Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Flower Symbolism ❯ Down the Rabbit Hole ( Prologue )

Whatever it was in the end, she'd been searching for it for a long time.

…..That's what she kept telling herself, and she winced. She kept telling herself that, yes, it was her mantra, that, to keep her focused and sharp and still willing…To achieve and win in the end, and thus be granted with the power to grant miracles.

She brought the bokkan down again, a swift, forward kendo stroke through the air, oxygen and carbon dioxide and who-knew-what in that fairytale world, the molecules screaming as she cut through them, effortlessly, for the thousandth time. A shift, and she was assuming a bo back stance, practice, sweep, cut, scream, sweat. Knife stance; done.

She shifted again, this time into a perfect fencing position, and repeated.

Practice, sweep, cut, scream, sweat. Repeat as often as necessary to win the power to revolutionize the world. Saber stance; practice, sweep, cut, scream, sweat, breathe.

And again and again and again.

If the rose signet on her ring flashed in warning, she wouldn't have noticed it. Her internal mantra drowned all else, shifting and re-mastering all the world's sword styles with grace and focus that only a true prince could perform. Practice, sweep, cut, scream, sweat, breathe. Repeat.

And so Utena Tenjou was so absorbed that didn't notice when the ground dropped out from beneath her.