Love Hina: Once Again
Chapter 36
Utena back exploded in agony as blades rained down from nowhere. The suffering of an immortal... the guilt... endless pain... all of it crushed her. (Anthy looking at her blamkly.) Yet somehow she chose to rise, defying despair. (Anthy's eyes widen faintly, in hope...) She reached out, past the barriers of humanity, of mortality... and claimed the power of Dios.
"AGH!" Utena gasped as she came awake, the memories of that final day in the arena fading away like ghosts.
"Utena-sama," Anthy came awake as well, looking at Utena in alarm. Blood splattered the pink haired woman's back, but the wounds themselves were closing on their own. Shimmering pink light danced around her, then faded.
"Sorry I woke you," Utena groaned, apparently unaware of the power dancing around her, "it was just a nightmare."
"More than that," Anthy murmured, then shook herself.
"Hmm?" Utena started.
"It's fine," Anthy smiled. "Are you alright?"
The blood splattered on the bed and on Utena's back were all gone, as if it never happened. But the scars still showed on Utena's back... and Anthy feared they would never go away.
"It's okay," Utena smiled weakly.
"How about I make us some tea, then we can lay down again," Anthy suggested to her gently as she stroked Utena's arm comfortingly.
"Please," Utena agreed, remembering the times they had shared tea at Ohtori.
Anthy hummed as she made a herbal blend that was supposed to encourage sleep. She also added a shot of vodka to both, just in case. Then she got out some biscuits, too, and they sat together at the small table in their room.
Utena drank her tea, the two relaxing together. "I do wish I could remember the dreams," she admitted quietly.
'No you really don't,' Anthy thought to herself.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Tennyo and Mutsumi are going to the Masaki Shrine," Kanako noted in the morning at the breakfast table, "they should be back in a few days."
"Well, Mutsumi's meeting the parents? Good for her," Kitsune smiled.
"I hope things go well," Ema offered. The younger woman frowned, "There are some very odd urban myths about that shrine."
"Oh?" Kanako had to ask.
"The UFO sightings out there are off the charts," Ema said excitedly.
"It'll be fine," Motoko said calmly.
Rei and Ami were sitting together, eating breakfast. Rei addressed Kitsune, "Any Phantom Quest Corp jobs coming up?"
"Not that I know of," Kitsune admitted, "admittedly, things can come up."
"Well, we're going to be away a few days too, visiting friends," Ami told them.
"And her mother," Rei added, nodding to Ami.
"She's a Doctor, isn't she? You're gonna get grilled," Kitsune teased.
"Kitsune," Kanako scolded gently.
As she carried more food in Shinobu asked, "Are we opening the cafe as usual?"
"I'm thinking just half days," Kitsune admitted, "we all know most of the teen aged boys come in to see Mutsumi."
"And why," Kanako sighed, looking at her mostly flat chest.
Shinobu also pouted, as did Su, Ema and Sara.
Utena and Anthy came into the dining room a little later. Utena looked a bit ragged, honestly, and Anthy had a kind of... pinched look on her face.
"Morning," Kitsune nodded a bit carefully.
"We didn't miss breakfast, did we?" Anthy asked.
"I saved a plate for each of you," Shinobu said briskly.
"Thank you very much," Utena smiled at her as she confessed, "I didn't sleep well, last night."
"Your welcome," Shinobu dished up the food. She didn't mention the muffled cry that had woken her... if she didn't want to say, it wasn't her business.
The others caught the up on Tennyo and Mutsumi being out of town, as well as the cafe news. "Well, this will give me time to catch up on my fortune telling," Anthy noted.
"I'll just sit in the hot springs and soak," Utena said mildly.
(Kanako was fairly certain Utena had money, and quite a lot. She casually paid whatever expenses came up, and wore tailored clothes. She wondered where the funds had come from, but decided it wasn't her business.)
Everyone finished up breakfast, then headed their seperate ways.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The hot springs town near the Hinata Inn was a slightly odd little place. Sometimes a fog from the springs would sweep over the town, enfolding everything in mist and making you feel like you were in a fantasy story.
That afternoon, after school, Ema Maeda sighed as she looked at an entry for her supernatural website. It was HARD to come up with new content!
"Working on writing?" Motoko asked as she walked up to where Ema was sitting, the tall, dignified samurai type smiling wryly.
"Trying to write a new entry for my blog," Ema admitted.
"You've been to the demon haunted shrine, right?" Motoko asked curiously.
"Yeah, I even met Inu Yasha. A few people who replied thought the pics I posted were faked," Ema pouted.
Motoko thought about it before admitting, "Well, I suppose someone might think the dog ears and fangs weren't real."
"Hmmm," Ema sighed.
"Maybe do a youtube video on how shrine maidens seal away supernatural forces?" Motoko suggested. "You could ask Rei or Kagome to demonstrate."
Ema blinked, then hopped up to her feet. "That's a great idea!" she said as she hurried off, "Excuse me!"
Motoko watched her hurry off, amused.
Back in her room, Motoko was sitting at her home computer. She had finished up all her class work, first, and now was facing a much fore daunting task: writing up another story to try to sell to a Tokyo magazine.
A faint blush coloured Motoko's cheeks. She had looked into the website that Kitsune's friend worked for... Honey Chop. It had been eye opening. She had clearly lived a very sheltered life, based on the new things she had learned.
Even more disturbing, she had stumbled over a photo shoot with the medium they had met, Misaki Saiki. It wasn't full on nudity, but it was bondage play and very strongly erotic. And she was pretty sure the woman with her was Kitsune's friend, Shizue.
If both women visited again, Motoko wasn't sure she could look either in the eye...
"Argh," Motoko grunted to herself.
With a sigh she started writing up a scene. Hopefully just starting something might get her unblocked...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Misaki Saiki finished putting in her report. Copies would go to her father, certain higher ups in Japan's government, and her usual partner in crime.
"HEADLESS HORSEWOMAN?!" he yelped, barging in to the office they shared.
"I KNEW that was going to catch your eye," Misaki noted mildly.
Soichiro was her official partner, which mostly amounted to him being her driver. He was also, frankly, a coward. Not that she could really blame him, as he couldn't do anything about the supernatural stuff they ran into.
"I mean, the ghosts are bad enough," the office worker looking man sighed, "but actual supernatural entities?"
"And the super strong guy," Misaki added mildly.
Soichiro kind of collapsed into his chair, "Yeah." He put his head in his hands as he muttered, "You realize we're utterly unequipped to deal with this?"
Misaki sighed softly. Up until recently, all their agency had been dealing with was ghosts and restless spirits. They basically had no way to deal with physical entities, besides just attempting to reason with them. Luckily, so far all the actual 'physical manifestations' had been dealt with by Tokyo's various magical girls.
Which was embarrassing on various levels, but...
Thoughtfully Misaki took out a business card that Kitsune had given her. "Well, I do know one possibility," she mused.
To be continued...
Notes: Canonly, Utena inherited from her dead parents, though one assumes the funds were managed by her Aunt until she became an adult. At some point I need to decide if she's still in contact with her Aunt or not...
I'm not planning on having Ghost Talkers Daydream as a regular crossover, but I may do bits off and on.