Roses Grow
by sharnii
Chapter 21: Mousetrap
I don't know how long I exchanged desperate kisses with Anthy before I heard an aggrieved grunt. Looking dazedly past her I saw that the elevator had stopped before the roof (and I hadn't even noticed). Saionji was stepping inside, a familiar-looking letter clenched in his fist.
"I'm guessing you got one of these?" he asked, waving it around while avoiding looking directly at us. He stepped all the way in and the doors slid shut. Once again the elevator began crawling upwards. Was it broken or something? Was is a ploy so we would feel more fear?
Anthy rose and gently took his letter. She examined the broken seal, then read the contents aloud.
My dear Kyouichi,
It's been too long since we really talked, old friend. It seems the carefree days of our youth are long past, and we are both busy with important concerns. But I can't help remembering those lazy afternoon bike rides, and our fencing practices with nostalgia. There is much I have to tell you, much I have to reveal if you will only open yourself. Please Kyouichi, for friendship's sake, let me show you something I know you are dying to see.
Meet me on the roof at sunset.
Touga
Anthy looked up. Her voice came out slightly strained.
"It's the seal of the rose."
"Yes," said Saionji grimly. "You know what this means?"
"Yes," said Anthy.
"That bastard," ground out Saionji. "That complete and utter traitor. How dare he?! How can he just go and…"
Mid-rant he stopped and stared down at me.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing," I said, reaching for Anthy's nearby hand and allowing her to help me struggle into a standing position. Even with Saionji's eyes drilling into me I couldn't help slumping into the corner of the lift.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked Anthy instead, turning to peer at her. "Did she get into a fight? And where's Juri and Miki-kun? I haven't seen them since they went looking for you…"
"They'll be on the roof with Kiryuu-san," she said calmly, "and Akio-san."
Saionji made a choking noise.
"We hope," I muttered, wiping aggrievedly at my nose with my sleeve cuff. It seemed to be bleeding again.
With a ding the lift came to another unexpected stop. This time the doors slid open to reveal Nanami with Tsuwabuki in tow.
"What's this supposed to be?" snapped Nanami. "Some kind of secret meeting?" She stalked inside with Tsuwabuki hurrying after, hefting her giant handbag against his chest.
"And what's this, going shopping?" snarled Saionji, waving at the bag.
"No," said Nanami, directing the full force of her glare at him. "Onii-sama asked me to bring him some things."
"What?" I muttered, unable to believe my ears. "Like what?"
"None of your business," she snapped back. Her eyebrows arched as she got a good look at me. "Look at how dirty you are. You're such a tomboy." She gestured derisively in Anthy's general direction. "Can't you do something about your girlfriend? She's an embarrassment."
"Nanami-sama!" gasped Tsuwabuki.
"Be quiet when I'm talking!" she told him. He turned red and subsided.
Anthy chose to ignore Nanami, turning back to me as the lift door slid shut again. As though we were still alone she smoothed the tassels on my jacket, and re-arranged my collar. Removing the dress handkerchief in the top pocket she dabbed delicately at my nose. Silently I watched her face, her eyes that had always said more than words, her gestures. It occurred to me that I didn't want to miss anything of her, any of the time we had together. The time that might be ending…
Saionji started bickering with Nanami but I didn't listen. I was caught up in Anthy's hands stroking my cheeks, playing with my buttons, creeping under my shirt to slide over my stomach. Burying her face in my jacket she wrapped her arms around my waist. Nervously her fingers smoothed over the exit wound scarring my back, over and over again. I don't think she even knew she was doing it.
I placed my palms between her breasts, where she would customarily touch me. Her skin felt a little warmer there, even through her dress material. I wondered if it was the sword of Dios, if it was helping her. Gasping I felt something, a tingle, like a tiny spasm of electricity arcing from her to me. It was the sword I was sure. Somehow I was connected to it; I could sense its power even inside Anthy.
Her eyes moved to mine and I knew she'd felt it too.
"You should take it," she said softly.
"Not yet," I murmured back. "I want the element of surprise."
I didn't add that I wanted her to access its charging properties as long as possible. Besides, it might be able to protect her in some way…even if I couldn't… Probably she knew all this anyway without me saying it.
"Can you two stop groping each other in public places?" Nanami's strident voice interrupted us. Before I could speak the lift halted again, door sliding open.
"Utena!" cried Wakaba, rushing in to cozy up beside me. "I've been looking for you everywhere! There's a party on the roof, did you hear?" She noticed Anthy, looked nervous, noticed Nanami, grimaced, didn't notice Tsuwabuki and started blushing the moment she realized Saionji was in residence.
"Are you coming to the party?" she asked him, forgetting me and sidling towards him shyly.
"Everybody's coming to the roof," I mumbled, vaguely sickened by the notion. So this was to be a public showdown was it?
"You said he has plans for all the duelists," Anthy reminded me gently. I blinked at her. Yes, I had said that, back at the meeting that had ended in the ruins of Juri's apartment. More than saying it, I'd known it to be true.
"I wonder where Keiko-san is now," I said with a shiver.
"That coward," sniped Nanami, but her eyes had widened as she shamelessly eavesdropped on our conversation. "What do you mean about the roof? What showdown? What's going on?!"
"Nanami-sama," muttered Tsuwabuki miserably, tugging on her sleeve. "There's something I should tell you."
"Later," she snapped, now glaring pointedly at Anthy's hands under my shirt.
"Now," he insisted, forcefully enough to draw silence from all the lift's occupants. "I er heard…that is I…uh…"
"Spit it out," ordered Nanami impatiently.
"Sorry, I heard your br…brother on the phone y…yesterday. To uh…to the assistant ch…chairman."
All the blood drained from Nanami's face. She believed him, I could see that from her reaction. She stood frozen, staring off into space, looking all adrift. Tsuwabuki dared to clutch at her hand and nervously pat it. She didn't seem to see him, staring instead at a spot somewhere over Saionji's head.
Saionji looked both enraged and resigned. Wakaba looked scared.
"W…what's happening?" she asked me. "Th…there's no party then? This is a…a…"
"Trap," finished Saionji, grinding his teeth together.
"A duel?" asked Wakaba, twisting her hands. "Here? But we're not at Ohtori Academy…"
"We don't know it's a duel," I said, playing with Anthy's hair. I couldn't seem to stop myself, it was comforting, and besides I couldn't waste the time we still had. It was so soft…I was glad she had it out.
"It is a duel," said Anthy, closing her eyes under my touch. "Akio-san will like the symmetry."
"Do you have a sword?" Saionji asked me, straight to the point.
"Yeah," I said. "I do."
"Thank goodness," said Wakaba, moving closer to clutch at one of my arms. "Can we help?"
"I don't know." I glanced over Anthy's head at the silent Nanami and brooding Saionji. Tsuwabuki was still patting Nanami's hand, practically in guilty tears. I didn't know how this would all go down. But I didn't feel good about it.
"This lift is broken!" accused Nanami, suddenly snapping out of her stupor. I could see she needed to do something, to be angry. "It's moving so slowly we may as well be going backwards."
"It's deliberate," said Anthy.
"It's annoying," snapped Nanami.
"Settle down," I told her, which probably just made her more angry, but then I'd never been good at dealing with Nanami. "We need to get ready."
"What? Bleed on the wall some more?" She looked me up and down dismissively. "You look awful. Like you're about to be sick. And where's this sword you're supposed to have, huh?"
Her angry eyes moved to Saionji.
"You haven't beaten my brother for the last ten years! What good will you be?"
She looked at Wakaba with derision.
"Ha!"
"What about you, Nanami-sama?" asked her right-hand man worshipfully. "Will you duel?"
That stopped her tirade. Her eyes got very wide and she stared down at Tsuwabuki as though he'd grown two heads.
"I…I don't have a sword," she said at last.
"Then why are you here?" I asked her. "If you're just gonna tell everyone off, and you're not gonna help, you may as well be up on the roof with Touga-san already." I glared at her, suddenly angry too. We didn't have time for this. I didn't have time for this…distraction.
To my surprise Nanami had the decency to flush and look at her feet. I looked back to Anthy.
"Anthy, I want you to know that…"
"Stop it." She cut me off, then kissed my lips when I tried to speak again. "We'll talk about that afterwards," she murmured. I looked at her with my heart in my eyes; what if there wasn't any after? Her own eyes flickered, and she buried her face back in the hollow of my neck, winding her arms so tightly around me that I struggled to breathe. I wrapped my arms around her narrow shoulders, using all my failing strength to cling to her.
The others were staring at us, to a man, but I hid my face in Anthy's hair and thought only of the moment. This was what I'd fought for (what she'd fought for), and gone through (literal) hell for…this was all I would have to hold onto when I faced him alone. Anthy and I, together.
The lift lurched and came to its final stop. We had reached the roof.
The sun was setting as we stepped outside, a huge orange disc half-buried by the desert sands. The twilit sky was a shade somewhere between blue and violet, and a chilly breeze was sweeping through the air: night was on its way. Somehow the roof seemed much larger than it ever had before, and no wonder. As I looked from side to side I realized it now formed a massive dueling arena, complete with the scarlet markings that had mapped out the old one. Disturbingly the low stone wall had been replaced by a castle-esque one matching Ohtori Academy's – complete with gaps. The arena was ominously empty.
"Where are they?" asked Wakaba with a shiver.
"Oh he'll be here," muttered Saionji, peering around suspiciously. "This is a giant mousetrap."
Slowly I walked out into the centre of the arena, one arm wrapped around Anthy's shoulder. Her hand on my waist crept under my shirt again, absently fiddling with my scar. I tightened my hold on her, and tried my best not to shiver. Wakaba trotted after Saionji, while Nanami and Tsuwabuki lingered uncertainly near the lift.
The roar of a motor sounded in the distance, and we turned as one to look toward it. A figure appeared just as suddenly in an unearthly mist that swirled into being at the far end of the arena. The mist hadn't been there seconds ago, I was almost certain. The figure was tall and swaggering, regal in bearing. As he strode toward us elements stuck out. A scarlet mane of hair that any girl would love to run her fingers through. Poignantly blue eyes, that seemed to laugh mockingly at you. The uniform of a prince: white with red piping, complete with golden tassels. Kiryuu Touga.
"Can you hear it?" he asked us with his trademark smirk. "Because if you can, it means that you haven't given up hope."
"You're so full of it," snarled Saionji, who was the closest.
"Am I?" asked Touga, not put out in the least. "I'm surprised that you of all people are still hungering after eternity, Kyouichi. You can hear it calling, I see it in your eyes."
A charged moment between them where Touga stopped only paces away and they stared at each other. I'd never understood their relationship: long ago Saionji had told me they were childhood friends, as we gazed into the birdcage at Anthy and all she represented. Yet they'd never seemed like friends. Sure they had dueled me together, but I also remembered Saionji's sword slicing Touga, and seething exchanges between them bordering on out and out fights.
That familiar engine rumbled again and everyone but Touga peered nervously into the mist.
"Onii-sama, what are you wearing?" asked Nanami, rushing forward to throw herself into his arms. Looking surprised (and a tad irritated) Touga pushed her back, and offered her a courtly bow instead. She blushed in confusion. His smile grew more pronounced.
"Nanami," he said smoothly, "don't you recognize your prince?"
She gasped. Then she slapped him. We all goggled, except for Touga who winked at her.
"How dare you!" she shouted, turning even redder. "When they told me you were tricking us into coming up here I didn't really believe it. But here you are and you're still working for that awful man. Don't you know the things he does?! He's a monster! You think he won't hurt you too but he will. Oh Onii-sama, how could you do this to me? Don't you love me?!"
She started to cry in earnest, but Touga placed his hands on her arms and drew her into his chest.
"Oh Nanami," he said, his voice deep and rich and filled with hidden meaning. "Of course I love you. And of course I know all about what Akio-san does…what I do. If I didn't, do you think we could be together like this?"
She stiffened and tried to pull back, but he didn't let her go. Instead he held her there, struggling feverishly while he smirked derisively.
"Don't go," he purred. "You wouldn't be able to hear it if you didn't want it…"
"No!" she cried out, "I don't! I don't want this! No!" She froze as Touga ignored her protests to lower his head to hers, pressing his lips deliberately to her own.
I snapped.
One second I was standing with Anthy, well back from the action, the next I was sprinting toward Touga as fast as I could force myself to move. My heart was thudding with exertion; my eyes blurred with rage. I couldn't believe what I saw, what he had the audacity to do. More than that I couldn't let it happen. Not even to Nanami.
I gathered myself, and leapt into the air, aiming my shoulder for his. It was a tackle adapted from my favored final charge in the duels. Usually Dios would have possessed me before it, but I didn't wait for him this time. Nobody else would save Nanami, or the innocent girls she represented.
Mid-leap I let out an instinctive yell. Touga looked up in surprise, then gasped with pain as I thudded into him, sending us both flying. I finished up sprawled half on top of him, scrabbling to get into position to give him a good right-hook.
"Why Utena-kun," he purred. "You're beautiful when you're jealous."
I hit him. My fist crunched satisfyingly against his jawbone, and I let out another yell from the impact.
Then I was gasping for breath as hot little hands grabbed me around the neck, hauling me up and off him.
"Get away from him, you pervert!" yelled Nanami. "Onii-sama is mine!"
Choking for air I grabbed at her hands, and pulled them away, whirling around to stare at her in disbelief.
"You want that?!" I yelled back at her. "To be violated by a man who calls himself your brother?"
She flushed and tried to slap me, but I easily caught her hand mid-motion. Then I grunted with pain and folded to the ground, as Touga caught me with a nasty sucker-punch from behind, straight in the kidney.
"That wasn't very chivalrous," mocked Saionji, as he leapt forward to join the fray. His punch caught Touga in the nose, and sent him whirling back sputtering, blood staining his princely shirt.
Nanami leapt onto Saionji's back, while Touga managed to get back up and deliver a powerful uppercut to his distracted friend. It was enough to knock Saionji flying backwards across the arena, sending him sprawling in one direction and Nanami in the other. I cringed at the impact, as I crawled to my feet. Neither of them got up.
"My nose," moaned Touga, probing at it anxiously.
"Worried about your looks?" I snarled, balancing on my hands to swirl my legs around in a kick aimed to take his ankles out from under him. Glaring at me he leapt over it, then reached down to yank me up by my hair. Hissing with pain I punched his stomach with bruised knuckles, and he cursed and let go. We both staggered back, staring at each other with the same intensity we'd shared under that tree. My hand itched for a sword right now, but Touga didn't have one. I couldn't attack an unarmed man with a weapon.
It wouldn't be fair.
"What are you fighting for?" he had the nerve to ask me, regaining his breath enough to strike a pose, flicking at his mane of hair. "You heard it too, didn't you Utena-kun?"
I reddened.
"How could you treat your sister that way?" I demanded, risking a quick glance back. Saionji and Nanami lay where they had landed. Tsuwabuki had predictably rushed to Nanami's side, and Wakaba was trying to rouse Saionji. Anthy was drifting toward the swirling mist, her back to us.
"Anthy!" I shouted, temporarily distracted. What the hell was she doing?!
Touga regained my attention with a fist to the solar plexus. Coughing I doubled over, gasping for air. With a chuckle he grabbed my shoulders and kneed me in the stomach. I choked. I tried to break his hold but I couldn't seem to breathe. His knee connected again, once, twice more. Thinking of Anthy moving away from us, I reached up desperately and blindly grabbed for his hair. There, I had it in my fist. Grimly I pulled as hard as I could, managing a smile for his girl-like scream. He pulled away from me, hands to his scalp and I stumbled back away from him.
Then I turned, and sprinted toward Anthy.
In the interim she had reached and entered the mist: all I could see was her silhouette as she glided through it.
"Anthy!" I screamed, ignoring the way I couldn't breathe properly, and how my body didn't seem to be running as fast as I knew I could. The engine rumbled again, closer now. Anthy didn't turn around. She was disappearing into the mist; I almost couldn't see her anymore. I reached the mist myself and dived in without hesitation.
Inside I couldn't see anything. Fog swirled more thickly than I had ever seen, except perhaps at the gates of Ohtori's dueling arena and on its endless staircase. I waved my hand in front of my face, trying to clear a visual path. The mist was icy against my skin.
"Anthy!" I called again, a little more uncertainly. How would I find her in this? I stopped and listened, clutching at my bruised stomach. Nothing. No, there. Something. Footsteps? Maybe…it was hard to tell. Sound was deadened by this fog.
Out of the maybe-silence came the dreaded roar again: Akio's red convertible. I couldn't see it, but what else could it be? Shuddering I did my best to follow the sound. Once again I got the feeling of being toyed with.
"Anthy!" I called, forging ahead anyway. The mist parted just enough for me to make out her silhouette. I rushed towards her.
"Anthy," I gasped, close enough to put a hand on her shoulder. She whirled, giggling up at me. I recoiled, yanking back my hand. Not Anthy. Takatsuki Shiori. She was dressed in the traditional outfit of the rosebride, albeit in violet. Her hair was pinned back but she was missing the glasses. The expression on her face wasn't very nice for all that she was smiling. I was beginning to wonder if it ever had been. In a sudden rage I gripped her shoulders and shook her so that her teeth rattled.
"How dare you!" I hissed. "You shot Anthy, but she did nothing to you. Where is she?!" I didn't understand how she could keep laughing when I was shaking her so hard. Looking over her shoulder I realized the car was behind her, idling in place with Kaoru Kozue leering at me from behind the wheel. She also was dressed in a replica bridal gown, hers in blue. More disturbing were the bodies in the car's back seat, slumped over the doors. Miki was behind his sister and Juri was on the passenger side. They were dressed in their old dueling uniforms, and appeared to be unconscious. I bit my lip. This was bad.
"Akio-san asked me to," said Shiori innocently if a little breathlessly, and I realized that I'd stopped shaking her. "Utena-sama," she went on, glancing meaningfully at my hands on her shoulders, "I'm sorry, but I'm just not that way inclined. It's…dirty."
I couldn't help it. I flushed and pushed her away from me. She stumbled back against the car's passenger door and giggled again. It made my skin crawl to hear her use Anthy's old form of address for the victors.
"Don't worry, Utena-sama," called out Kozue seductively. "I am." She smirked across at me, no doubt enjoying the way I turned an even brighter shade of red.
"My brides have something for everyone," purred Akio, and suddenly he was there, stepping out of the mist and into the car's headlights. They served as spotlights to catch the glint of his golden epaulets and the chain dangling across his broad chest. He was tall and handsome, dressed as the prince he wasn't. One arm was wrapped possessively around Anthy's shoulders, binding her to his side. I stared at her in horror but she didn't meet my gaze, just looked at the ground. Somehow the lime green of her sundress had turned blood-red.
"Anthy!" I called, ignoring Akio in favor of trying to get her to look up at me. "Anthy, look at me!"
Nothing. Just the familiar curve of her neck as she bent her head, and Akio's mocking laughter. Shiori had slipped into the car beside Kozue and they were giggling too, like they'd just been told the world's funniest joke.
"What have you done to her?" I growled at Akio, my heart sinking. The stakes had just risen unbelievably high.
"What do you mean?" he asked innocently. "My little sister has come home where she belongs. By my side, just like it's always been. Is that so strange, so hard to understand?"
"She doesn't want it," I bit out between clenched teeth. Something flickered in Akio's eyes and he dropped his charming façade for a second to almost snarl at me:
"She wants whatever I tell her to want, and you'd do well to learn a lesson from her." He recovered his glib smile. "She's a good girl, a proper girl." His emphasis on the word 'proper' was clearly directed my way. "She always has been."
"What do you want?" I asked, desperately trying to buy some time. Maybe Saionji would wake up and manage to find me. Maybe Wakaba would come too; at this point I'd use all the help I could get. Maybe Anthy would look at me. Damn her…damn this mist and this nightmarish car. What the hell was going on?!
"I want you, Utena-kun," purred Akio in his most seductive tones. I hated him but when he spoke like that, his voice low and vibrant and his free hand pressed against his heart in a gallant gesture…it was impossible not to blush. He saw it, of course he did, with his wickedly watching eyes. He smirked, and even that was beautiful. "Come and live with Anthy and I," he continued, "and see what lies at the Ends of the World. You can have anything your heart desires. You can be the princess to my prince, and Anthy can take care of both of us. Now…wouldn't that be nice? All three of us, together forever as one happy family?"
"W…what?" I gasped out. Where was he going with this?!
"The prince was your first love, my dear, you cannot deny it." Akio's voice was smooth and certain but I caught the slightest flicker in his eyes as they went to my uniform then back to my face.
"I'm the prince," I said, despite everything I'd said to Anthy. Akio jerked as though I slapped him.
"No…no you're really not," he said, voice still calm but shoulders twitching. Kozue sniggered in the background. I ignored her.
"You want to be like the prince," Akio admitted, "and you've done a fine job all told…but there can only be one prince."
"Well it's not you," I growled, but his smirk grew wider.
"Isn't it?" He waved at Shiori and Kozue, who were watching him with evident admiration. "They think I am." Shiori smiled and blushed prettily. Kozue blew him a kiss.
I rolled my eyes. From what little I knew about these new rose brides they were hardly character references. And what the hell was going on here?! They couldn't be rose brides when I had the swords. They didn't even have the power that Anthy still had…Anthy…my eyes anxiously searched her body. I couldn't see any injuries, but I hated the way her head was bent submissively, and why oh why wouldn't she look up at me?
I drew myself up, unconsciously brushing at my uniform jacket so that it fell smoothly. Akio grimaced a little as I put my hands on my hips.
"Imposter," I said, as calmly as I could. For a moment his eyes went wide. Then he hid his shock, and opened his mouth to begin a new diatribe. I cut him off, stepping forward and pointing at him.
"Imposter."
Another pace bought me within handsreach. He glowered down at me, not scared exactly but…apprehensive.
"I have the power of Dios," I said, looking at Anthy's bowed head. Akio made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. I glanced up. His eyes burned with barely controlled rage and I watched as he reigned himself in. He wanted something from me, I finally realized. This was all because he wanted something and he couldn't just come in and take it. The knowledge made me cold. And simultaneously gave me hope.
Grimly I stripped off a glove and did something I'd seen in old movies about knights, and chivalry, and fairytales. I reached up and slapped him with it. Of course it didn't hurt him, but he was surprised all over again. Shiori and Kozue oohed and aahed.
"I challenge you to a duel," I said forcing myself to meet and hold his mocking gaze.
"Do you?" he asked thoughtfully.
"Yeah," I said, "and I don't think you can say no. Being that you're the true prince and all."
His eyes narrowed. Even now I couldn't help noticing how beautiful they were. Exactly the same shade as Anthy's…
"What is this duel called?" he asked idly, beginning to pet his sister's hair with his free hand. She didn't move.
"Couronnement*," I said on a whim. He had an ego didn't he? It was time to appeal to that. I gestured at our matching uniforms. "Let's prove who the prince is."
"Aha." The corner of his lips lifted in a slight sneer. "And what spoils pray tell, will the victor receive?"
"The rose brides," I said grimly, while Shiori and Kozue stopped laughing and gaped at me. "Isn't that what the prize has always been?"
Akio was silent. I could almost see him thinking. He cared nothing for his new brides, other than whatever use they served him. He wanted Anthy, but for all intents and purposes she seemed to be firmly in his grasp.
"What about the power to revolutionize the world?" he suggested finally.
So that was what he really wanted. Nothing had changed after all.
I gave him my best innocent look.
"You mean the power that the true prince holds?"
His eyes narrowed again. He didn't want to admit that I had his longed-for power. Hell, I didn't even know if he knew I had it. Or if I actually did have it with Anthy apparently out of commission.
"What about Anthy?" he asked, eyeing me like a hawk does a mouse.
"She's not the rose bride," I said insistently. "She can do whatever she wants."
He scowled but I saw Anthy's chin raise just a fraction.
"Have you forgotten that, Himemiya?" I asked her, speaking directly to her, hoping to shock her into reaction. Sure enough I saw her twitch a little at the address switch. I dared to reach out and place my hand on her shoulder.
With a snarl Akio pulled her away, backing several steps while she followed him limply.
"Damn you," I told him with all my heart behind it. "What kind of prince are you anyway?!" I remembered the way I'd felt after the hotel room we'd shared: enflamed, confused, and lacking. "What kind of prince stops being a prince?" I cried and I dived at them.
TBC in Chapter 22: Something Shining
*French for Coronation