I awoke in a tidy little Japanese room. The futon below me was comfortable enough and I decided to sleep again. I figured that whoever went to the trouble of putting me here shouldn’t be insulted by me trying to mess everything up and leave. On that note, I passed out. The sunlight was filtered by the rice paper, but bright enough to hurt through my eyelids. I rolled over and immediately regretted it. My head hurt in three places and my whole right side was throbbing. I lay back, gasping with the effort and trying not to throw up. "If you get sick, there’s a basin to your right." The voice was cool and composed. "It might make you feel better, you know." "Thanks," I hissed and hissed again as the pain of drawing in a breath took all my concentration. "You’re pretty beat up, you know. You were lucky I happened to find you." The voice held some private amusement of its own – I wanted in on the joke. "Thanks again." I tried to crane my head around to see the speaker, but it was no use. I gave up trying, closed my aching eyes and let the pain wash across me. "Any chance of telling me your name, so I know who to send the thank you note to?" The voice laughed – a pleasant, deep chuckle. If she was as lovely as her laugh, she was a knockout. "My name," she paused for a second, "is Arisugawa Juri. I believe you were looking for me anyway." I could feel my strength ebbing. Great, so much for the element of surprise. My last thought as I slipped into a deep sleep was, what the hell was she doing in Kagoshima? *** "Tokyo?" I said, astounded. How the hell did I get here? "How long was I unconscious?" I croaked. Arisugawa Juri leaned forward and handed me a celadon cup with aromatic tea. I drank from it and was amazed again, this time by the flavor. I suppose by then I should have stopped being blown away by this woman…but it hadn’t all sunk in yet. I woke up to find the light almost gone. Somewhere, the sun was setting. The room I was in had turned pleasantly cool and I sighed. At that, the shoji had slid aside and my erstwhile hostess had entered. From my position on the floor, she was all legs, right up to her armpits. I thought to myself that if *she* had been the one who came into my office, I’d have never come to Kagoshima. She screamed "femme fatale" from her burnished copper curls to her arched eyebrows. In a remote way, she was gorgeous. "Good morning. I was getting worried." "Thanks." I said. She must think I have a one-word vocabulary. "It really is no problem. So far, you’ve been a delightful guest." She knelt down and proceeded to wipe down my face with a cool cloth. Her fingers were long and tapered. I’d have been glad to have them anywhere on my body. I sighed again. "I didn’t plan to spend another day here in Kagoshima." I said, my mind wandering a bit. "We’re not in Kagoshima. We’re in Tokyo." You already know my reaction. Her response was to hand me some good tea and wait for me to calm down. Her looks were long and searching, like she was looking for something in my face that should have been there, but wasn’t. Or maybe I just had two black eyes and looked like a tanuki. I sipped my tea and contemplated. I’d obviously been unconscious a lot longer than I thought. "How long have I actually been out?" I asked in between sips. She smiled. "About two days. You slept through the entire ride here. Given the state you were in, I’m not surprised. The doctors were afraid of internal injuries when they looked at you." "Doctors?" I asked. "Did you bring me to the hospital?" I didn’t think I could have been out that bad, but… "No. My doctors. They are on call." I sipped more tea and let the steam ease the tension in my face. I had at least one big lump, maybe more. I must have been a sight. "I expect you’ll want to know how I found you." She said, sipping her own tea. I glanced at her from under my lids. She was long and lean and feline. A jaguar in human form. I could see plenty of strength in her, and more than a little killer instinct. I wondered why she was being so nice to me. I nodded, and she continued. "I’ll be honest. I’ve been following you for days. Since just after you met with the Kiryuu’s. I saw you leave the building and something about you, I can’t quite put my finger on it - or at least, I couldn’t then. I think I can guess at it now." She fell into a reverie, as her voiced faded out. A moment passed and she snapped back into the present. "In any case, I followed you to Kyoto. I’ve been following you since. "I am sorry. I expected something like this would happen and I wasn’t able to prevent it." She sounded abashed. "You gave me the slip there, by walking back to the inn. I was waiting in a cab, but when you crossed the tracks I couldn’t follow. At least I got there quickly. Otherwise no one would have found you until morning." I nodded again, and found that it didn’t hurt my head too badly. I poured myself more tea. "So, " I said slowly, considering every word. "Thank you again for saving me. But that still leaves a few questions unanswered." She looked away, her face solemn, withdrawn. Her profile was sculpted, sharp features, large eyes, high cheekbones. She could be a model and make the other girls around her look insipid. "Like, how did I get from Kagoshima to Tokyo unconscious? You look strong, but I doubt you carried me on your back." I hadn’t intended it as a joke, but she laughed again and it transformed her. She looked less cold and aloof, more like a person I’d like to be around. "By helicopter, if you must know. That’s how I got out to Kago…" she stopped and cocked her head. "Excuse me one moment." And in a blink she was standing, then gone. I could hear voices, one lower than the other. The shoji slid back and Juri walked in, followed by a shorter woman, whose pierced nose and short hair proclaimed her more modern than her friend. Their relationship was immediately apparent, and for some reason this made me kind of glad. The younger woman kneeled down by my side and laid a cool hand on my brow, then cheek. Just like my mother used to when I was a child. "You look bad, but you feel much better." She grinned at me and bowed, slightly. "I’m Miiko, Juri’s wife." I tried not to show how much that turn of phrase startled me, but she kept grinning and I realized that she did it to startle. Juri came to sit by Miiko and I could see by the pinkness in her cheeks, that she wasn’t all that blasé about it, either. "So," Miiko continued. "I hope you’ve enjoyed our hospitality so far?" "Yes, I’m greatly indebted to you and Miss Arisugawa." I responded. Miiko laughed out loud and nudged Juri. "Miss Arisugawa. Huh, reminds me of the days when you were my teacher." I thought Juri was going to turn beet red at this abominable behavior, but she just smiled and clasped Miiko’s hand in her own. Instantly, I knew that, like Saionji, Arisugawa had made it through. I was happy for her. Whatever demons still trapped the Kiryuu’s and Kaoru, these two at least had escaped. "Miiko sat with you the entire first night, you know." Juri said to me. "She may not look it," she ignored the rude noise the younger woman made, "but she’s a highly trained nurse. She felt responsible – even with the doctors saying that all you needed was sleep." "You were burning with fever – and bruised all over. I was worried!" Miiko interrupted. "Oh, well, the bruises were from a tough judo workout a few days ago." I said, a bit sheepishly. Both women stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing. After a second I found myself laughing along with them. It felt good. I guess I haven’t laughed a lot recently. I bowed deeply. "Once again, my thanks to the two of you. I really do owe you a lot." They protested, but I felt like the least I could do was treat them to a nice dinner. They asked if I could eat Indian and I agreed. I hadn’t had a good curry in a while. Japanese curry is too sweet for me. Moti, by all accounts, is the ultimate Indian dining experience in Tokyo. We went to the Shinjuku branch. The food was excellent and the company pleasant. Juri turned out to be a retired teacher who had taken up modeling when her university had disapproved of her moving in with Miiko, an ex-student. "It wasn’t worth the hassle." Juri said. "I had had modeling jobs all through school. I don’t need to work, but I hate being idle. And modeling gave me a chance to travel. But it’s hard work and ultimately empty. Now I’m a photographer myself. It’s much nicer on this side of the camera. And I enjoy it." "And she’s great at it!" Miiko jumped in. "You’ve probably seen her work and never known it. Her photography is everywhere…make sure I show you when we get home tonight." "Um, actually, I was thinking I should be leaving…" I began, but Miiko interrupted - the usual state of affairs, I had gathered by this time. "No. I absolutely forbid it. You had a really bad concussion. At least one more night - I insist." I reluctantly agreed. But the last thing I wanted was to be indebted to one of the people who was most likely to have caved my head in, in the first place. ------------------------------------------------------------ Glossary of Terms: Oke: Bucket or Barrell, prounounced "oh-ke." Ukemi/uke: In Martial Arts, the person who attacks, and thus receives the technique being practiced is called the "uke." Practicing attacking and receiving techniques is referred to as "taking ukemi." Judoka: a practitioner of Judo. "-ka" as an ending means a person who does something…karateka, ikebanaka, etc… Gi: The two piece uniform worn by practitioners of Japanese Martial Arts. Judo and Aikido gis are usually thicker and padded where they would be grabbed, and thrown. Shinai: a practice sword made of split bamboo, as opposed to a "bokken" a practice sword made of wood. Tanto: a Japanese single-edged knife Shoji: A sliding screen door, of traditional Japanese design. Wood frame covered in rice paper Tanuki: a raccoon-dog, or badger, usually seen as a fertility symbol
Back to A Special Case Index - Back to Revolutionary Girl Utena Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction