Part 8: The Key to Revolution

"Um, I'm a visitor for Keisuke Itoh," Kyoko muttered to the jumpy nurse in front of her. She held a small bouquet of white roses behind her back as she looked around uneasily. All around her, girls were weeping and their eyes amusingly reminded Kyoko of cherries. After all, they were red. And weren't cherries red?
"Just one second, hun." The nurse ran off to speak with another nurse, and that nurse ran off for Keisuke's hospital room. Kyoko was a bit nervous about visiting Keisuke. Just several days ago they weren't exactly on friendly ground. Looking down at her feet, she wondered if he was all right. I'm not in love with him, she thought to herself, I'm NOT! I'm just worried, that's all.
"This way, dearie," The nurse was back, and she dragged Kyoko with her by the elbow. Willingly Kyoko submitted. However, by the time she got to Keisuke's hospital room, she was wishing that she hadn't. Every second a wave of pain shot up her arm and into her head.
"Kyoko, didn't think I'd see you here," Keisuke smiled faintly. "I thought that you hated me with every ounce of passion you had."
"Well... I wanted to see if you were, um, all right." Kyoko fidgeted as she tried to think of something nice to say. Unable to think of anything at the moment, she thrust the roses in front of her. "Here, Keisuke. For you."
"Roses?" Keisuke raised his eyebrows. "Reminds me pretty much of the duels. Are you suggesting something?"
"No!" Kyoko didn't even think that the roses would provoke such an answer. "They're just a get-well gift. There is no secret meaning in them."
"Oh well. Still, thank you." He smiled at her so sweetly that she almost melted. With a jolt, she stood up straight and reminded herself that she did NOT love him. However, looking at him, lying in the hospital bed so weakly caused her eyes to become soft and her mouth to smile. Keisuke noticed this, and immediately held up his hand to wipe away a tear that Kyoko herself hadn't even noticed. Gasping, she stepped back. Nobody, NOBODY had ever touched her so gently before, if she counted the time when her father had given her a lighter beating than usual.
"Keisuke!" The boy's name was the first thing that came to her mouth.
"Yes?" He smiled.
"You-I-eh-um-"
"It's all right. I suppose you want to get back to your dorm now. Don't spend all Saturday morning at my bedside, all right? But thanks for the roses." Keisuke waved Kyoko out of the room with a gentle grin. She backed away anxiously, still unsure if she should stay by his side or not. However, rational thought prevailed and she let the hurtful nurse drag her back into the main lobby. Sadly, a cherry-eyed girl with blonde hair spotted Kyoko. Crud. It was that Kawakami Mari again. Oh, no...
"Kyoko! You're such a- a-UGH! First you speak to me like I'm shit, then you slap Minato, and then you go visit Keisuke-sama without even sending a message first! Who do you THINK you are?!"
"Shut UP, Mari. Besides, you ARE shit, you know that? And besides, YOU were the one who was treating Yuriko like human manure, so YOU should talk! Also, I don't need to send a message first, and neither does anyone else. Not everyone lives by your rules, Mari." Kyoko turned her back to the seething blonde and walked out of the hospital as if the conversation had never taken place. However, she didn't get far.
"Yamada, you know that time when I said, 'I'll be taking it back?' Well, this is the time. Find your bows, find your arrows, and find any weapon! Right now we'll be having a duel, got it?" Megumi's voice was smug. She held out a black rose to Kyoko. "You should not pass up this opportunity to embarrass yourself, Yamada. I'll be waiting in the Dueling Arena." With a jerk at Yuriko's arm, she strolled away.
If Megumi wanted a duel, it was fine with Kyoko. Running as fast she could, she ran towards the Ohtori Weapons Center. After all, wouldn't she need to borrow some knives for the duel?
Even though Kyoko had sped towards the Dueling Arena in order to get there before Megumi did, she still ended up in last place. A purple-clad figure was already waiting near the entrance of the Arena. Once she spotted Kyoko, huffing and puffing, she sauntered towards her and snapped her fingers. Immediately Yuriko was at her side.
"For you, Yamada, a white rose. For me, a black rose." Megumi replied without looking at either of the two girls.
"But why do I get a white rose? Shouldn't it be pink? And shouldn't yours be purple?" Kyoko was confused. Something wasn't right.
"Ha, your admirer didn't tell you, did he, Yamada? Keisuke told you that the duelists get roses of their own color, didn't he? Well, the rules have had a bit of a change. Keisuke hasn't dueled for a while now." Megumi's answer wasn't very clear.
"You see, Kyoko-sama, Megumi-sama has bound herself entirely to the will of the black rose. She has..." Yuriko didn't get to finish, because Megumi slapped Yuriko viciously across the cheek. "Shut up, Yuriko. I didn't ask you to tell that. And the only person you should call 'sama' is I. The duel will be prolonged. Every second, every minute, and every hour must go perfectly. The times of each duel must be exact to the ones recorded in the last revolution."
The last revolution? Kyoko wondered. By any chance, was Megumi talking about the revolution that Utena started?
"Begin." Megumi signaled the start of the duel by holding out her rapier in the beginning pose for fencing. "The only rule is that the winner must be the first person to cut off the rose from his or her opponent's chest. No other rules. Use as many weapons as you like." Right after those words were said, she thrust her rapier forward.
Anticipating this, Kyoko leaped aside and held out a stiletto in front of her. With lightning speed Megumi slashed, and Kyoko just barely parried it, for it was strong and quick. Again, Megumi slashed, on the opposite side, and once again, Kyoko blocked it.
"Quit playing defense and fight already!" Coldly snarling, Megumi jutted the rapier forward. Kyoko dodged under it and slashed upwards with the blade of her knife. Its tip barely missed the rose, for it cut off the tip of Megumi's braid.
"Why you...!" Megumi, enraged, thrust her rapier so hard that it knocked the stiletto out of Kyoko's hands. "Not so mighty now, eh Yamada?"
Immediately another stiletto, identical to the one before, slid out of Kyoko's left sleeve and into her waiting hand. Without even waiting for Megumi's reaction, she flung it just above the purple duelist's pale hand, on the hilt of the rapier. The accuracy and force of the flung stiletto knocked the rapier out of Megumi's hands. Her eyes turning an evil reddish-blackish color, Megumi cursed and grabbed a dagger out of her pocket.
"See? I have one, too!" As she diabolically laughed, Megumi sliced, thrust, and stabbed with the dagger, and Kyoko frantically blocked each blow. Then the positions were reversed, with Kyoko playing offense and Megumi playing defense. This went on for several minutes until finally Kyoko decided that it was enough. Leaping into the air, she aimed and threw her stiletto at Megumi.
Megumi's shocked gasp signaled what had happened.
Her rose lay on the ground, with a stiletto smack in the middle of it.
Before Kyoko or Yuriko could say anything, Megumi sprang up and found her rapier again. "Fuck, I really don't care if you cut off my rose first! I still won't lose to a person like you!!!!" And she charged with the point of the rapier in front of her.
"Damn," Kyoko leaped aside, finding another stiletto inside her right sleeve. She readied the point of her longest stiletto in front of her in "guard" position as Megumi did the same. They charged towards one another, points first.
Megumi's second gasp signaled her defeat as the hairs of the bottom half of her braid fell to the ground like limp grass. She was just about to strangle Kyoko herself when-
"Nine minutes, sixteen seconds," Ryunosuke's voice came from above. Kyoko and Megumi quickly looked up to see the blue-haired Student Council member announcing the exact time the duel went on for. "Perfect," he said as he read his stopwatch and copied some notes down into a notebook.
Seeing that Ryunosuke was now watching them, Megumi flung the rapier down on the ground and stormed away. Her eyes, no longer reddish-blackish but still evil-looking, told Kyoko that they would sometime duel again.
Kyoko thanked Ryunosuke as she amazingly watched Megumi's rapier dissolve into a sparkling pink metallic liquid and speed back into Yuriko's waiting hands. Then, Yuriko looked into Kyoko's eyes and smiled as she said, "I am the Rose Bride, Kyoko-sama. From now on, you are my master and we'll be living in the same dorm."
Kyoko couldn't have been more surprised.
Meanwhile, Anthy watched Yuriko and Kyoko walking back to Yuriko's dorm room to pack up her possessions. A faint smile curled on her lips as she faintly uttered, "The key to revolution is now in the hands of its owner."