"Did you hear, did you hear the news?" One of the more cheerful, or maybe genki, chambermaids asked the other two. "Hear what, Eiiko?" one asked her eagerly. The other leaned forward to hear what had happened! "The scandalous behavior at the dance last night!" The girl named Eiiko said with a wicked smile on her face. "What? Really?" The third girl said, surprised. "What was so scandalous about a dance ball, though?" "The Princess and her very handsome lady Captain danced exclusively together all night long, Biiko," Eiiko said with a self-satisfied smile on her pretty face. "And that's not all that happened!" she added dramatically. "What else happened?" the other girl asked curiously. "Shiiko, Juri-sama only chose to dance one time, and it was with that odd new girl, Utena's friend!" Eiiko reported. "OUR Juri-sama!?" Biiko and Shiiko roared at her dramatically, little lightning bolts dancing around the furious girls. A sweatdropping Eiiko looked at her two friends with a certain amount of surprise. "You two don't seriously think you have a chance with her, do you?" Eiiko asked them with raised eyebrow. "We can dream, can't we?" Biiko asked her friend mournfully. Utena smiled a little, as she quickly walked by the three chatting chambermaids. They completely stopped talking and jumped right back to work. It seemed that the castle's rumor mill was already hard at work. Not totally accurate, but pretty close. She and Anthy had danced together that night, but only, Utena silently insisted to herself, for security reasons. She just didn't want to take the risk that a dance partner might seek to injure Princess Anthy, somehow. The voice of Utena's conscience was making some loud, rude noises at that little rationalization. It was telling her that she danced with Anthy because she wanted to, not because of some sense of duty. She tried to shake the memory of how nice it had felt to dance with her, how close she had held Anthy's supple body to her. Utena reached the door she wanted and knocked on it gently, asking "Shiori, are you up yet?" Only an incoherent moan answered her. Utena gently pushed the door open and took a look inside. Shiori was sprawled out on top the bed, blankets twisted around her and still dressed in her ball gown from last night. "You shouldn't have pushed yourself to go attend the ball," Utena said to her in scolding tones. She walked over to Shiori's bedside and heaved the exhausted mage back to the center of the mattress. "It was worth it, though," Shiori said with a weary but content smile. "That Juri is so cute," she said dreamily. Utena chuckled softly at that, getting a weak glare from the bedridden Shiori. She sat down on the bed beside her, patting her on the shoulder gently. She took a moment to try and find just the right words. "You do know she's a bit of a playboy, right?" Utena cautioned her friend as gently as possible. "There's nothing wrong with a bit of playing," Shiori answered her with a cheeky grin on her face. A smiling Utena shook her head and left, letting her exhausted friend get some much-needed rest. The major magics she had worked yesterday, plus the dance, must have wiped her out. Still, she seemed to remembering Shiori bouncing back after a day or so, so she should be fully recovered soon. Utena walked by the three chambermaids for a second time, and noted that they stopped talking again as soon as she got near them. She seriously thought about stopping and giving them all a lecture on passing rumors, but she figured that denying the story would just cause the rumor to spread even faster. Besides, she had something more important to do today. Anthy had decided that the suite attached to her rooms that usually was given to a lady-in-waiting, would instead belong to her new bodyguard, Utena. At this very moment, all her things were being moved over, and Utena needed to get something from her quarters before the movers disturbed it. 'Disturb it,' she thought to herself grimly, 'and possibly wake him up!' She didn't want to see what might happen then. Walking into her old room, Utena smiled a bit in relief when she saw what she was looking for hadn't been moved yet. She sent the large group of pages and chambermaids away for lunch and locked the door behind them. She walked over and gazed down at the chest thoughtfully for a moment, before taking action. Utena opened the lid and rummaged around until she found what she was here for. Pulling it out of the old oak chest, Utena carefully unwrapped the long blue silk wrapped bundle, eventually revealing a very finely crafted blade. It was a thin and almost delicate looking long sword with a ruby adorned guard and a decorative crosspiece. The metal shone, almost seeming to have a faint glow to it. She cautiously slid her hand around the sword's hilt, and suddenly a bright light shone out from the ruby's heart! It focused in the air just front of her, and in only a moment a ghostly figure floated there. "Quickly, Utena!" the spirit cried out to her in alarm. "You must go rescue the fair maiden down the hallway!" Still holding the sword Utena quickly spun about, but stopped as she thought about it, and remembered who was in that nearby suite. "I rather suspect," she said to him with a wry smile, "that nothing's going on in Kozue's room that she doesn't actually want to have happen." With a small frown on his face, the ghost turned, and seemed to 'look' through the stonewalls a bit more closely. Utena still didn't know how the completely bloodless ghost was able to actually manage it, but a faint blush appeared on the spirit's cheeks. "Sorry, my lady," Dios said to her sheepishly. The spirit of a long dead prince, Dios had completely refused to leave the earthly plane while princesses still needed to be rescued by him. His spirit somehow invested his family's sword with his essence, and granted it strange, unearthly powers to use against the forces of darkness. But his spirit was a... very, very innocent thing, and the more worldly ways of this modern era often confused him. "Some dark force is at work in this castle, old friend," Utena said seriously to Dios' pale spirit. "Will you grant me your sword's aide in opposing it?" she asked softly. The spirit's willing aide would be a far greater help to her than just carrying the enchanted blade around would be. He could even take over her body in a fight, carrying many centuries of fighting experience to the battle. Dios smiled and nodded to her firmly, "Of course, I would be honored to aide my fellow prince in your heroic endeavors." Utena sighed a bit at that. Ever since she had first received the blade and awakened the spirit, she had tried to convince him that she wasn't a prince, merely a common soldier. But Dios argued that being a prince was in the spirit, not the title, and that Utena was a true prince in all the ways that mattered. The spirit faded, becoming transparent, then seemed to swirl down into the ruby on the blade. There was a soft glow around her finger, and as Utena withdrew it, she saw that a ring had formed around her finger. The rose signet was heavy, a comforting sign of Dios' protection over her and those she guarded. She rummaged around in the trunk for the sword's sheath, and carefully belted it around her waist. The sword slid home with a almost disappointed sounding sigh, as if it sorrowed on not facing an enemy in battle. She patted the hilt gently, like she was soothing a loyal hound or trusted steed. "Don't worry, I suspect you'll be in use soon enough," Utena said with a small smile. She unlocked the door and headed out to see if Princess Anthy had awakened from her slumber yet. Princess Anthy smiled to herself in satisfaction as she looked around the small bedroom. It was almost exactly the same as Utena's old quarters had been. The bookshelf was already all set up, the bed was in the right place, and her wardrobe placed just right against the wall. Miki nodded as he looked around the room right beside Anthy's. "It looks much the same, m'lady. I was wondering if all this was really needed, though," he said to her quietly. Anthy favored him with one of her sunny smiles, and he felt like his bones were just going to melt. "I'm making her move out of her quarters because I have need for a bodyguard," she quietly explained, "so it seems to be only fair to make this place as much like her home as I possibly can." There was a light in her eyes when she spoke of Utena that made Miki want to sigh aloud in despair. It was obvious her feelings for the good captain were far more than merely friendly, though he did wonder how long it would take Utena to see it. A soft knock on the door, and Anthy smiled as she called out, "Come in." Anthy's face lit up on seeing Utena enter, though Utena herself seemed to be trying to remain rather business-like. "Good morning, Anthy," a smiling Utena said with a small bow. "Good morning," Anthy returned, beaming. Miki just waved at her, as he realized both were focused almost entirely on each other. 'I could probably set off those fireworks the eastern lands import,' he thought with a sigh, 'and they wouldn't even notice.' He quietly exited, only stopping to instruct the pages carrying the last of Utena's things to leave them out in the hall for now. "It looks just like my old guard quarters," Utena said, looking around thoughtfully. Anthy found herself holding her breath a moment before Utena finally smiled at her, softly saying "Thank you." Anthy smiled back, "Your welcome." She took a step forward, "I'm glad to have you here, Utena." She found herself looking up at Utena's face even as she searched for the words to express how she was feeling. "I'm glad to be of service, Princess," a slightly breathless Utena said, reflexively falling back on the usual form of address for royalty. Anthy's face seemed to pale, and without a word she left Utena's room for the safety of her own. 'She only thinks of me as a royal to protect,' Anthy thought to herself despairingly as she flopped down on her bed. Utena was left standing there, blinking in confusion. "What did I say?" she finally muttered to herself. Shaking her head, she went out to the hallway and literally stumbled over her remaining stuff.
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