Anthy crouched behind the couch, waiting anxiously. She watched as Utena stumbled into the room, the blindfold she had on only made it that much harder. "Okay, when I said I could find you with my eyes closed, I didn't think that you'd actually take me seriously." Anthy didn't say anything, she just giggled from where she crouched. Utena stumbled around, feeling the walls for a soft protrusion. "C'mon I know you're in here." Utena was getting frustrated. She had been trying to find Anthy for an hour, she had a vague feeling that she was in the room, a sense that she hadn't realized she had until Anthy returned to her. It was a sense just between Anthy and herself. Then she caught a whiff of roses and everything clicked. Anthy couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had been watching Utena stumble about; an adorable site if you ever asked her, when Utena merely stopped and turned right at her. Anthy's eyes bugged out and she made to get out from behind the couch. Unfortunately, Utena was waiting there for her; staring at her from behind the blindfold. Her speed is definitely increasing. "Told you I could do it." Utena giggled from where she crouched. She pulled the blindfold off and addressed her bride. "I knew you could do it, ouji-sama." Anthy purred from her position. Instead of moving forward, she began leaning backwards, her eye offering things that were really not meant to be done behind a couch. Like Utena really cared where it was done. They were almost down to their undergarments; if Anthy were wearing any, when the door opened. Utena panicked and looked up. There was only one other person who had a key to their apartment. Tenjou Yurika was tired. She had been up for hours on the plane ride home. Sakura wasn't even fully conscious. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed and not wake up until she was damn ready to. She trudged into the apartment to see something she had not expected to. It was her niece; her innocent little Utena-chan, in a rather compromising position with another girl. An attractive young girl, but a girl nonetheless. "Hey Auntie." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Kakumei no Bara Running Interference; My Aunt Yurika Utena sat at the table, a cup of tea in her hand. She kept wringing her hands around it, trying to let the heat ease her nervousness. For all her hand wringing, she might as well have been stretching. Yurika sat at the other end of the table, wringing her hands around her teacup. Anthy watched from the doorway, seeing just how much the aunt resembled her husband. She wistfully sipped her rose tea and watched some more. "Auntie." "Yes Utena." "Um, sorry you had to walk in on that last night." "So am I actually." They stayed like that for long moments, just kind of staring and drinking. Yurika looked into her drink, hoping to figure out what to say in it. "So, do you love her?" "What." "Do you love her? It's kind of a simple question. She's obviously been staying here a while. She redecorated the bathroom." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ They each sat there, in the old student council room. They sat apart from each other, sparing glances at the envelopes every now and again. No one had said anything for the past few minutes. The last sound had been Miki coughing, resulting in a sharp turn of heads in his direction. That had been five minutes ago and they returned to their stupor. Finally when they thought the silence would strangle them, a saint intervened. "Um, hello; is anyone in here? I heard that people who got gold envelopes would be meeting here." Wakaba wandered into the room looking around. Her eyes snagged on Sayonji. "Sayonji-sama!" she squeaked out before flinging herself at him. For his part, he let out a rather goofy grin before returning to his usual self and glaring at the other duelists, daring them to say anything. Nanami, Juri and Miki didn't need to say anything; they just sat there and giggled at him; which only provoked the man further towards violence. Finally Wakaba stepped away. "So, um what's going on here? I though the duels were over." Wakaba received several shocked stares. Miki's eyes were huge. "Y-you remember?" "Yeah, I was a duelist too for a while there." Wakaba answered matter-of-factly. She lifted her hand to show her new ring. I know I wasn't much of a fighter, but Sayonji-sama's been teaching me kendo." "I'll bet he has," was all Juri could mutter from her corner. Miki, being the only one within hearing distance burst into giggles. "Anyway!" Nanami burst from her corner; we're not here to discuss what she knows and doesn't know. She obviously has a ring. A very odd looking ring, but a ring none the less. That means she qualifies to be a part of this meeting. The point of which was to figure out who sent these letters, since Sekai no Hate didn't." "Who?" Wakaba asked "Sekai no Hate; he was the last person to officiate over the duels. He's better known here as Akio-san." It was Juri who stated it bluntly at Wakaba. "Ohtori-sama was the head of the duels?" "Yup." "Why." "That, you shall find out in time. As for the question of who sent that letters, I can answer that right now. I did." The woman they turned to see was no one they knew. She slightly resembled Anthy and the Chairman; with dark skin and an odd beauty about her. However; she has straight hair, tied in a bun with it colored an odd shade of purplish white. Miki and Nanami seemed to be the only ones affected. Sayonji was the first to speak "How, we were not successful in retrieving the power of revolutions. Oh yes, and who are you?" "For now, you may refer to me as Kami. As for how you can help, it's rather simple; you survived. Everything else will be revealed in time. Now listen carefully; I'm not a person to repeat myself" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The next day Yurika, Utena, Anthy and Sakura were shopping for some things to decorate Utena & Anthy's room with. Or at least it had started out that way. As the bags slowly increased in number, they began to realize that it was actually a chance for Yurika to give her credit cards some exercise. "I know I shouldn't but there are just so many cute outfits out there." "Who's complaining Auntie?" It was Utena who piped up, holding her begs. Several new outfits waited for her to play with. She needed some outfits to fit her new role. If she was indeed the prince she wanted to look the part. Even Anthy smiled at her own bags. It had been a while that she received new clothes without any strings attached. Sakura walked slowly next to Anthy, staring at her the whole time. Since she had come home, she hadn't said a word to the dark princess. Anthy resolved herself to change that and try talking to the child as soon as they got home. As they were passing a coffee shop, and stopped dead in her tracks. The others noted her absence a few minutes later. Utena backtracked to her "wife." "Hime, what's up? Are you okay?" Utena's face crept with concern before a smile started growing on Anthy's face until she looked downright elated. "Hold on Utena-otto, I'll be right back." Having said that Anthy disappeared into the coffee shop, leaving a very confused Utena there. A few moments later, Anthy reappeared holding a small bundle of fur. Utena recognized it immediately. "Chu-chu!" Utena yelled happily. The tiny monkey mouse stopped munching on whatever it had this time to see Utena. Food long forgotten, it launched itself at her happily. "Anthy where was he? How come I haven't seen him for so long...Why didn't I remember him either for that matter? I completely forgot about him. Ara! I'm so sorry Chu-chu." Chu-chu merely waved her off, pointing to a rather amused Anthy. She had enjoyed watching them play. It filled her with warmth that she hadn't felt in a long time. "Don't worry Utena-otto, he wanted you to forget about him; at least for a little while. I had him take care of a few things 'elsewhere,' so I figured I'd erase your memory of him for a while. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't want you worrying about him." "How can I not, look at him, he's so small, and how can he take care of himself?" Anthy merely smirked at her. She looked own and snapped her fingers. Opening her hand she held still and waited. Chu-chu instantly jumped out of Utena's hand. In the air she noted how he changed from an odd monkey mouse creature into something else. Utena couldn't place it; she had never seen anything else like it before. It landed on her palm confidently. A small mass of black, with odd luminescent eyes. Then Anthy opened her eyes to show a similar luminescence. It frightened her. "This is what Chu-chu really looks like. Do you understand why I have total confidence in his ability to take care of himself now?" Utena nodded dumbly. On that note Anthy turned back to her normal self, giving Utena her enigmatic smile, she started scratching the creature under its "chin" and giggling. "It's cute, don't you think?" Yurika and Sakura came running up that moment to see what was taking Utena so long. By now Chu-chu was back to "normal" and munching noisily on a cookie. "Utena, what's taking you so long to find Anthy? Oh there you two are... What the hell is that?" "It's my friend Chu-chu. Cute isn't he?" "Very, in a disturbing kind of way." Anthy merely stared at Yurika flatly. Thinking up obscenities not heard in the human language in many a century. Before any of them had a chance to really say anything else, Yurika was zipping towards another store. She had seen the cutest pants suit and wanted it bad. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ By the time Juri got to her room, she was tired, sore and baffled at how she was going to pack for the trip ahead. The voices in the back of her mind were nagging her again about her lack of cleaning ability. She was so exhausted she almost missed seeing her mystery girl sitting in front of her room, back against the door. Apparently, she had fallen asleep waiting. A smile quirked Juri’s face and she nudged the girl with her foot. Juri moved to get her key out from underneath the doormat, but quickly realized that said key sat under the girl’s rear. She gulped for a second and steeling her arguments to defend her virtue, Juri reached under anyway. The apparently sleeping girls hand gripped her arm, stopping her. She watched the girl’s pierced eyebrow quirk up and a hand reached into the other girl’s cleavage, luckily it wasn’t one of her own. Juri’s room key came from the small valley and her eyes opened at last, watching the fencer. “You should clean your room more often. I didn’t even want to wait in there.” Juri gave her a whithering look and proceeded to stand. Unlocking the door and opening it in one swift motion, Juri sent her mysterious guest tumbling into her room. What Juri saw next would haunt her to the end of her days. Her room was clean, sparkling even. Her eyes dilated at the sight of such cleanliness emanating from her room. She turned back to the girl with a stunned look on her face. “I didn’t want to wait in there, so I figured I clean up and then wait for you outside.” Juri turned back to view her room. There were not words to describe how she felt at that moment. Turning back to her still unnamed companion, she asked her the two things she had been dying to know since she met her. “How….Why?” “I did it because it is my duty form now on. As for who I am, my name is Sakaya; I’m your Rose Bride. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Inside the store, they each gathered around the counter as Yurika made her purchase. As she pulled out another credit card, a small picture fell out of her wallet. Before she could even register it, Utena had already zipped down to pick it up. Before she gave it back, she took a look... ...and nearly hit the floor... ...There in the picture were her parents, looking like normal teenagers. Normal teenagers except for the fact that they were both wearing the Ohtori Academy's duelist's uniforms. Anthy saw Utena's reaction and moved to catch her. She took the picture from Utena and looked at it. Upon seeing it, her face hardened and she turned to Yurika. "Yurika-san-" "Call me Auntie." "I'm sorry, Auntie; we have to go home right now." "Why is that dear, I'm just getting warmed up." "Take a look at your niece." Yurika turned her head to address Utena only to see that the girl had withdrawn into herself. Her face was a glazed mask. She then saw the photo that had fallen out of Utena's hand. Looking at it, a revelation occurred. "Sigh; apparently, it's time for me to explain a few things about her parents to my dear niece." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ He sat there staring at the envelope in his hand. What did it matter to him if the damnable games had started again? He was out, and that was all that mattered. Sekai no Hate said that he didn't send those letters and that he didn't want the others to join. They had proven useless and weak; held back by the chains. Puppets tangled in their strings. Of course, Tenjou had untangled them, but according to the chairman, they could just as easily get tangled in new ones. However, it was no longer his concern, he had graduated. So why did he care, anyway? "Damn that girl and her infectious chivalry." He stared at his bed companion. Aino-san was a beautiful woman; but he had known many beautiful women in his life. Yet, in the time he was with her, he was not with others. He didn't feel the need to play the playboy anymore. "I wonder if this is what they call contentedness. Maybe it is even love." Touga chuckled at that last thought. He had thought that once before, and been denied. Maybe his own chains had been untangled. He didn't feel any different, but Sayonji had not noticed any changes when they happened to him. "Intriguing." Touga just lay there for hours, looking at the ceiling. Akio had threatened him if he joined. He knew better than to take that threat lightly. However... "Damn that girl and her infectious chivalry." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Anthy closed the door as Utena and her aunt sat down for another cup of tea. They would be there for a while, she thought to herself. As she turned, her private revelry was ended as she came chest to face with Utena's cousin. "Hello." "Hi" "Came to check on your mom and cousin, huh?" "Yeah, I'm worried about her. Aren't you?" "I'm always worried about her, but I have confidence in her strength. It's one of the reasons why I love her." “You’re strange.” “Excuse me?” “I don’t know what it is, but you’re weird. You made Utena-oneesama weird too.” “Oh… is it because of what you saw us doing the other day.” “No, my friend Mari has two mommies so its not that. Utena-oneesama doesn’t look different or act different she just-“ “She feels different.” “Yeah, that’s it!” “Well, there’s a reason for that.” Anthy said as she crouched down so she was face to face with the girl. “Let me tell you a story.” “A story?” “You know how your cousin wants to be a prince.” “Uhm hm.” “Well, I’m going to tell you how Utena became a prince and of the princess she saved.” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Okay Utena, what I'm going to tell you may come as a shock." "You'd be surprised how much it'd take to shock me these days." "Hmmm, maybe, considering who your girlfriend is." "You knew Anthy?" "I went to Ohtori too, heard the rumors about the Chairman's weird sister. Of course, your father was the only one to talk to her at the time. He would come home with these weird stories about secret duels and this power to bring revolution to something or other." "Bring revolution to the world. The duels were to bring revolution. Did he ever talk about an arena in the sky?" "Um, no. He always said they were in the basements. Although he did say that his sempai was working on some weird sky arena." "Really?" "Yup, some weird guy with this flaming pink hair. A real freak." Utena just glared at her. "No, not the hair. I meant he was weird. They said he wasn't human, like he was a computer or something." "Weird." "Yeah; anyway, he knew about a lot of stuff, he even got to meet the chairman." Utena paled as she heard that. "He's the one who introduced your parents. They were so happy together. Your father said that for that he would save Anthy. Though, from what he never said." Utena stared at the photo in her hands. Her father and mother stared into it, smiling happily. In the background, she could see Anthy smiling behind her mother. "Did Anthy ever go home with dad?" "Once, he had her stay in my room with me. We didn't say much." Utena let out a sigh of relief. Her father had never done anything with Anthy; though she wondered if Anthy wouldn't have said anything if she knew. She decided to put faith in her wife. She got up. "Is there anything else?" "... I think so." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ They stood in the basement; knee deep in junk that their neighbors could not throw out. Yurika scrounged around their family's corner. Anthy and Utena stood hand in hand together, just watching Utena's aunt act strange. "Got it!" She yelled as she unsettled a rather large pile. "Your father said that if you ever said anything about the duels to give you this." She handed Utena a wrapped package. Utena recognized its shape and started tearing away the packaging. "I can't believe my dad actually left me a sword, a real life family heirloom..." "Bokken." Anthy finished dully staring at the rather odd looking practice sword. Utena's face dropped as she looked at it. She couldn't use this. She used a real sword; well it was a real sword before it was shattered. She sighed and looked pleadingly at her aunt. "Please tell me this is a joke." "No joke. Your dad gave that to me to give to you." "Auntie." "Don't worry; he said that it had a few surprises in it. Just use it in one duel." Utena just sighed. "If it's what my father wanted." She said as she sheathed the sword in her belt. Anthy patted her on the shoulder and smiled at her. Utena just sighed and walked away. She had things she needed to think about. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ It was a calm summer day at Ohtori academy. A bus pulled in front of the student council building and just sat idling. It was an hour later when Sayonji showed up in front of it. He was soon joined by Juri, Sakaya, Miki, Wakaba and Nanami. "Did one of you guys hire this bus?" Sayonji asked from his vantage point. "Um, no." Wakaba was the first to answer. "Well, someone had to." Juri, ever the pragmatist retorted from her area. Next to her, Sakaya just nodded her agreement. Miki just gave the new girl a sideward glance. Juri still had yet to explain to him what she was doing there. Juri didn't seem the type to drag her girlfriend into this world. "I sent for it, if you must know. One Kiryuu Touga answered as he stepped into view from inside the bus. He was wearing a black variant of his duelist uniform. He just stood there, smiling at them. A strange woman stood next to him. He lifted his hand to show his signet ring. "Now if you really want to help Tenjou I would suggest climbing on the bus. I trust you are all packed." He looked at the bags that the others had. Everyone except Miki was hauling luggage about. They were not even dressed in their uniforms. "Now, are you coming?" Miki just looked up at the others and sighed sadly. “I’m sorry you guys, but I’ll have to meet you there in a few weeks. Kozue isn’t ready to go yet and I don’t want to leave her behind.” Juri nodded in understanding and patted him on the back. “It’s alright, well see you there.” Miki brightened under the encouragement. “Thank you Juri-sempai, Please give Tenjou-kun my love.” Juri gave him the proverbial hairy eyeball. “You know what I mean. The others made their way to the bus. Juri lingered at the bus for a minute. "So you're doing it, despite his best warnings not to." "What can I say? Tenjou's damn chivalry is contagious. I had to do something or risk feeling bad about it for the rest of my life. And feeling bad is something I've never done; I don't want to start now." "Hmm." "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about Arisagawa?" "No, not right now." After a moment Juri waved to Miki one last time and got on the bus; Touga followed. A moment later, the bus pulled out of the parking lot and made its way to the island of Shirobara. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Utena sat on her terrace looking out on the city below. She had things to think about. She was so oblivious she never heard the door open. "Can I join you?" Anthy interrupted her thoughts. The dark princess waited expectantly for her answer. "Sure why not." Utena replied as she opened up her blanket to admit Anthy. The girl pressed her back against her groom's chest. Utena wrapped her arms around Anthy and presented her rose crest to Anthy. Conversations about the rose crest rarely ended well; so Anthy prepared herself to dodge the conversation. "Do you know that legally we've been married for almost a month and yet we don't have rings?" "You don't have the money and you don't want me doing anything to get them myself. I believe your words were 'Hime; don't do nothing weird or illegal to get us some rings okay. I'll handle it'." Utena blushed remembering that day. "Oh yeah; well I still hold to that." "Why are you bringing it up anyway?" Utena grasped Anthy's left hand and kissed it. "When we go back, people are going to be coming after you. They won't believe our word alone." She slipped her ring onto the captured hand. “So I think you should have this.” Anthy stared at her now accessorized hand. In the entire time she was the bride, she never wore anything on that hand. Her brother forbade her from ever wearing anything on either hand. She was the rose bride and should never attach herself to someone because she could change hands very quickly. She was also never allowed a signet ring for fear that she could enter the dueling arena and win her own freedom. She stared at the slight trinket on her hand. "I figured it'd have a better meaning that way. It led me to you; so it should go back where it belongs.... I have this feeling that I was always supposed to give it to you. I mean it really doesn't mean much, being that a lot of people have it, but it's all that I had and I wanted you to have it." Utena finished babbling with a whisper. She watched as Anthy turned around, tears sparkling the ends of her eyes. However, instead of the anger she was expecting; Anthy was smiling beautifully. "It means more to me than you could ever imagine. No band you could ever give me could mean this much. I love it; I love you." Anthy kissed her and laid her head on Utena's chest, listening to the quiet heartbeat. She felt Utena slip her arms around her and sigh. She's happy. She liked it She loves me. For herself, Tenjou Utena could not stop smiling. She was as happy as she had ever been in her life. What Akio had shown her was only a pale shadow compared to this. She had her princess and with that ring everyone would know. Everything else going on: The duels, her parent's history, the secret of her dad's lame bokken; those would all be settled in time. She had faith that with Anthy, everything would resolve itself. She sent a silent prayer to the heavens thanking them for whatever blessing they had bestowed upon her. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ An odd young man sat in front of a computer screen. His face and hair were obscured by the computer glare as he stared at the data on the screen. "Interesting very interesting; the power of this 'Rose Bride' is most phenomenal. I'm most anticipating facing them to see what she can do. Oh well End of Life said that she would take care of that in time." He sat back and sighed. He looked at the rings sitting on his desk. Each gem was a different color. A silver one; a black one; a dark green one, and a navy blue one sat waiting for his attention to their owners. Grasping the silver one he slipped it onto his hand. It matched his hair perfectly. He stood and fixed his uniform top. Silver and navy blue dominated it and he thought it suited him rather well. He adjusted his pince-nez and turned into the darkness. With a last flip of his long hair over his shoulder, he began walking "If a chick does not escape its shell it will die without ever being born; however, if it hatches too soon it will dies from exposure. The world is the chick, we are the egg. Prevent the shattering of the world. For the revolution!" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Preview of Next Episode: Utena: It had to happen eventually and here it is. Wakaba has finally come home from Ohtori and want to talk to me about... WHAT? What's she doing with a duelist's ring; and what's she doing with Kiouchi. I want answers now! Anthy: Utena-otto, please remember to keep calm. Utena: Why can't my life ever be normal? Next episode of Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Kakumei no Bara; Wakaba's Boisterous Homecoming. Anthy: It's the Absolute Destiny Apocalypse
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