After the Flood (part 6 of 7)

a Revolutionary Girl Utena fanfiction by The Ghost of 'lectricity

Back to Part 5
Spinning in a Circle

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 Anthy woke up in the middle of the night, like she did 
often in the past months. But unlike past times she saw 
Utena, illuminated by the pale moonlight. Her face looked 
weary and ghostly. She had lost weight visibly. And with 
these sudden physical realizations a huge sense of guilt 
hit Anthy. For every single thing she did to Utena. For 
every single time she wanted to tell her everything but 
failed. For every time she lied or didn't tell the truth. 
And this pain was far worse from any blade that ever 
stabbed her.

 Is this how it will always be - will she be always 
causing pain to Utena? She didn't want to hurt her any 
more. She wanted to release her, release her from the 
circle they were spinning in. At least her. Getting up 
from the bed, still in her dress that she didn't take off, 
she picked up her suitcase. It was all her fault, why 
should she have the right to live a happy life? At this 
cost. She headed for the door not even lifting her gaze.

 Halfway there however, she was met by the one who was in 
her thoughts, and with a burning rage in her eyes Anthy 
rarely saw.

 "Are you running away again?" she spoke clearly and 
menacingly.

 "Utena, you don't understand," Anthy began to explain but 
was cut off by a smack flat on her face. She was 
completely dumbfounded, lost her footing and fell to the 
ground. "Don't take me for a fool," Utena hissed at her.

 "I was played out. I am fully aware of that. You and me 
become friends, I confide in you, you spill my guts out to 
him, making me an easy prey and I'm out of the game... 
That was the plan wasn't it? I understand, but I don't 
care. I don't care about what was going on. I want you, I 
want you by my side. So if you want to go, leave now and 
don't ever come back! I'm getting sick of your running. 
This is not just a game any more!"

 The silent confrontation that followed lasted a few 
seconds - Utena's gaze, which Anthy was unable to meet, 
was full of fierce anger. Smirking she turned around and 
headed for the bathroom, the light making Anthy squint her 
eyes. As she returned she was wearing her pajamas. She 
didn't spare one look at Anthy. She just fell heavily on 
the sofa getting a blanket from somewhere and making 
herself as uncomfortable as she could there. She wanted to 
be angry, it felt good. At least it took her mind off the 
fact that Anthy could really go.

 Anthy kept looking at the floor, ashamed of herself. What 
she wanted to do was utterly foolish. After such a long 
time finally seeing Utena again and wanting to leave. This 
was no game she could walk out of, this was serious and 
she had to pull herself together. She picked up her 
suitcase and herself and headed for the bathroom.

 Returning in her nightgown a few minutes later, she 
walked up to Utena who had apparently fallen back asleep 
again. "Utena," she called her softly and put her hand on 
her shoulder. She woke up with a start, it seemed she had 
fallen asleep against her will.

 "Utena, please take the bed, I'll sleep here," Anthy told 
her.

 "No, you're sleeping on the bed," Utena answered closing 
her eyes again. It seemed as if both wanted to atone for 
past mistakes by allowing the other to have at least a 
sound sleep.

 Anthy thought for a moment then looked at the bed and 
suggested: "Maybe we could share the bed?"

 Blushing a bit, avoiding Anthy's gaze and pretending to 
look at the bed, Utena nodded silently. Anthy took away 
her blanket and offered a hand to help Utena up. 

 They headed for the bed and Utena motioned to Anthy to 
get in first and she did so facing the wall. She was 
smiling on the inside as she listened to and felt Utena 
get in behind her. She felt their legs touch and she felt 
the other's arm on her back. After some more movement 
behind her everything went still.

 "Utena," she said, looking across her shoulder but only 
seeing a pink blur in the corner of her eye.

 "Yes?" came the reply.

 "I wanted to say I'm sorry. I acted stupid, didn't I... 
I'm not very good at dealing with my emotions." They never 
talked a lot, usually just sharing their thoughts in a few 
sentences. None of them was a good talker and both seemed 
at least a bit afraid of admitting their feelings to 
themselves.

 "You say this calmly," Utena said her voice suddenly 
acquiring a strange tone. It was involuntarily seductive 
and laced with steel at the same time. "Will you stand to 
your decision?"

 "As long as you want me I'll stay," she replied. Utena 
was surprised at her straightforwardness, Anthy could 
tell. But it seemed to calm her down a bit. Utena was 
scary when she was angry, very much so, but it was at 
those times that Anthy felt strongly for her. And to know 
Anthy could make Utena this wild made pleased her.

 Anthy started moving again, trying to turn around to face 
Utena. It wasn't all that easy since the bed wasn't 
entirely enough big for them. At last she managed to get 
where she wanted and was really quite satisfied with the 
result. Because of the bed's size they had to keep close 
to each other; that meant that Utena had to put one of her 
legs between Anthy's momentarily after which she couldn't 
get it out again. Her left arm had to go around Anthy's 
waist whilst the other pressed against her stomach and her 
faces were just a couple of inches apart.

 Anthy reached up with one hand and adjusted a stray lock 
of Utena's hair that parted with it's mates and made it's 
way towards Utena's eye; not that Anthy blamed it. Utena 
blinked a few times as the intruder was removed then she 
reached out too, to catch Anthy's hand before it could 
retreat under the sheets.

 "It's been so long," Utena said looking Anthy in the 
eyes, still with certain seriousness, losing her smiling 
face. Her face looked pale in the darkness but her eyes 
were still burning. Anthy moved her trapped hand back 
towards the flame, trailing her fingers along the jaw, 
getting a hold of pink hair and lunging inside, surprising 
both, feeling how the fire burned her lips and shot down 
through her body, incinerating any doubts about her 
feelings. She could feel Utena hold her tightly, with 
stiff arms at first but soon they eased and began to move, 
felling their way around Anthy's waist, up and down, 
around the back and to the front. The fire was raging 
through Anthy, burning her up, strongest still where their 
lips met, the wetness of their tongues not really cooling 
her.

 It was almost painful as Utena broke their kiss, turning 
to look up at the ceiling to refrain from passionately 
charging at Anthy. "We- We should stop," she said 
breathing heavily.

 "Why?" Anthy asked, in an almost demanding voice.

 "I- I'm not sure yet..." She kept staring at the ceiling 
for a few more moments and turned away shortly after. 
Instead of a 'good night' all she said was: "Sorry."

 "It's all right," Anthy replied and plunged into the pink 
sea before her, inhaling the scent of her hair and placing 
a hand on Utena's side. She was quite content like this 
but she couldn't be really happy until she knew Utena was 
hers. After all she could wait. As long as she was with 
Utena she could wait till the end of the world comes.

Onwards to Part 7


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