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Chapter Ten: The Theatre Festival – Part 3: Carmen

The next day the set was finished and looked just as good as the original. Everyone was exhausted and just wanted to sleep for the few hours there was before the performance. However, Miyuki had other ideas. As soon as the set was up she had Sakura call for a final run-through, amid many groans from the actors. Sakura joined Miyuki in front of the stage and was confused when the other girl looked at her and shook her head.

"Go to the infirmary Aoi-san," Miyuki said. "You still haven't been checked out for permanent or serious damage and you need the rest." The way Miyuki said it made it sound like a request, but Sakura knew it was an order, so she simply nodded her head and headed out of the theatre, the Lillian group close behind her.

They were halfway to the door when Sakura suddenly stopped and looked behind her, only to roll her eyes when she saw Sachiko and Shizuma having a heated conversation, while at the same time managing to glare daggers at each other. "If looks could kill..." Sakura thought to herself as she motioned the others to wait for her and approached the two older girls' whose conversation seemed to have calmed down as the two girls had stopped glaring at each other.

Everyone had just finished rebuilding the set and Shizuma was quite impressed with the work ethic all the students, especially Sakura and Nagisa, had shown. She was about to get on the stage for one last run-through when she saw Sachiko approach her. Knowing that this had been coming all along, Shizuma just stood and waited.

"Ogasawara-san," Shizuma politely addressed Sachiko when she was only a few feet away. "It has been a while."

"Indeed it has Hanazono-san," Sachiko responded, equally polite though it seemed somewhat forced. "I wonder how long it has been?"

"About six years would be my guess," Shizuma replied. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, your sister perhaps?" Shizuma smirked when she saw Sachiko pale slightly.

"Sakura has nothing to do with this," Sachiko said, not bothering to act polite anymore, "and how would you know she is here?"

"She is Aoi Nagisa-san's elder sister, albeit adopted elder sister, but still her elder sister nonetheless," Shizuma responded. "I recognized her immediately the first time I saw her here at Miator, though I didn't say anything to her until two nights ago."

"I see," was all Sachiko said, starting to glare daggers at Shizuma who returned the gesture just as fiercely. After a few minutes of this silent glaring contest, Sachiko hardened her glare and narrowed her eyes. "Stay away from Sakura," she warned.

"And why would I want to do a thing like that?" Shizuma asked, turning to teasing instead of impoliteness to get under Sachiko's skin. "After all, she did tell me that she had missed me after all the years we hadn't seen each other. Which reminds me, why did you never tell me that she was disowned?"

"That is none of your concern," Sachiko said hotly. "However, if you must know, I was sworn by my mother to never mention Sakura's name ever again. I was an only child and always would be, in the eyes of my family anyway. Besides," here Sachiko looked away from Shizuma, as if ashamed, "it's partially my fault she was disowned in the first place. I didn't fight for her, I let them do all sorts of awful things to her and I...I didn't do anything about it. What kind of sister does that?" Sachiko asked, facing Shizuma who was surprised at the look she got from her old friend.

Sighing at the desperate look on Sachiko's face, Shizuma crossed the foot of space that separated them and pulled her friend into a tight hug. "It was out of your hands," Shizuma said, trying to be reassuring. "There was nothing you could do, even if you wanted to. It wasn't your fault, and Sakura doesn't blame you for it."

Sakura approached the two older girls and was only a few feet away when she saw Shizuma hug Sachiko. Walking up to them, she managed to hear what Shizuma was telling Sachiko.

"It was out of your hands," Shizuma said, "there was nothing you could do, even if you wanted to. It wasn't your fault, and Sakura doesn't blame you for it."

"You better believe I don't," Sakura said, making her presence known and smirking inwardly as Sachiko and Shizuma sprang apart from each other. "I told before, I don't blame you onee-sama and I never did," Sakura said, looking at Sachiko, "and I can't believe you needed Shizuma of all people telling it to you to make you believe it."

"What are you insinuating there, Sakura?" Shizuma asked, pretending to be hurt.

"Oh, nothing," Sakura said, smiling innocently at Shizuma.

"Right, no offence, but I don't really believe that," Shizuma said, returning the tease.

"None taken," Sakura replied. "Anyway, since Miyuki doesn't need me for the final run-through I'm going to take everyone to my room where they can sleep a bit before the festival starts."

"What about you?" Sachiko asked, regaining her composure and acting as if nothing had happened with her and Shizuma.

"I'm going to the infirmary to get checked out," Sakura said, "I'm fine, but Miyuki still wants me to go, if only to give her some peace of mind," she added, seeing the panicked expression on her sister's face.

Sachiko merely nodded and, after bidding Shizuma good luck, the pair of them joined the rest of the Lillian group and Sakura took them to the Strawberry Dorms where everyone crashed in her room until the festival and Sakura made her way over to the infirmary as per Miyuki's orders.

A few hours later Sakura was standing backstage with Nagisa and Tamao, amazed at the full house audience Carmen had attracted. Sakura had been to the infirmary and, after being told that she was absolutely fine, everything looked worse than it actually was, she got some sleep before grabbing her friends from her room and letting them loose in the festival grounds, making sure they knew what time the play started. Looking out from behind the curtain with Nagisa and Tamao, Sakura was easily able to identify them, sitting in the middle of the theatre.

Just then, the lights went out and a voice that Sakura recognized as belonging to one of the tech girls from Miator came out over the intercom. "We now present to you the Strawberry Dorms upperclassmen's production of Carmen," she stated and the crowd grew quiet.

"It's about to begin," Miyuki said, appearing beside Sakura.

"Yea," Sakura said nodding as she prayed to Maria-sama that everything would go the way it was supposed to today. The curtain went up and the sound of heels hitting the stage reached Sakura's ears. As soon as they stopped, the lights went on and Chikaru was revealed in the costume she and Sakura had made for Carmen, amidst many squeals of delight from the audience.

"Chikaru-san looks so lovely," Nagisa said.

"She looks great!" Tamao added.

"Yea," Chio, Nagisa and Tamao's underclassmen helper, agreed.

Sakura nodded again and crossed her fingers, silently praying for Chikaru when she got a bad feeling as soon as Chikaru appeared onstage. After that, the play continued, Shizuma doing absolutely fabulous as Don Jose. The fight between Shizuma and Kaname went perfectly, if it was a little too intense, with the sound effects and the girls in the booth getting everything spot-on. Then it was time for Amane's performance as Escamillo, the bull fight scene went without a hitch and Sakura was beginning to feel like her bad feeling was just due to nerves for her friends. However, in the scene where Escamillo confesses his love to Carmen, Sakura's bad feeling intensified and she found out what it was all about.

"Ah, Carmen, I love you," Amane said.

"I also love you," Chikaru replied.

"I will also win the match in today's festival," Amane informed, twirling Chikaru around in a dance. "I'll do it for you!"

"Escamillo!" Chikaru said, leaning in towards Amane. That was when it happened. Sakura's enhanced eyesight allowed her to see it before anyone else. The heel on Amane's shoe broke right off and the pair of them started falling backwards.

Sakura looked around and saw Kaname and Momomi smirking in the shadows as they watched Amane fall. Sakura watched as they fell and she saw Chikaru narrow her eyes before slamming her leg out to stop the fall as she caught Amane, but then her leg twisted and she cried out in pain before she and Amane fell to the ground.

"What happened?" Amane whispered to Chikaru as she started to pick herself up off the stage.

"I sprained my leg," Chikaru whispered back. "It hurts and I cannot dance," Chikaru said, a little louder.

"Right," Amane said, taking the improvised hint. "You poor thing," Amane said, louder as she stood up, Chikaru in her arms. "Oh, my Carmen," Amane said as she walked offstage, carrying Chikaru with her amidst confused whispers in the audience and concerned whispers amongst those backstage.

As soon as the pair was offstage, Sakura joined Shizuma, Miyuki, Shion, Nagisa and Tamao who had gathered around the pair as Amane told them what had happened.

"When she helped me from the fall, she sprained her leg," Amane told the gathered group. "Etoile-sama, let's duel on the dance floor," Amane proposed.

"I understand," Shizuma said, "in order to buy us some time right?" Amane nodded and the pair ran onstage.

"Escamillo!" Shizuma shouted, pointing her sword at Amane. "This is a duel!"

"That's just what I wanted," Amane replied, pointing her own sword at Shizuma.

As the pair improvised their duel, Miyuki and Sakura were talking to Chikaru.

"It's really impossible for you to continue," Miyuki told Chikaru.

"I'm all right," Chikaru said, shaking her head.

"You need to stay off that leg," Sakura insisted, "because if you don't, you'll only make it worse, I should know."

As Sakura and Miyuki were dealing with Chikaru's injury, Nagisa was watching the duel onstage intently and trying to think of something she could do so that the production would be successful. Suddenly, she saw Shizuma's sword pointing backstage. At first, she thought it was pointing at her, but when she followed the direction more closely, she saw that it was pointing to something behind her. Turning around, while still following the sword's direction, she saw Sakura still talking to Chikaru. Looking at the sword and back to Sakura again, Nagisa approached her elder sister.

"Trust me Chikaru," Sakura said, "you need to get that looked at, it could be really serious."

"I'm fine," Chikaru said, refusing to let the production fail.

"No you're not," Sakura insisted and was about to say something more about Chikaru's condition when Nagisa tugged on her arm. "What is it Nagisa-chan?"

"Etoile-sama's sword is pointing at you," Nagisa said, nodding her head in the direction of the stage. When Sakura turned to look, she saw that, indeed, Shizuma's sword was pointing at her.

"What...?" Sakura asked, very confused and not understanding what Shizuma wanted from her.

Tamao looked between the sword and a confused Sakura again, and had a flashback.

Tamao was sitting at her desk writing poetry for the Literature Club while she waited for Nagisa to come back after going to talk to Sakura about something when the door opened and her roommate came in.

"Hey Tamao-chan," Nagisa said, approaching her roommate.

"Yes Nagisa-chan, what is it?" Tamao replied, putting her pen down to look at her roommate.

"You haven't seen Sakura onee-sama anywhere have you?" Nagisa asked, leaning against the window situated between her desk and Tamao's.

"I thought you were just with her," Tamao said, wondering why her roommate would be looking for Sakura if she was just with her.

"I went to her room, but she wasn't there," Nagisa explained. "I've looked everywhere and can't find her anywhere!"

"Calm down, Nagisa-chan," Tamao said, trying to reassure her friend. "I'm sure Sakura-san just went for a walk somewhere and isn't back yet."

"I guess," Nagisa said, pouting and looking out the window as Tamao went back to her poetry. "Oh!" Nagisa exclaimed, startling Tamao.

"What is it?" Tamao asked, sounding alarmed.

"I found onee-sama," Nagisa said, pointing at the window. "Come look."

Tamao came to stand at the window beside her roommate and looked out. Sure enough, there was Sakura, dressed in her ocean-blue pyjamas and talking with Etoile Shizuma-sama who was dressed in her own silver pyjamas.

"What are they doing?" Nagisa asked, confused.

"I could be wrong," Tamao said, watching the pair with interest, "but I think Sakura-san is helping Etoile-sama learn her lines for Carmen."

"Now that you mention it," Nagisa said, putting a finger to her chin. "I think I recall hearing Etoile-sama ask onee-sama to help her with her lines, no matter what part she got."

"At any rate, we should let them rehearse," Tamao said. "There's a lot of work they have to do in order for Etoile-sama to be ready for when they start actual rehearsals."

"Yea," Nagisa agreed, nodding her head and she and Tamao left the window to do their own thing, leaving Sakura and Shizuma to practise on their own.

"Sakura-san, you're up," Tamao said, coming out of her flashback as realization dawned on her. "You're going to be the substitute!" Tamao declared when Sakura turned to look at her.

"EH?" Sakura asked.

"You're the only one who knows all of Chikaru-sama's lines," Nagisa added, realizing what Tamao was going on about.

"But..." Sakura began, but was cut off by Shion.

"No buts, you're the substitute, so get changed!" Shion ordered, shoving Sakura into a dressing room.

Shizuma was improvising a duel with Amane and realized that it was taking way too long; the audience had even noticed it too.

"Come on guys," Shizuma thought as she continued the duel with Amane. "You should have come up with something by now!" No sooner had this thought passed through her head than the voice of that very same something, or rather someone, rang through the theatre in a desperate plea.

"Please, stop!" Sakura pleaded as soon as she walked onto the stage. "Please! Don't fight each other!"

"That's the spirit," Shizuma thought, looking at Sakura over her shoulder and silently noting how good Sakura looked in Carmen's costume.

"Escamillo, you are the hero of Seville," Sakura stated, as everyone backstage watched her improvise lines on the spot. "You are the star of the festival! Now please, go!" Sakura begged.

"I concede," Amane said, looking at Sakura. "I won't forget this Don Jose!" Amane vowed, turning to Shizuma before running offstage.

"That's too bad, the mishap with the shoe went well too," Momomi quietly whined to Kaname as the two watched Amane run past them to the backstage area.

"Yea," Kaname agreed. "Aoi Sakura...she's pretty good isn't she?"

As Amane explained everything to those gathered backstage, Sakura and Shizuma went on with the production.

"Oh, Carmen! I love you!" Shizuma told Sakura, who just stood there, looking away. "I quit the army and became a thief, just for you! Even you know that, right?"

"Hmpf, so what about it?" Sakura asked, turning her face so that Shizuma, and the audience, could see the pure malicious contempt in her eyes. "I will always be a free woman!" Sakura declared, turning around to face the audience. "I won't lie to my feelings!"

"Hear me out, Carmen!" Shizuma said, approaching Sakura and taking her hands. "Please! Let's go to a distant town and start over!"

"No! No!" Sakura shouted, pulling away from Shizuma. "The ring I received from you..." Sakura said, pulling a ring off her finger. "This is what I think of your love!" Sakura threw the ring out into the audience as Shizuma watched in horror. Before she could say anything, a loud roar of applause broke out as a light shone on one of the windows on the set that they had rebuilt that morning. "He won!" Sakura exclaimed, turning to the window. "I must go!"

"W-wait!" Shizuma yelled as Sakura began to run away. "Carmen!" Shizuma barked, her face full of anger.

Sakura turned around when Shizuma yelled her name as a bell sounded. She saw Shizuma run toward her, drawing her sword as she did so and thrust it right against Sakura's side as the theatre lights turned red and cast large shadows of Don Jose killing Carmen onto the stage behind them.

Locking shocked ocean-blue eyes with shocked amber ones, Sakura shuddered for just a second before she slowly closed them and slid to the ground at a regretful Shizuma's feet. After a few seconds, Shizuma's sword fell to the floor with a clang and her legs buckled underneath her and she slid to her knees beside Sakura's fallen form as the lights changed from red to a depressing light blue.

"Carmen..." Shizuma said, picking Sakura's limp form off the floor and holding it close to her. "Carmen... Carmen... Carmen... CARMEN!" Shizuma cried, her voice filled with anger, regret and pain. So filled with pain and remorse was her cry that everyone in the audience was either crying or close to tears. Turning her head down to look at Sakura, Shizuma bent her head and kissed Sakura softly on the lips. "Carmen..." Shizuma whispered, loud enough for the audience to hear, holding Sakura closer and hanging her head as the lights went out. After a couple seconds of shocked silence, the audience burst into applause as the curtain closed in front of the pair onstage.

Backstage, everyone involved with the play had come and gathered around Shizuma and Sakura. Shizuma stood up in the middle of the circle of people and helped Sakura up as well who was looking at the crowd of people applauding her incredibly confused.

"Onee-sama, you were incredible!" Nagisa exclaimed, hugging Sakura.

"That was a huge success," Miyuki agreed, nodding.

"Thank you so much Sakura-chan," Chikaru said, walking up to Sakura supported by her two club members Sakura now knew were called Kizuna and Remon.

Sakura looked at Shizuma, confused.

"You were great," Shizuma whispered in her ear and pulled back smiling, which in turn made Sakura smile too.

"I guess I was," Sakura said, looking at the ceiling as she sent a thankful prayer to Maria-sama for allowing the play to be a success.

A/N: wow, longest chapter ive ever written. sorry for taking so long, i actually had this written like last week but wasn't sure if i should end it where i did. in the end i decided against adding more so i apologize as you will all have to wait for the next chapter before things start getting crazy again (and im not talking about sachiko vs shizuma) which is something else i should apologize for. im not very good at writing verbal fights and i thought it would be more fun to have sachiko and shizuma's relationship with each other be a little confusing and odd (as evidenced by shizuma's explanation to sakura about sachikos behaviour after sakura was disowned in an earlier chapter) i also made the whole theatre festival thing long on purpose because it helped set the stage for character behaviour in later chapters. um i think thats about it, so please R + R!