Echoes of a Final Duel (part 1 of 10)

a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Shanejayell

        The pink haired woman stood up on the kareoke stage in the 
Shinjuku bar, her eyes dark and intense as she sang. The words of the 
song rang out across the bar like an anthem, as if they held some 
special meaning to her,

        "I want to change the world,
        "I want to make it well,"

        A tiny pause, her expression growing sorrowful. Her voice 
drops down a bit, making the listener lean in closer to hear the rest,

        "How can I change the world
        when I can't change myself?
        Try again tomorrow..."

        From a table not far away, Arisugawa Juri looked up at her 
thoughtfully as she returned to her seat. "Interesting choice of song, 
Utena," she said.

        It was very odd, finding herself here in a dinky bar not far 
from her home with Tenjou Utena, of all people. They had passed each 
other outside her apartment building seemingly by chance, and soon had 
agreed to going out and catching up with each other. And all the while 
Juri found herself wondering, why? Why come to see her? And why now?

        "Thank you," Utena smiled back.

        Juri found herself looking intently for the idealism that 
Utena had always carried along with her like a banner, and was 
comforted to see it remaining within her blue eyes. There was a 
growing maturity visible there as well, and it was clear that she had 
lost some of her innocence along that road to growing up.

        'Join the club,' Juri thought wryly.

        "What do you remember about Ohtori?" Utena asked her softly.

        Juri nodded, understanding a bit about why Utena had decided 
to seek her out. "I remember the Duels," she said softly, "the Rose 
bride, and the prize that we Duelists all fought for, a prize that you 
never wanted." A pause, "The power to revolutionize the world."

        Utena smiled gently, "Good."

        "What I don't know for certain," Juri met those shockingly 
blue eyes with her own, "is whom was the Victor of the Duels." She 
smiled grimly, "You won, didn't you?"

        Utena puffed out a breath, "Yes."

        "How did you..." Juri started to say, only to be stopped by a 
upraised hand.

        "I'm very sorry," Utena said to her quietly, "but I'm not 
ready to talk about it, what happened to me back then." Juri was 
surprised to see a single tear slide down her cheek, "I don't know if 
I'll ever be ready to."

        Juri accepted that, if somewhat reluctantly. "You were the 
victor of the Duels. Did you win the prize, the Power to Revolutionize 
the World?" she asked.

        "I don't know if I'd call it a prize," Utena smiled wryly, 
"it's more like a burden. But yes, I did gain that power."

        Juri opened up her mouth to say the first thing that came to 
mind, then firmly stopped herself. Instead she simply sipped at her 
drink, looking over at Utena thoughtfully and letting the silence 
speak for her.

        "You're really quite good at that," Utena smiled slightly, 
"maybe you should have been a priest." A soft laugh. "Or a bartender."

        Juri smiled slightly at that, but remained silent.

        "The power of Dios... when I call it, it's almost too much for 
me to control. It's like walking on the edge of a cliff, the ground 
crumbling under your feet while knowing that over the edge is a 
never-ending fall," Utena tried to explain.

        "You've used it then," Juri prompted her.

        "Right after I received it," Utena agreed, "I tried to reach 
out across Ohtori, make things better for all those who had been 
touched by the Duels." A soft sigh, "Instead, I managed to erase all 
memory of myself and the Duels."

        "But I remember," Juri stared, then her eyes narrowed. "I only 
really began remembering a few months back. Why?" she asked.

        "I ran into Wakaba," Utena sighed.

        Juri nodded slightly, remembering the brown haired girl Utena 
spoke of. Cheerful, full of energy, the personification of the word 
genki, she and Utena had been best friends from elementary school. 
From what Juri had heard later on, Wakaba was why Utena got involved 
with the Duels in the first place, avenging her honor against Saionji.

        "She remembered me from when we were younger," Utena said 
quietly, "but nothing from the Ohtori period. Nothing at all." She 
picked up her drink, having a bit of the rum and coke, "So I tried to 
set things right again, more or less."

        "Well, thank you for the memories," Juri smiled, getting a 
soft chuckle from Utena. She sat down her own drink, "What happened to 
Anthy?"

        "I don't know," Utena surprised her with that answer.

        "What? Why?" Juri sat up, looking over at her in confusion.

        "I wanted her to be free," Utena said softly in explanation, 
"free of being the Rose Bride, free of the world's pain, and free even 
of any obligation towards me. So I slipped away from Ohtori and I 
haven't seen her since."

        Juri nodded thoughtfully, picking up her drink only to put it 
down once again. "I think she loved you," Juri finally said, "in her 
own way."

        "You could be right," Utena quietly agreed.

        "Juri? Arisugawa Juri?" a girl's voice came from behind them. 
There was a flash of annoyance on Juri's face, but she quickly masked 
it.

        "Yes?" Juri turned around in her seat to ask the girl quietly.

        "I knew it was her!" the girl practically squealed to her 
friends. In moments a group of young women were around Juri, gushing 
about a photo spread in some magazine. Juri signed autographs good 
naturedly, and soon enough they were alone again.

        "Does that happen to you often?" Utena asked with a smile.

        "I never should have let my friend talk me into doing that 
photo shoot," Juri sighed. "So what are you going to do now?" she 
asked her softly.

        "Be careful to use the power very, very carefully," Utena 
smiled, "after traveling around Japan for the past few years, I can 
almost understand how Dios could find himself wanting to bring the 
world a revolution."

        Juri sounded just a bit worried as she asked, "You aren't 
going to try doing that, are you?" She didn't think that the Utena she 
had known would do something like that, but it had been a few years 
since they had all graduated.

        "No," Utena shook her head, "for that kind of revolution to 
have any meaning it can't be brought in from outside." A gentle smile, 
"The only way that you can ever change the world will be the hard way, 
one person at a time."

        Juri raised her glass smoothly, "To the revolution of the 
world!"

        Utena tapped her glass against Juri's, "And to the world's 
revolution!"

        "So you've been traveling around Japan," Juri shook her head, 
"me, too. Too bad I couldn't seem to find what I was looking for."

        "Or maybe you've already found it, but just don't know it 
yet," Utena offered.

        "Don't get Zen with me," Juri mock threatened.

        "I wouldn't dream of it," Utena smiled slightly. She got up a 
bit unsteadily from her chair, apparently feeling the alcohol.

        Juri got up to steady her, "You all right?"

        "I'll be fine," Utena waved her off. She seemed to concentrate 
for a moment, and all traces of the unsteadiness were gone. "Neat 
trick, hmm?" she smiled at Juri.

        "I'm impressed," Juri nodded thoughtfully. They made their way 
through the crowded bar, Juri occasionally throwing a scowl at any 
grabby men they encountered. It didn't take long to get outside, the 
air crisp with a fall chill.

        "Thank you for seeing me at such short notice," Utena offered 
Juri her hand.

        As Juri was shaking it she saw a familiar figure coming up 
from behind Utena. "Don't look now," she murmured, "but you've got 
company."

        Utena turned and simply froze.

        "Utena-sa..." Anthy started to say, then she stopped herself. 
With a gentle smile, "Utena, I've been looking for you."

        Anthy had changed almost as much as Utena had, dressing in 
casual clothing rather than the school girl's uniform Juri was used to 
seeing her in. But the biggest difference was in her eyes. When she 
looked over at Utena, Anthy was happy, fully, honestly happy.

        "Anthy," Utena seemed at a loss for words.

        Juri moved behind her and nudged gently, sending her forward 
towards Anthy. As the two women fell into a fierce hug Juri said with 
a smile, "I'll leave you two to catch up."

        Juri walked away from them, tempted to hang back to hear what 
they said but firmly restraining her self. She did stop to look back 
for a moment, and smiled at what she saw. Throughout the evening Juri 
had felt that there was something... off about Utena. But now, 
standing there with Anthy, she looked complete at last.

        'They're going to be all right,' Juri thought with a smile.

        It was getting a bit chilly, so Juri pulled her jacket around 
her, considering something else that Utena had said. 'A bartender,' 
she mused, 'not likely. But owning a bar...' Juri nodded to herself 
thoughtfully, 'that I could do.'

        The bar that Utena and she had been drinking in was little 
better than a meat market. No self respecting woman would have gone in 
there if an alternative had been available. 'So what if I provide an 
alternative?' Juri mused. A place to meet and talk, dance and drink 
without worrying about getting into trouble. A bar run by women, 
staffed by women, just for women.

        "But what do I call it?" Juri wondered aloud. The name would 
have to be memorable, something that stuck in someone's mind. Without 
thinking about it Juri reached for the locket that once dangled around 
her neck, forgetting that she had cast if off years ago. Then she 
froze.

        'Arisugawa's Locket,' Juri thought. Her name, boldly placed 
along with a symbol of her past, a past she wasn't ashamed to show. 
She smiled, striding down the street, plans for what would be in her 
bar already forming in her head...

The End.

Author's Notes:

        This was originally going to be part of my 'Arisugawa's 
Locket' series of stories, but I felt it deserved it's own story. I 
never really touched on how Juri met Utena or Anthy again after 
graduating from Ohtori, nor had I fully explained where Juri got the 
idea to open up a bar in the first place.

        At the end of the Utena series everyone has seemingly 
forgotten all about Utena. I've read a few fics based on Anthy doing 
that intentionally, but I thought it might be more interesting if 
Utena had done it by accident. I'm also touching on why Utena doesn't 
use her new power to try and make sweeping changes to the world, I 
hope in a realistic way.

        For readers of my other fanfics: this is set a few months 
before the grand opening of Arisugawa's Locket and also is part of my 
'Eternal City, Crystal Tokyo' timeline. 

Onwards to Part 2


Back to Echoes of a Final Duel Index - Back to Ranma 1/2 Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction