Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Shinka Kakumei Zenya ❯ Return to Ohtori ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

BlueDolphin Everyone forgot. Or tried to forget. Or pretended to forget. The names of those involved were no longer heard spoken at Ohtori Academy in reverence, in awe, in love. The Student Council was disbanded, the campus remodeled, and life went on just as if the revolution had never come. But had it really? As years passed and students graduated, the names of the tomboy girl and her reserved dorm mate were lost in the shuffle of paperwork and diplomas. As if they had never existed, as if there had never been a revolution.

True, nothing had changed, nobody had been impacted. But the events of that day of death and destruction had not been the revolution. Just a beginning. The revolution had just begun, and the name of Tenjou Utena would be called upon once again.

**************

Methodically he sliced an apple and set the plate on the bench beside him. Such was his habit after returning to his studio apartment day after day, week after week. From early morning to late afternoon, he taught math from basic algebra to calculus and beyond. His college students respected him, and that was all. Once they left his room, he knew, his name was forgotten. Not that he really cared; he wasn't the one who was out to revolutionize the world.

He ate a slice of apple carefully, then wiped his hands on his pants and placed them on the white and black ivory keys he found solace in. He paused and listened to the silence in his flat, then began to play. He could play anything and everything well, and play he did, everything except the one piece he was famous for. He still gave occasional recitals, but for the most part his prodigal talents were nothing more than a hobby.

As he played, his eyes slid from the music he all but had memorized to the top of his piano. A vase of roses, blue ones, sort of a nod to what he had left behind. Beside it was a picture frame containing the smiling image of his twin sister Kozue, whom he had occasional contact with. The last time had been months ago, when she had called him on her honeymoon, drunk. Her fourth honeymoon that he knew about, anyway. The last was the mail he had brought in that day, ads, bills, and one letter he had propped up against the vase of roses. He stared at the envelope as he played, tracing its edges and familiar lines with his eyes. All at once, he noticed he was playing The Sunlit Garden. That piece. He forced himself to stop. He picked up the plate of apple slices, got up, and walked away. As he passed the piano, the letter propped against the vase fell over, and sunlight illuminated the rose signet engraved on the envelope's flap.

**************

"Next!"

Her fencing sword flashed and darted, effortlessly and easily finding her opponent's chest. It bent slightly as she put pressure on it. The crowd watching was hushed and filled with awe. She didn't care.

"Next!"

Another appeared, face masked behind the helmet but no doubt apprehensive about facing her. Their swords met and deflected each other, but she recovered quickly and struck. Scattered applause was heard as her opponent bowed stiffly and withdrew.

She herself took off her helmet and shook out her golden ringlets of hair. Fixing stern, uncompromising eyes on them all, she waited as they fell silent and said, "That is what I'm teaching you to do. All of you. One by one you will face and beat your opponents until you are the only one left. Your only equals will be your classmates, your only rival will be yourself. And when asked how you got to be so good, you will laugh and walk away."

There was respectful silence then as they looked back at her with confident eyes. "But it was you who taught us, Miss Juri," a voice piped up from the back. The others shifted uneasily, but remained silent. "Don't you want the credit?"

The voice was familiar to her, one of those she had ony recently chosen and not yet used to her way of running things. Instead of singling the speaker out for a reprimand, she addressed them all. "Listen well. Outside these walls, you are the duelist. Outside these walls, you have no instructor and I don't exist. Even if you were to tell them your secret, the name Juri Arisugawa will mean nothing ot them. Best not to mention it."

"Yes Miss Juri," they chorused obediantly.

"Dismissed." Juri grabbed up her towel and helmet as her students filed out. She taught her duelling skills to a select few picked by her as a means of occupying her time. She received a nice profit from grateful students and led her life as quietly and inconspicuously as she could. Revolution seemed distant to her.

Slipping from the wide room used for practice, she entered her sparse office. A desk with a phone, a threadbare executive's chair, and a window to let light in were the only objects of note inside. A planter that sat on the windowsill and contained a few cream colored roses provided the only sort of color.

Juri had just sat down when there was a knock at the door. "Come in," she said sharply, more than a little annoyed at being disturbed by a student. She waited, and when nobody entered, she stood up and strode to the door. Flinging it open, she was about to start a lecture about entering when told to when she noticed nobody was standing there. "Pranks," she snorted to herself and started to close the door. An envelope fixed to the door caught and held her attention. Her heart thumped as she studied the all too familiar rose patterned envelope and wondered in some panic how they had found her. On the heels of that was the thought that this was some sick joke. Swallowing a lump, she snatched the envelope off the door and slammed it behind her.

Inside her office, she dropped it unceremoniously on the desk and sat back down in the chair. She found that one of her hands was fingering the locket around her neck and instead forced herself to pick up the letter opener. With a quick swipe, the envelope was open and she had its contents in her hand. One word, but it could have been blank and she would have still known what it meant.

Return. That was all it said, and that was enough. Vertigo assailed her senses as she recalled all the times she had sat with Miki and Touga around that table discussing the contents of letters just like the one she held. This wasn't right and couldn't be true. She needed to hear someone tell her this was a joke and to come up with a logical explanation behind it. Card in hand, she picked up the phone and dialed Miki's number.

It rang twice before it was answered. "Hello?" she heard Miki say, sounding distracted.

"Hello Miki," Juri said, sitting back in her chair. She flipped the card over and put it face down on the desk.

"Juri. Its been a while," Miki acknowledged. "Truth be told, I've been expecting you. Its good to hear your voice."

Juri let that slide. "I received a letter today," she said shortly.

Silence. "Oh? Who from? Utena, maybe? I haven't heard from her either," Miki questioned with unconcern. Juri heard his voice waver once.

"You got one too then," Juri said with a sigh. "I was hoping it was a prank."

"Is it Akio, do you think?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," Juri said wryly. "He wasn't the same after Anthy left him to find Utena. Maybe he thinks this would bring her back."

"How did he find us then?"

"How did he ever?" Juri snapped, then rubbed her head. "Sorry, Miki. But quit trying to disbelieve something you don't want to believe."

There was another silence on the line, and Juri heard Miki eating something on the other end. "Are you going to do what it says?" he asked at last.

"The days of the Student Council and letters from End of the World are long gone, Miki. Whoever this is can't order us around like this. Besides, Ohtori Academy has bad memories." Juri stared hard at the roses on the windowsill. Distantly in her, she heard the sounds of swords clashing.

"Aren't you curious?"

Juri heard the eager wistfulness she remembered from her college days and almost smiled. "Are you?"

"Yes."

"Good. So am I. I'll call you with my flight information before I leave," Juri said briskly, coming to a decision. Church bells tolled somewhere down the street and sent chills down her spine. "Its good to hear your voice, Miki."

"Yours too." He sounded surprised that she had acknowledged his comment from earlier. "See you shortly."

"Right. Goodbye."

She replaced the receive and grimaced at the card on her desk. She couldn't believe what she was doing, and yet, she didn't regret her decision. Perhaps some of the questions she still had about the day of the Revolution would be answered.

The churchbells tolling distantly abruptly stopped.

**************

Humming, she watered the roses in her backyard. It seemed almost too cool yet for the roses to be blooming, and yet there they were. Her garden was the envy of the neighborhood, but she didn't much care. Truth be told, she hated gardening, hated the droll task of having to water eacha nd every plant, hated the chore of pruning back unruly sprigs of roseplants. Why did she do it then? For the sake of memories, she supposed.

Distantly she heard the mailman stop at her mailbox and move on, and she straightened. She set her watering can on the ground and returned to her house. Passing through the small rooms, she stopped in the front room and looked around vaguely.

"Nobody here," she murmered to herself. "I thought there was…" She looked around once more, then left out the front door. It had been a few months since anyone else had lived with her, not since her last husband had left her. He was her fourth, not that it mattered much to her anymore. They came, attracted by her looks and left, scared away by her total lack of concern and interest. She had stopped paying attention long ago.

There was a letter for her. Looking at the decorated envelope, she looked grim. Picking it up, she could see from its slight bulge and feel from its weight that there was something other than a note inside. Be that as it may, she wasn't interested. Long buried memories of clandestine duels and a complex web of intrigue woven around the whole of an academy's campus stirred in her mind. She had been young and naiive then.

Down the street, two young boys laughed and fought clumsily with plastic swords. The sounds of the clashing sent chills down her spine, and it was all she could do not to run over and snatch them away. Kids shouldn't fight. Students shouldn't duel.

Before she knew what she was doing, she snarled and ripped the note, envelope and all, in half. Something dropped out of one of the halves and fell to the path with a metallic clink, bouncing once before rolling to a stop. Still holding the halves of the envelope, she stared at the small object at her feet in some trepidation. One of the kids down the street declared his victory and both ran off, leaving her in overwhelming silence.

Slowly, she bent down and retrieved the small ring , a glittering jet black inscribed with a rose, and looked at it intently. She made as if to drop both the ring and the letter in the nearby trashcan, then wheeled abruptly and stalked back into her house with both.

**************

The Revolutionary Girl needs you.

Touga Kiryuu read the note in his hand and almost laughed in disbelief. The envelope with the rose engraving was nearby, acting as a coaster for a tumbler of amber liquid. The room was dark, soft yellow light from a desk lamp shone down on the dark mahogany desk he sat in front of. He tilted back in his leather bound chair and stared moodily at the door.

Owner of a successful record label, fashion designer, and adult photographer on the side, he was lying in money. Wallowing in it. Drowning in it. He was a self-made man who owned and controlled the hearts of thousands of women, and yet nobody seemed to see the truth. He was tired of it all. Tired of being the eternal playboy, tired of being rich, tired of having not one person he could trust.

His sister, Nanami, left his wing three years ago to try her hand at being a lawyer. Originally, she had written him daily about her successes and failures, her boyfriends, her life. Over time, however, the letters slowed and then stopped altogether. Then, one day, he received an emotional phonecall from one of his sister's close friends. Nanami was dead. Nobody was sure how, nobody was sure why, all they knew was that there had been no warning and no reason. When friends found her in her apartment, she had been lifeless and bloodless.

Touga abruptly downed the contents of the glass in one gulp and reached for the bottle to pour more. After pouring a small bit, he shrugged and filled the glass up. He had no pressing engagements tomorrow; he could afford to get thoroughly hammered.

He re-read the card, and the memory of the last time he had been with Utena surfaced. The duel arena, the night before the Revolution duel, he had invited her to sit with him-and she had accepted. But thens he had pushed him away, called him her classmate, and that was the last time he had seen her. The Revolution had come and gone, and he was left wondering what had happened to his pink-haired princess. Or prince. He was never sure which she was, for she had ridden into Ohtori Academy and saved him from his own playboy mentality.

Without meaning to, he opened the top drawer and picked out an opened letter. What he had said about not having contact with Utena wasn't entirely true. He had never actually seen her, yet there had been a letter-just one-letting him know that she was still alive. But as far as her needing him? That was a laugh. If there was a person who needed nobody, it was Utena Tenjou. And even if she did, he was probably the last person she'd look to.

He lay Utena's letter flat on the desk beside the rose decorated one. Moving the glass, he contemplated the mysterious one silently. Was Akio at it again? It seemed so; who else knew enough about the Student Council to do this? But what was he scheming now?

"Bastard," Touga said emotionlessly, unsure of whether he was referring to Akio or himself. Tossing back the contents of his glass, he suddenly decided that he would go ask Akio himself. Ohtori was full of unpleasant memories and restless ghosts, but for whatever reason he found it more appealing then a visit to Utena.

**************

"It hasn't changed," Miki commented.

"You sound surprised."

"Really? I'm not."

He stood before the iron gate with Juri looking through at the buildings beyond. Beside him, Juri was looking at the plate proclaiming the complex beyond as Ohtori Academy. Neither of them made any move to enter, though they were earning odd looks from a nearby security officer.

"Miki?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think we'll find in here?"

"Students. Professors. Gossip. Rumors. Standard academy life. The Revolution has already happened, Juri. I don't think we'll find anything."

"And what about the headmaster?" Juri asked softly. Miki glanced over at the woman and saw that she was looking up at the tall domed tower that stood sentinel over the campus. They stood in its shadow, and if Miki squinted, he could barely see the balcony the Student Council once met on. "He'll still be there watching and waiting, acting on his own agenda forever, if need be."

Miki tore his eyes away from the tower and starte walking through the gate and onto the campus. "Akio died a long time before us, Juri. He just refuses to see it. Come on, lets get this over with."

The pair didn't go straight to the tower office. Instead, they wandered in silence around the campus. They earned strange looks from students, but nobody approached them. It felt so much like old times to Miki that each time he looked down, he half expected to be wearing his Student Council uniform and rose signet ring.

"Miki. Look."

The tone of Juri's voice chilled him. Unwillingly, he looked where she indicated and felt his heart skip a beat. Though the student's back was to them, he recognized the white coat and blue slacks of a Student Council member. "Do you still think we'll find nothing here, Miki?" Juri asked, sounding grimly amused.

Miki said nothing to Juri. Purposefully, he began striding towards the student with Juri only a step behind. Something about the blonde hair of the student seemed vaguely familiar to him…

The student heard them approach and turned. One hand held a stopwatch, and he clicked it as he looked up. "Miki! Juri! What're you doing here?"

It all came back to Miki then. "Tsuwabuki…" Miki said, thinking hard. "Mitsuru Tsuwabuki!"

"Just Tsuwabuki, please," the blonde-haired youth said with a smile. "After Nanami started calling me Tsuwabuki, I never did get used to being called Mitsuru again. But what are you two doing here?"

"Visiting," Juri said shortly. Tsuwabuki looked taken aback at Juri's curt reply, and hurriedly fixed a smile on Miki.

"I learned your job well, Miki," he grinned, holding up the stopwatch hanging around his neck.

Miki swallowed and smiled faintly. "Timing. Its been so long that I doubt I could do it anymore." He found himself staring at the stopwatch, remembering when he himself had owned it. "You're…part of the Student Council now? I heard it was disbanded not long after we left."

Tsuwabuki shifted and let the stopwatch fall. "It was only recently started back up again," he replied carefully.

"Really? I should like to meet your president sometime," Miki said smoothly. "I'd be interested to hear about Council business now."

"Council business is Council business," Tsuwabuki said sharply, looking close to anger. "Forgive me, but you two don't belong anymore." As if to emphasize this, Tsuwabuki held up a hand revealing a silver rose signet ring, a ring Miki and Juri knew all too well.

Rather than ask the obvious question, Miki smiled. "Of course. I had forgotten the rules. Sorry about that, Tsuwabuki."

"Don't mention it." Tsuwabuki seemed to relax slightly, but his grin seemed strained.

Juri took this moment to cut in. "We have to be going, Tsuwabuki. It was nice seeing you again," Juri said politely, touching Miki's shoulder. Miki nodded once, then followed Juri down the path.

"See you around!" Tsuwabuki called after them, watching as they continued walking. When they had gotten distant, a girl stuck her head out from behind the tree and stood beside Tsuwabuki. "You heard?" he asked her, still watching the pair.

"I did," she replied absently, running her hands over his back. "You're tense. Don't let them bother you."

He shrugged her off. "I'm not bothered. Just wary."

Pouting slightly at being pushed away, she hugged him from behind. "The Student Council will take care of them if they're trouble. You know that. If not by your sword, then by mine." She rested her head on his back, smiling when he didn't push her away again.

"Still…" Tsuwabuki started, then trailed off. "Mari?"

"Hmm?"

"Go tell Saionji they're here. He, as president, should know first."

"Alright," she said in some disappointment. "But I want some time alone with you later for this."

"Of course," Tsuwabuki replied automatically as Mari Hazumi ran off on her errand.

**************

"They're duelling. They have to be, though I don't know why," Juri said when they were out of earshot. They walked together towards the tall tower. "Perhaps Anthy gave up and came back."

"I don't think so. Did you see Anthy before she left? She had changed. I think Utena set her free somehow. She wouldn't have come back to be the Rose Bride again."

Juri didn't respond. They approached the tower and entered through the double doors without knocking. The lobby area inside was dim and musty smelling. It had been elegant at one time, but everything had a faded look. It was clear to the pair of them that nobody was here on the ground floor, so they moved to the elevator in the far wall. The elevator was clean, oiled, and maintained, so someone had to live here. Feeling only slightly apprehensive, they got into the elevator car and headed up to the top floor.

Juri looked out as the elevator rose. "A chick will die if it cannot break its shell. We are the chick, the world is our-"

"Stop, Juri," Miki said sharply. Juri paused, blinked, and looked disoriented. "That was a long time ago."

"I-I'm sorry, Miki. I had a flashback…" Juri stammered, sounding flustered and not at all like herself. "I don't know what came over me."

Miki glanced over at her. "I need you to keep yourself together, Juri. I need you to be strong. Something isn't right here."

Taken aback by Miki's statement, Juri could only stare. When she had finally thought of something to say, however, the doors slid open and they looked out into the chairman's office.

Calling it an office was using the term loosely. It was one giant circular room that occupied the whole top floor of the tower. Tall arching windows ringed the whole of the office, casting light from the midday sun onto the sparse furnishings. A pair of couches faced each other with a low table between off to one side of the office, the rest of the office was taken up by a giant machine. Everyone on campus knew the rumor that the chairman had a planetarium, but the majority thought this to be untrue. Only a handful knew, and they had long since vanished from the campus. The machine that took up most of the middle of the office was, indeed, this planetarium.

Miki and Juri stepped out of the elevator warily, expecting anything at all to jump out at them. Nothing did. Instead, low voices conversed over in the direction of the couches. Gathering herself up, Juri strode forward purposefully. Miki hesitated briefly, then hurried after. "Akio?" Juri questioned, sounding almost demanding.

The voices paused, and a tall man with pale hair and dark skin stood up slowly and faced them. "Miki. Juri. What a surprise," Akio said in a mild voice, sounding like it was anything but. Akio stood unmoving, staring Juri down as she met him stare for stare. Miki stirred restlessly, preparing himself for anything. There was no love lost between these two. When the silence had stretched into deafening proportions, Akio finally gave in and said, "I was just talking with someone you might remember." There was a pause as Akio looked down at his other guest who didn't get up right away. Finally though there was a quiet sigh, and a second man with long red hair stood up beside Akio.

"Touga!" Miki exclaimed, looking startled. Juri looked around as if she half expected Anthy or even Utena to appear at this unexpected reunion.

"It's been a long time," Touga acknowledged in a neutral voice. His eyes seemed queerly subdued and flat, and his hands were tucked into the pockets of faded blue jeans. He looked as if he wanted to say more, but after his eyes slid sideways to where Akio stood off to one side, he fell silent. Akio smiled as if enjoying some private joke.

Juri exchanged looks with Miki. This wasn't the Touga either of them remembered from their Student Council days. "What're you doing here?" Miki asked at last.

"He was just getting to that point," Akio interjected smoothly. "Sit, please. We can all discuss this. Just like old times." He smiled benignly.

Juri knew that smile and wasn't fooled. She still remembered when she had taken that ride inAkio's red car, remembered him smiling that same smile as he fed her everything she wanted to hear. But still, after a moment's thought, she moved over to the couch and sat. Miki followed her example, and Akio and Touga sat on the opposite couch. Juri and Akio regarded each other as opponents might on a battlefield as they weighed each other's strengths and weaknesses. Miki cleared his throat, and Touga started talking.

"I just have one thing to ask you, Akio. Was it you?"

Akio turned his calculating look from Juri to Touga. "Was it me? What do you mean? Was it me who turned Utena away from you? Yes."

Juri tensed, and a withheld breath whistled from between Miki's clenched teeth. Unruffled, Touga responded, "I don't believe her name has come up yet. Try to pay attention, Akio." He paused momentarily as Akio's amused look drained away, then continued. "I'm talking about the letter with the rose seal I received. If this is your idea of a sick joke…" Touga left this threat unfinished, but for the first time, emotion burned white hot in his eyes.

"That's why we're here as well," Juri said. "What's going on, Akio? Haven't you harassed us enough? I don't want to be a part of your schemes anymore!"

Akio met their collective gazes impassively, then leaned back and closed his eyes with a smirk. Hollow laughter echoed around them. Juri made a noise low in her throat and half rose as if intending to throttle the man. Still chuckling in dark amusement, Akio looked once again at them, freezing Juri in place with the wild insanity and deep pain buried in his eyes. "It wasn't me…oh no…I'm not that reckless," he said in a half whisper, his pale eyes shifting restlessly around the room. "He plays dangerous games…dangerous. But he didn't listen, I suspect…"

"Who?" Miki questioned, but Akio went on.

"He's taking a huge risk. He didn't listen when I told him nothing was over, that the end hasn't come."

Juri looked helplessly at Touga, who was studying Akio like he was some particularly strange bug. "Anthy," Touga said lowly, by way of explanation. "And because he hasn't left this campus in many, many years."

"Anthy will be back," Akio said with grave seriousness. "But the Rose Prince has to be here, else everything will start again-"

The elevator doors slid open then, cutting Akio off in mid-sentence and preventing Juri, Miki, and Touga from asking what that meant. The three visitors looked, and forgot to stand as they received their next shock of the day.

Resplendent in the white suit and shoulder decorations of a Council member and looking no different than the last time any of them could remember seeing him, Saionji Kyoichi eyed them all with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "Chairman," Saionji acknowledged with a nod. "I heard there were old friends here, and I thought I'd stop by."

Akio stood slowly, and a quick glance showed anybody that any trace of his brief moment of insanity was gone. "Saionji, maybe you shouldn't have come. I want no fighting here in my office."

"Fighting? But we're friends, Akio," Saionji said with a queer little laugh. "Aren't we, Touga?"

Touga looked at Saionji, and Saionji looked back at Touga. For a long moment they looked at each other until Touga finally said in a deceptively amiable voice, "Friends."

Miki pretended not to see the winter chill deep in Touga's eyes. They were friends, certainly, but they were also bitter rivals and fiercely jealous of the other. Personally, Miki had never liked Saionji and his arrogance.

"What are you still doing here?" Juri asked of Saionji. "You graduated with us. With honors. Why stay?"

Saionji spread his arms wide. "I grew…attached to this place. When you graduated, you left a gap. I filled it. With the help of others."

"We were told that the Student Council was disbanded," Miki said, looking at Juri for confirmation. She nodded. "Who lied?"

"Council business is Council business." Everyone turned to look at Akio, who had sat back down on one of the couches with his hands behind his head. He looked so much like the Akio they all remembered, that Juri and Miki looked away. Touga looked at him with those flat eyes of his, before he half smiled and lowered his head to where his arms were crossed. Saionji just smiled.

"Will you be around much longer? Maybe we could spend some time catching up. I'd like to hear about your sister. Nanami, wasn't it? She's the only one of us not here." Saionji turned polite but curious eyes on Touga.

Touga said nothing for a long moment. Through the arched windows allowing fresh air in, the sound of the academy's class bell drifted in. Juri shifted uncomfortably, wondering at the way Touga hadn't raised his eyes but had tightened his grip on the couch. "Nanami…" Touga said at last, his voice tight. He raised his head and fixed Saionji with even tighter eyes. "Nanami is dead."

"What?" Miki burst out, just as Juri herself gasped in shock. Nanami had struck an unpleasant chord with Juri when she had taken over Council duties in place of her brother. Nanami was possessive, self-absorbed, shallow, and had almost driven the Council to ruin, but Juri saw change occur within her on the final days before the Revolution that gave her hope. Indeed, her choice and success in law school seemed to prove Juri right. But she was dead?

Saionji, too, looked shocked and shaken. "How?" he demanded, none too gently. Juri glanced at Akio, and was reminded strongly of a spider lying in wait. Touga closed his eyes and sat back. He ignored Saionji's question.

Just as Saionji was about to ask again, Akio intervened. "You have Council business to take care of, Saionji. The others are waiting for you." His words seemed to have a double meaning to them above and beyond the Council, but neither Juri nor Miki could decipher what he was really saying. It might have been nothing; Akio always did have a flair for the dramatic.

"Of course," Saionji said at once, bowing at the hip, all apologetic smiles. "Perhaps we can get together once more before you depart?" Amid non-committal responses from the three visitors, he turned and vanished out the door just as suddenly as he had come.

"I'm afraid his arrogance hasn't faded any," Akio said in apology. "I'm truly sorry, Touga."

Touga waved a hand dismissively and the matter was dropped.

"This is all well and good, but it doesn't explain why we were sent for," Miki said then, standing and pacing to a window.

"Perhaps you will find your answer if you tour the campus more," Akio suggested impassively. "We've remodeled, to be sure, but there are still a few glimpses of what was."

They all knew a dismissal when they heard one and, truth be told, they were all tired of Akio's vague answers and even more vague looks. Miki turned away from the window and, after glancing inquiringly at Juri who shrugged, started to follow her towards the elevator. To their surprise, Touga stood and joined the pair.

"Juri, you stay."

The sharp command in his voice made her pause more than the actual word. "And if I refuse?" she countered bluntly.

He shrugged. "Then you will never know, will you?"

Juri had half a mind to turn and leave anyway, but curiousity won out. "Go on ahead," she said to Miki who nodded once and stepped into the elevator with Touga. Juri waited for the doors to slide shut and the chime to sound softly before she crossed her arms. "Well?"

"Have you heard from Utena?"

Juri's lips compressed tightly at the self-satisfied look on Akio's face. "No," she replied shortly. She knew Akio had played Utena for a fool, had used her weakness against her. And she hated him for that. That and how much Akio knew about herself.

"A shame," Akio said emotionlessly.

"Is that all you kept me behind for? To ask about a girl you never cared for in the first place?"

Anger briefly twisted Akio's features before he visibly controlled himself. "Let's not mince words here. You don't like me and I don't like you."

"Let's not," Juri agreed with a short nod. "I hate you for everything you've done to this academy, to Utena, and above all, to myself. You're a lying, manipulative bastard that should have died long ago."

Akio's eyes looked amused, but he never smiled. "True the only thing keeping me alive and ageless is this campus. Saionji learned that too, and its promise of life has snared him too. That, and his lust for power." Akio leaned forward, his eyes boring into Juri. "He means to kill me and take over as End of the World. I need your help."

"My-what?" Juri burst out. As soon as her startlement wore off, her eyes narrowed. "Forget it. I'm not interested in keeping you alive and neither are the others. Your death would be welcome."

"Such anger!" Akio said with a laugh. "Saionji wrote those letters, not me. But since you obliged him by coming, I might as well use you."

"I graduated from here, Akio," Juri said warningly. "I'm not a student for you to use and abuse. I'm not interested."

As Juri turned away, Akio threw in, "You may have no choice. Saionji has plans. They involve you and the others."

Juri paused. "What is he up to?"

"It isn't my place to say."

Juri snorted softly. "Just whose side are you on?"

Behind Juri's back, Akio smiled. "Why, the side of Revolution, of course."

**************

"Well that was interesting," Miki offered once the elevator doors had slid shut and they had begun the descent. "Akio's still Chairman, and half-mad to boot. Saionji's the president of a Student Council that shouldn't be, and Juri's up there trying to make some sense out of it all. I don't envy her." Still, some part of him was uneasy at leaving her alone up there with Akio. He was not to be trusted, not after he had used their deepest fears and played them all as pawns against Utena. Miki glanced at Touga once before returning his eyes outside. "I'm sorry to hear about Nanami."

Touga's frown deepened. "You and the rest of the world. That's all anyone can say."

Taken aback by the bitterness deep in his voice, it was several moments before Miki could reply. "What did you want me to say instead?" He tried not to sound insulted, and succeeded.

"Nanami's death was no accident," Touga stated flatly. He paused as he watched the balcony the Student Council had met on slide by on their way down. When it had slid out of sight, he continued. "The answer lies here somewhere, I can feel it. Saionji and Akio are involved somehow and I mean to discover how before I leave."

"How can you be so sure, Touga?" Miki asked carefully. He half thought Touga was looking for someone to blame.

They reached the ground floor then, and they both walked out. Miki paused to wait for Juri, and Touga waited with him. "Nanami died all at once. Nobody's truly sure what happened. Her body was drained of blood, without wounds of any sort. Her dorm mate had checked in on her that same morning to make sure she was up, and Nanami was fine. Next thing everyone knows, she's dead."

"How does that relate to here?" Miki paused as the elevator began its slow ascent, looking up as far as he could before continuing. "I don't see the connection."

"Do you still have your rose seal?" When Miki nodded his head, he went on. "I do as well. I never wore it though, not after we left. Too many memories. On the other hand, Nanami wore hers religiously. I asked her about it once, and she just laughed and told me not to worry about it."

The elevator evidently reached the top of the tower, because its whirrings paused. A moment later they started up again, the chains moving in the opposite direction as the elevator car descended. "So?"

"So…when they found Nanami's body, there was no ring. It was gone. The skin on the finger she always wore it on was black."

This grabbed Miki's attention away from the elevator. "Really?"

Touga nodded grimly. "Her roommate told me she had a female visitor that morning too. She didn't pay that much attention to her, because she was still waking up and busy herself. But she remembered very clearly the small animal on her shoulder. Big ears, a long tail, and the strangest eyes she had ever seen."

"Strange, small animal…? ChuChu?"

"With Anthy, whom no-one's seen since the day of the Revolution," Touga said with a nod. "It could only be her. People have tried finding this visitor to see if she knows anything, but nobody can find her."

Miki sucked at his lip in thought. Anthy…once upon a time, just the casual mention of that name was enough to send shivers up his spine. He had loved her as purely as anyone could, and dreamed night and day of freeing her from the nonsensical duels the Council fought for her. Anthy Himemiya was the Rose Bride, the prize for the winner of a duel, and the keeper of the secret of Eternity. Hungry for power, Saionji bested them all and kept Anthy to himself for the day when Anthy would reveal her secret. He held onto her for six months or more before Utena arrived and beat him on her first try-with a wooden practice sword. Saionji never forgave Utena for that.

Miki's love of Anthy waxed and waned as the days wore on, until he learned the true secret. Anthy had no soul, no free will of her own. Whoever the Rose Bride was "married" to was who she followed orders from. It was then that Miki stopped loving her, and barely considered her a friend. Anthy was an enigma; to this day, none of them save Akio and Utena knew what part she played in the Revolution. Miki wouldn't have been surprised to learn that she had been against them all this entire time.

"What do you want me to do?" Miki asked then. None of this made any sort of sense, but he could feel that all of these pieces fit together somehow.

"Help me, Miki. Be my eyes and ears while I'm gone. Try and figure out what's going on," Touga said rapidly, his eyes trained on the elevator car that was just about to them.

"While you're gone? Where are you going?" Miki asked, just as the elevator doors slid open and Juri stormed out. Touga shook his head meaningfully.

"He hasn't changed. Not in the slightest. He's still plotting and manipulative-the bastard thinks we're going to protect him!" Juri spat angrily as she joined the pair. She stalked onward, and the others were forced to match her pace. In short, clipped sentences, Juri related what had transpired between her and Akio as they walked. Juri walked purposefully but had no real destination, and as a result, they found themselves walking through the campus at a fast walk.

Miki frowned after Juri finished. "Help him? How can we trust him?"

"More than that, how can we help him when he won't tell us what we need to know?" Touga added.

Juri shrugged helplessly, and the three walked on without saying anything more. Each of them was thinking hard about the problem at hand, wondering at whether they cared enough to help the man that had almost ruined them all. Miki looked around absently as he thought and they walked, at all the modernization that had occurred since they had graduated. Though the majestic architecture they all remembered was still there, mixed with it was renovated modern buildings and dorms. Much thought was evidently put into the placement of these new buildings, since nothing looked out of place. Juri finally paused inside a small courtyard placed between two dorm buildings, both of which towered eight or nine stories above the ground. The path beneath them was paved with decorative tile, the path leading to a fountain and a basin then heading off in two different directions. A girl leaned against the fountain looking up at the sky and tapping her foot as if waiting for someone to appear. Miki dismissed the girl as unimportant, but then looked again after he heard Touga grunt in recognition.

The girl looked over at them then, giving Miki a clear look at her face. Her plain brown hair in twin pigtails looked vaguely familiar to Miki, however he couldn't put a name to her face. "So you're here finally," she said with a smile, pushing herself off the fountain and walking towards them. "I was told to make sure you three have a decent place to stay while you're with us." Miki saw her plain brown eyes linger on Touga longer than either Juri or himself.

"It will be just the two of them," Touga spoke up then. "I won't be staying here on campus. I have things to do elsewhere." Juri's head whipped around to look at the red-haired man curiously, and Miki could almost hear her mentally sighing in frustration.

The girl looked disappointed. "Not you? But I was told-" She shook her head. "Nevermind. It isn't important. Do you two want to see your rooms?"

Miki looked at Juri, who still looked irritated at Touga. "Yeah. Sure," she said shortly. "Lead on. Touga can come with us until he leaves."

"This way, then," the girl said, waving to their right. They followed. At one point, the girl dropped back from the lead to say something lowly to Touga. Juri and Miki kept walking forward at a respectable distance, but still kept their ears trained on the exchange.

"Touga, I-"

"Save it, Keiko. It was a long time ago. Why are you still here?"

"Why does it matter? I am. And so are you."

"You're talking years ago, Keiko. I knew why you were always with my sister. You and those two others. What were their names?"

"Yuuko. Aiko."

"Yeah. Them. You three were with my sister to be closer to me. Don't deny it."

"I won't. I loved you."

"Everybody did. You're no different than anybody else."

"But-"

"Keiko, Nanami is dead. Leave me be. I want no reminders."

At that, there was a long silence, and the girl Touga had named as Keiko resumed her position ahead of the three of them. As she passed Miki, he recognized her at last. In their years at the academy, Nanami's friends used her to get closer to her brother. To get in his good graces, they did everything possible to make Nanami pleased with them, to the point of being her personal servants. At that moment, however, Keiko looked nothing like she did back then. She refused to look at any of them, even out of the corners of her eyes.

"Why are you leaving?" Juri demanded of Touga after Keiko had resumed the lead.

"Because I really have no interest in keeping that man alive," Touga replied mildly. "I have somewhere else I have to be right now."

Juri scowled, but before she could say anything, Miki cut in. "Have you decided to help Akio, Juri? Is that why you agreed to stay?"

Her scowl deepened. "I don't know."

Keiko led them through a door and into a polished lobby area. They waited for an elevator car in silence, rode the elevator car up to the fourth floor in silence, and followed Keiko to a set of doors at the end of the hallway in silence. "This is where you two will be staying," she said, somewhat stiffly. "You have student privelages for the time being." There seemed to be something hidden in that last sentence, but no amount of sharp looks would give any of them an explanation. "I have to go. I'll probably see you later."

She waved at them with her left hand before leaving, giving them all a clear view of the rose signet ring she wore on her finger. The three of them let her go without saying a word.

"Well then," Touga said then, giving Juri and Miki a brief nod. "I'll be off. I hope you two don't get yourselves into too much trouble here. There's much going on that we don't know about." He looked briefly down the hall in both directions, then looked back at them. "I hope you two will leave. Now. Before things get out of hand."

"If you're so concerned about us, perhaps you should stay instead of running off," Juri spat acerbically. "In any case, we don't need your concern."

Miki gave Juri a reproachful look. "Juri…"

She sighed and put a hand to her head. "Sorry. I'm just on edge…where are you going, anyway?"

Touga looked for a long moment at Juri. He half turned away without responding, then stopped and turned back. "I need to find someone. I'll be back."

"Who?" Miki asked curiously, but this time Touga never responded. Miki and Juri watched the red haired man walk purposefully back the way they had come and get on the elevator. Miki looked once at Juri's face, but it was unreadable.

**************

"I can barely hear them…"

"Shh! They'll hear us!"

"Get off my foot and maybe I will!" She grit her teeth and yanked her foot out from under the boy's foot. Pressing her head back against the wood door, Mari grit her teeth and strained her ears to hear what was going on in the hall.

"-find someone. I'll be back."

"Who?"

The sound of footsteps reached her ears, getting louder as Touga walked past the door she and Tsuwabuki listened behind, then getting softer as he walked on. She looked up at Tsuwabuki's face just as the boy stepped away from the door. "He's gone. Where to, though?" He seemed to be talking to himself.

"Do you want him followed?" she ventured, following him further into the dorm room.

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Touga said he'd be back-you heard him. It doesn't really matter who he's going to get, so long as he returns with whoever it is." He sat down in one of the chairs and motioned Mari toward him. She obliged him by sitting in his lap and throwing her arms around his neck.

"Don't worry about any of them," she purred soothingly into his neck as she stroked his back. "Saionji's already started with them."

He turned his head slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "So you've already done what you've been told to do? So soon?"

She smiled. "Miki will be finding it any moment now. I look forward to meeting him."

"Its you?"

"No, not right away. But eventually, it will be."

**************

Miki, a hand on his doorknob, looked across the narrow hall to where Juri was entering her room. "This is nerve-wracking," he admitted. "What if something happens while we're here?"

Juri glanced around her plush dorm room briefly, before turning back to Miki. "Don't take chances, and you'll be fine. We've done all this before, remember."

"Yes, but that was years ago…" Miki sighed, opening his door and glancing around. He turned on the lights, looking down the narrow hall to the living area at the end. On either side of him were doors, one leading to the small kitchenette, the other leading to a bedroom. He started closing the door behind him, then looked twice as a folded piece of paper caught his eye. Taking it down and folding it open, he read its contents grimly.

"Duellist of the blue rose, meet your fate tomorrow night. 7pm. You'll know where you have to be at that time."

He knew this had been coming, but still he felt his stomach clench as he read the note again. Sighing again, he added to himself quietly, "…and back then, we were in control."