Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Captain of the Guard! ❯ The Capital Saga! Five ( Chapter 27 )

The Capital Saga: Part Five

Keiko sighed softly, sitting down at the side of the gurgling fountain. She was careful to shift her long brown braid aside, then looked up at the still standing Nanami and smiled slightly, "You look quite fearsome standing there, Commander. Sit, please."

"Fearsome?" Nanami smiled a bit sadly as the blonde sat down beside her, "I hadn't thought I'd changed all that much."

Keiko looked over at Nanami, "The aura of command suits you, I think."

Nanami nodded, looking away from Keiko nervously as she softly said, "I've been looking for a better way to say this, but I can't seem to find the right words." A little breath, "I'm so sorry, for how I acted back then."

"I wasn't exactly blameless, when we parted," Keiko reminded her gently.

Nanami closed her eyes moment, remembering that dark night, two young women standing in this very courtyard so many years ago. Keiko had been a very different girl then, a proper daughter of a noble family, a family that was plainly horrified by her... liaison with the rebellious Nanami. They had ordered their youngest daughter away from the castle and the young hellion's dangerous influence, and Keiko had meekly agreed.

"I shouldn't have pressed you the way I did," Nanami sighed in memory. She had argued that Keiko should defy her family, swiftly reducing her lover to tears.

"And I should have had the nerve to stand up to my father," Keiko said softly. "But I never did, not until I was out of his reach at least."

A slight smile tugged on Nanami's lips as she quietly said, "I was certainly startled when I first saw you following Anthy's party into the castle gates." A bit of a grin, "I honestly thought that my eyes were deceiving me."

"And I didn't expect the rebel street duelist to become the commander of the castle guard," Keiko said. She paused, "But I wasn't too surprised to see you here, Nanami. I tried to keep track of you, down through the years."

"Thank you," Nanami looked away from her, feeling suddenly disconcerted. The brown haired woman was even more beautiful than she had once been, having grown into a graceful maturity. The caged bird of many years past had seemingly grown into a falcon, proud and free.

"I was such a fool," Keiko looked at Nanami, a few tears glistening in her eyes, "and I spent many a night wishing I had accepted your offer and stayed."

"Me, too," Nanami agreed softly.

Keiko gently slid her fingers into Nanami's before she quietly asked her, "Would you consider giving this fool another chance?"

Nanami drew Keiko's hand to her lips, gently kissing the back. "Then you can call me a fool as well," Nanami said to her softly, "for I would always give you a second chance."

The tears slid free, flowing down Keiko's cheeks, "Thank you." She leaned forward, pressing her lips to Nanami's own, the fountain gurgling behind them.

Later that night, in another part of the castle, a restless figure tried to sleep deeply, that rest seemingly escaping her. "She enchants them all," Mikage softly murmured, the black rose he placed there opening up the sleeping mind to his influence. "She weaves magics about them, and they will notice no other," a twisted smile.

"You have to make her pay for stealing away all of that love," Mikage finished, his short pink hair flowing about his face, "pay dearly." With that, he simply disappeared.

Utena watched the dress fitting going on, Anthy being wreathed in the formal reds of the coronation ceremony. They were making steady progress, and it looked like Anthy would be ready for the ceremony coming in only a few days.

Utena felt a bit of guilty relief that her own garb for the coronation was going to be so much simpler. As a soldier in the royal service all she was going to have to wear was her formal uniform, a bit uncomfortable but not all that bad, considering.

"You can at least try to hide that smile, Utena," Anthy said with a little smile of her own.

"Sorry, love," Utena chuckled softly. She got up from her seat to gaze at the woman embraced in bolts of fabric and softly added, "You look lovely."

A bit of red appeared on Anthy's cheeks. "You always seem to know the right thing to say, m'love," she said softly, looking at Utena with an odd kind of wonder.

Being careful not to disturb the busy seamstresses Utena reached out to gently take Anthy's hand. "With you, it's easy," Utena said softly.

She came in the front door, her curly hair bouncing as she walked forward with an odd sense of purpose in her stride. She ignored all of the busy courtiers, the seamstresses, it seemed she was completely focused on one thing only.

"Wakaba," Anthy looked up to smile cheerfully at her personal maid.

Utena saw the black rose on the girl's breast and quickly shoved Anthy backwards, just in time to avoid a deadly sweep of a wicked looking knife. The seamstresses screamed, courtiers scattered, and the room descended into chaos. Another sweep as Utena put herself right between Wakaba and her lover, reaching at her side for her sword...

... only to see it sitting by her chair. "Anthy!" Utena cried out, jerking back to avoid a cut to her face, seeing strands of her pink hair falling in front of her eyes towards the floor.

Anthy scrambled, her legs tangled in bolts of cloth, but grabbed at the sword. "Here," she cried, pitching it towards where Utena stood.

Utena caught it and drew the blade smoothly, parrying a cut that likely would have blinded her. 'I never realized she was this good a knife fighter,' she noted, blocking another strike. "Why are you doing this?" she cried.

"Miki," Wakaba snarled, "all he speaks of is the princess! All he sees is her face, all he hears is her voice..." She shook her head, a few tears shining on her cheeks, "The only way he'll ever be able to see me if she is gone!"

"That's not true," Utena started.

Utena cried out in pain as her cheek was sliced, avoiding a deeper cut only by reflex. "Step aside," Wakaba held her knife ready, clearly willing to use it, "or pay the consequences."

"Fine," Utena moved, taking the hilt she still held in one hand and jabbing the startled girl right in the stomach. Taking advantage of a weakness in her guard Utena struck, sending the petals of the black rose spiraling to the floor.

"Wakaba!" Anthy cried out as the girl collapsed.

"I didn't hurt her," Utena reached up to check the cut to her face before softly adding, "well, not too much, anyway."

"You're hurt!" Anthy reached up to check on her lover, not noticing the bolts of fabric that were covering her had finally come loose. Without a sound, they fluttered to the ground, leaving her entirely in the nude.

There was a sudden hammering on the main doors, then it just burst open, a small group rushing inside, Nanami leading the charge. "We heard a disturbance.." she started to say only to trail off, blushing quite furiously.

"Eep!" Anthy's face flamed, and Utena turned herself to provide her love some cover.

"Black rose," Shiori pointed to where the petals still lingered. The purple haired girl gave Juri a scolding look, "Get your thoughts out of the privy, please."

Wakaba groaned softly, distracting them from Juri's blushing reply. The brown haired girl sat up, looking about in honest confusion, "What happened? Where am I?"

"Shiori?" Juri asked her lover softly.

Shiori gazed at Wakaba intently, "It seems the enchantment is gone."

Nanami offered Wakaba a hand, giving the smaller woman an intent look, but there was no sign of malice left in the cutely befuddled young woman. "You don't remember anything?" Nanami asked her softly.

"No," Wakaba said impatiently, "what happened?"

"That was a little too close," Utena murmured, pulling a larger piece around Anthy as a sort of improvised cloak.

Anthy's eyes glittered angrily, "Now he strikes at my friends." She looked up at Utena, "I want him stopped, Utena. Before anyone else is harmed."

Utena tightened her hands on her lover's shoulders, "I'll do my best."

To be continued...