakura said, smiling. "Everyone, this is Noreen, our newest junior. Noreen, these are the rest of the Hanagumi – Iris, Leni, Orihime, Kouran, Kanna, and Sumire."

To be continued...

'Till I write again!