Juri's Tales: Part Four Juri knocked, then boldly opened the door of the Tokyo apartment. 'What in the world?' she found herself wondering, looking around at the small crowd gathered there. The entire Ohtori student council waited in there for whatever mysterious announcement Utena and Anthy had said they were going to make. "Juri-sempai!" Miki Kaoru smiled at her happily. He got up out of his chair to bound over to her side. Juri managed to stop a hug, and instead shook his hand firmly. "Good to see you, Miki," Juri smiled at the blue hared boy. He had matured a bit, over the years, but he still looked like the thin pianist she once knew. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to my girlfriend," Miki smiled, tugging at her hand. "Girlfriend?" Juri echoed him, slightly surprised. She was even more surprised to see who it actually was. Nanami Kiryuu smiled at her honestly, "How have you been, Juri?" The blonde's hair was only shoulder length, but the biggest difference was in her eyes. A easy confidence shown forth, a self knowledge she had once lacked. "Things are going well for me," Juri smiled. It was obvious that they were happy together, so with a smile she asked, "How long have you been together?" "About a year," Miki smiled. He gazed fondly at Nanami, "A company I was recording at is a subsidiary of Kiryuu communications, and I ran into Nanami there." "More like I tracked him down," Nanami chuckled. "We got together to talk and we just seemed to click," she shrugged. The two looked into their eyes and seemed to become lost. Juri grinned and excused herself quietly to mingle a bit. Something odd struck her then: Touga and Saionji were standing at opposite ends of the room, the farthest apart they could get. "Touga," Juri greeted him quietly, as he was the closest. Up close, and the red hared duelist didn't look so good. His color was mostly from cosmetics, and his eyes were just a bit off focus. "Juri," Touga nodded. A slight smile, "Are you still chasing the ladies?" Juri was a bit startled by the brazenness of the question, but answered gamely, "Yes, I am. How about you?" Touga grinned, "But of course." He hefted a glass of something that smelled quite potent and took a deep drink. 'He's a bit too much into being the playboy, I think,' Juri thought to herself a bit sadly. With as much dignity as she could muster, she excused herself. She looked around, and noticed Saionji looked at her thoughtfully. She decided to see everyone and headed across the room toward him. "Hello, Saionji," she smiled cautiously. "It's good to see you," Saionji smiled at her. His green hair was tied back, and his face showed the lines of an easy smile. The cold formality and anger that had been his trademarks were gone, replaced by a feeling of kindness. "I can't get over how much everyone's changed," she remarked quietly. Saionji chuckled softly, "Including yourself, Arisugawa?" "What?" Juri said, sounding somewhat startled. There was a twinkle in Saionji's eye as he said, "I've seen you smile more in the last few minutes than the entire time I knew you in the student council." Still smiling, he headed off to talk with Miki and Nanami. Anthy came out of the other room first, followed by Utena. Both of their expressions were quite grave, drawing the attention of the entire room. "I'm sorry about the cryptic letter," Utena apologized, "but I thought I should explain in person." "Explain what, Tenjou?" Touga asked disagreeably. "I've been greatly inconvenienced by all of this mystery," he complained. Saionji shot him a look, "Be quiet, Kiryuu." He looked up at Utena, "Carry on, please." "We all fought in the duels," Utena started, "competing for the Power of Dios, the power to revolutionize the world. And in the end, I was the victor of the duels." "That's debatable," Touga muttered, only to receive a slap to the back of the head by Nanami. "Ow!" he winced. "The problem was," Utena said forcefully, "that I realized the power was too much for one person to safely possess. Akio was corrupted, and there was no guarantee that I wouldn't be, either. So," she paused, and in a rush said, "I gave some of the power to all of you." You could have heard a pin drop after that little revelation. Miki recovered first, asking, "So what, exactly, will this do?" "We aren't entirely sure," Anthy took up the question. "But the little power Akio retained made him nearly ageless, and I suspect that it could do much the same to you." After the meeting was over, Juri walked along the street home, lost in her thoughts. 'Ageless, nearly immortal,' she mused, 'what does that mean? Will all my friends grow old and die all around me?' She felt a bit of comfort knowing Ryouko and the others, near immortals that they were, but it still was a disturbing thought. A horn's honk startled her greatly, and Juri turned to see Haruka looking at her in concern. "Are you all right?" Haruka asked her in concern. "I honked at you a few times, and you didn't even notice," she noted. She popped open the passenger side in invitation, and after a moment Juri decided to climb in. "Thanks," Juri smiled. "I guess I just had something on my mind," she explained her earlier distraction. She slid into the seat like a cat, settling comfortably. "Anything I can do to help?" Haruka offered as they pulled away from the curb. The sandy hared woman drove with her usual confidence, easily handling the powerful car. "What did it do to you, when you first became a Senshi?" Juri asked quietly. Haruka looked over at Juri in surprise, and saw that the woman was dead serious. She debated for a moment silently, then decided to answer her. "It shook me up some," Haruka said softly, "I suddenly had a whole new set of options, but also many new obligations. Why do you want to know?" "According to a fairly trustworthy friend of mine," Juri smiled slightly, "I may be nearly ageless, possibly even immortal." Haruka nearly swerved the car, but then recovered. "You didn't receive a transformation wand at the time, did you?" she asked wryly. "Uh, no," Juri said, blinking with surprise. "Oh, good," Haruka smiled. The idea of Juri in a sailor fuku was pretty scary, so she felt a bit relieved at that. Juri suddenly got what she was driving at, and began to laugh. Haruka used her hands free cellphone to dial home, "Michiru? I'm bringing company home for dinner. Let Hotaru and Setsuna know, all right?" "Wait a minute," Juri protested. "If you want to talk about it, Setsuna's the best expert I know," Haruka shrugged. "And you'll get a good meal out of it, too," she smiled. "You're just looking for an excuse to matchmake me with Setsuna again," Juri grumbled softly. Haruka's best attempt at looking innocent didn't really help much. Our Cast This Episode: Utena, Anthy, Miki, Nanami, Touga and Saionji are from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru and Setsuna are from Sailor Moon.
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