Pink and Silver
Act 2
A maroon-haired young woman dragged a blond boy a couple of years younger than her out onto the street in the heavy rain. Making sure that nobody saw them, she shoved him into a dark alley corner.
"Tell me where she is! You should know; you always hang around that girl you admire so much! She was once in the Student Council, so she MUST know! If you don't tell me, you know what'll happen...!" The maroon-haired monster snarled. She held out a small but incredibly sharp dagger in front of the poor kid's face for emphasis. Gulping, the boy tried to stand his ground. "I'm not gonna tell that to a rabid dog like you! Nanami-sama's secrets are for my ears alone! So, no matter what th-threats you give, I won't t-tell!!"
Laughing almost maniacally, the woman in the ruffled white coat peered closely into the boy's face. "Mitsuru, you don't wish to die, do you?" She held the knife so close to Mitsuru's face that she actually managed to scrape it a bit. Wincing as his face bled, Mitsuru choked out, "What does a harlot like you want with Nanami-sama? You have nothing to do with her, and she has nothing to do with you!"
Furious that Mitsuru had figured out her occupation, the woman started to throttle Mitsuru. "That's where you're wrong, Mitsuru! Yes, I have nothing to do with your precious Nanami, and she has nothing to do with me, but two things tie us! One of them is her brother! Another is a certain girl that disappeared almost nine or ten years ago, oh what's her name! So, cough up the information, you little brat!"
The throttling did it. Nobody treated Mitsuru this way (except for dear Nanami-sama!) and got away with it. The fifteen-year old boy kicked the maroon-haired woman soundly on the shin. The pleasure of her screaming almost made him laugh out loud. Unfortunately, he didn't get time to, since he was too busy running like mad from the furious woman.
As he finally reached his dorm in Ohtori, Mitsuru was giddy to realize that he had saved the secrets of Nanami-sama! He plopped down on his bed happily.
Unknown to Mitsuru, the woman he had kicked limped down the alleyway to search for an alternate source of information in a bar. A bar where a woman named Kaoru Kozue worked.
Once she got there, though, Kozue wasn't there. After much cussing and kicking slumped drunks, the woman stormed out into the sudden downpour. If she were lucky, a man would come her way. She needed the money.
* * * * *
Coughing violently, the twenty-year-old brunette doubled over as she walked in the rain. It was raining so hard that it was impossible to see through it. And, if that wasn't enough, it was freezing cold for a spring day! Where was her apartment building? She hoped that she wouldn't get lost again. Then it would be her fifteenth time that month. The fits of amnesia that struck her brain constantly were terrifying. Right now, she only knew her first name: Keiko. Perhaps it was the time that Nanami-sama struck her on the skull because she spoke to Touga-sama that was the cause of all of this. Stumbling, Keiko managed to find a rail to lean on to. I would get myself treated, she thought, if I had the money.
Suddenly aware of the two pairs of sinister eyes that peered at her from a dark alleyway, Keiko got up from the rail and kept on walking in the direction she knew as home. North, right? Or was it south? Guess I'll take north, then, she supposed. A young girl walking in the most dangerous, dirtiest, slummiest part of Tokyo was always prey to evildoers like those watching her at that moment.
Aha! Home at last! Keiko squinted into the rain and gazed at the old, run-down concrete apartment building she knew as home. Running inside the lobby to her mailbox, she was anxious to see what mail she would receive. She turned a rusty key in a corroded keyhole. With a creak, the door swung open, and a bunch of letters dropped out.
"Oh, no." Keiko bit her lip with sadness. Time for bills! Her job as a waitress gave her measly pay. She sighed and picked them up from the dirty imitation-marble floor. Suddenly, an elegant letter caught her eye. What was this? It was from a Kiryuu Touga. Touga-sama! Keiko's eyes lit up for the first time in a year. But, why did he want to see her? He thought of her as "lower class" in the last years that he attended Ohtori Academy. Brushing all that aside, she decided to accept. Ripping the letter open straight in the lobby, she scanned through it.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh-huh," She muttered as she read it. She was to meet him and a few others in his home, the letter read. Unfortunately, it was too far away for her to get there. She could take the train, she supposed, but to go the distance would be too expensive! After all, she had taxes to pay, and the bills... Then, she read the P.S. "Don't worry about paying for it. I've got it all covered." Whew! Immediately after, she wondered what he meant. He wasn't stalking her... was he?
* * * * *
The middle-aged man looked out of a stained glass window calmly. A smile curled around his lips as he watched the woman down in the courtyard. Yes, he would, once again, conspire with her to get what they both wanted. That girl from the dark past... nobody else remembered her well, but he and his sister did. More like he and his partner in manipulation, actually. Suddenly, the dark-skinned woman with violet hair like his looked up at him. Smiling sweetly, she waved. The man watched her carefully as she walked up to the tower in which he was standing. Ah, she is the perfect partner, he thought smugly. She had the appearance of a sweet, innocent woman, but it wasn't that way on the inside. Until SHE came.
Once bound entirely to his will, Himemiya Anthy clung on to every word he said, and followed it. After Tenjou Utena attended Ohtori, won the former Rose Bride's heart, and saved her from her horrible fate, however, it wasn't always that way. Sure, the man thought sadly, she still conspired with him, but manipulation just wasn't the same anymore.
"Damn you, Tenjou!" The man pounded his fist onto the surface of the expensive mahogany desk to his left. "Because of you, Anthy no longer takes the pleasure in manipulating naïve people like you anymore! Because of you, this displeasure annoys me! Because of you, I CAN'T ENJOY MANIPULATING AND HURTING NAÏVE FOOLS ANYMORE!!! DAMMIT!!! DAMN YOU, TENJOU!!!" He snarled furiously, his voice raising with every sentence.
"Brother dear, please don't shout."
Seething, the man spun around. Seeing who was standing in the doorway, his face lost its tight mask of fury. He smirked. "Anthy dear, have you done your task?"
Smiling happily now, Anthy nodded. "Yes. I told Kanae-san, Touga-san, and Miki-san the basics. I let their hearts and souls direct them into their own directions. No matter what steps they take, the outcome will come to our advantage." She took off her oldest red beret and placed it on the man's desk. "Akio dear, what have you been doing recently?"
Laughing, Akio replied, "Oh, why don't you guess? I've been doing the usual."
"I see. Seduction and sin, then, is it?"
"Correct."
"I, as well. However, I have only been seducing the ones you've ordered me to and the weak, ignorant, stupid fools. Not the naïve ones. I do hope that you've done the same."
Akio looked at his sister angrily. He could seduce whomever he wanted to! Who was she to tell him who to seduce and who to not? Clenching his fists, he whirled on his sister and snapped, "I'll do what I want, and you do what you want, understood?"
With a grim smile, Anthy said to Akio, "My, my, brother dear! What has happened to the calm, calculating dark prince I knew so smany years ago?"
"You know perfectly well what has happened, Anthy!!! It was that- that PRINCE of yours, that Tenjou! Look what she's done to me, dammit!" Then, with a single motion, he swept all the contents off of his desk. Furiously he slammed his fist onto the table. Anthy stood there stiffly, watching every move with soulless eyes.
"Brother dear, do calm yourself down." She bent down to retrieve the hat that had fallen to the floor. "Akio, she has done nothing to you. This worry, this anxiety, they are merely the side effects of what you have done to yourself." She paused for emphasis, as if waiting for Akio to reply back. When he just stood where he was, grinding his teeth furiously, Anthy turned around to go out the door. Before she closed the ornate ebony door to Akio's study, she bade him a final farewell. "Just think about what will happen, Akio. Think about what will come."
At those last words, Akio turned around to face the closing door sharply. He tried to run after his sister, but by the time he caught her at the courtyard, she simply gave him a hollow smile and blended eerily into a bush of roses.
Clutching his face with rage, Akio screamed a blood-curdling scream. "TENJOU, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Then, following his sister, he too blended after her into the roses.
* * * * *
"Kozue, just remember one thing. Don't tell them why you are there. Just do it, all right?" Kiryuu Touga's voice echoed in Kozue's ear endlessly. Walking nervously in the dark alleys, she wondered why this errand was so important. After all, what was so important about keeping watch on a little pink-haired girl? Despite the resemblance to some past person that Kozue couldn't conjure out of the dark recesses of her mind, there really wasn't anything all that special about her, anyway.
Or so she thought.
That little girl wandered around the whole city, driving Kozue crazy. She didn't seem homeless, but nor did she appear to live in this area of Kobe. It was as if she was visiting. A space Martian, Kozue thought glumly. Kozue followed the girl for four hours, near to the state of collapse. She wondered how in the world the girl was able to skip vivaciously for four hours nonstop. Didn't she have something called "fatigue"?
Suddenly, the little girl stopped in her tracks, and Kozue nearly bumped into her. Managing to keep her distance, she spied on her behind a phone booth.
Two figures came into view and started walking straight towards the little girl. With a gasp, the pink-haired child stepped back and kept on backing up while the two of them advanced forward. The taller of the two people, a man with dark skin and purple hair, had a cunning, calculating look about him that warned people he was not one to mess with. The shorter of the two, a woman with the same complexion and a bindi on her forehead, had an emotionless expression on her face as she walked forward.
Kozue remembered them.
They were Ohtori Akio and Himemiya Anthy, brother and sister.
Completely baffled by now, Kozue wondered why they would be interested in a little girl like the one she was following. As the girl turned around and Kozue saw her face, she knew why.
On the girl's forehead was a metallic silver imprint, almost like a tattoo, of a rose signet. It was as tiny as a bindi, but so prominent that the viewer could tell that it was a rose. Also, it didn't look fake at all. It appeared to be something of a sign, a mark that gave its owner some special meaning. Without even knowing what she was doing, Kozue involuntarily stepped forward to catch the little girl.
Akio and his younger sister spotted her immediately.
"Kozue! What in the name of God are you doing here?" Akio asked, trying to mask his shock but nearly failing. Anthy had the same expression on her face, and better controlled.
"I..." Kozue was at a loss of words. She remembered what Touga had said about not giving anything away, but she was not able to just stand there like a buffoon. Opening her mouth and then closing it, she fidgeted nervously while keeping a grip on the little girl's clammy arm. Guess she's as nervous as I am, she thought agitatedly.
So, Kozue did the first thing that came to her mind. She ran, taking the stumbling girl after her. Sniffling and whimpering, the child gasped as she ran alongside the blue-haired young woman, "What's happening? What's going on?"
"Shut up and come on! We don't have much time!" Kozue snapped sharply. Not knowing why she was taking the little girl with her, she dashed towards the nearest train station.
As the train station came into view, Kozue risked a back glance. Akio and Anthy no longer were chasing her. They merely stood their ground, watching her. A cold shiver crept up Kozue's spine. Those two were dangerous, and had contacts with nearly everything physical and spiritual, she knew. Shaking such thoughts from her head, she bought two tickets with the money that Touga paid her for the task of watching the girl. Jeez, tickets are so pricey these days, a whiny voice complained in her head.
After they had boarded the train, the little girl finally spoke. Fearful, she looked down at the ground from her seat and whispered, "Who are you and what do you want from me?" Tears came to her face and she wiped them away, frightened.
"That's what I want to know, kid. Who are YOU?" Kozue felt guilty about scaring the poor child to death, and she too looked away.
"I... I..." The child opened her quivering mouth. "I... am called Apocalypse. I don't know my real name. Everyone at home called me Apocalypse." Astonished, Kozue gasped, "Apocalypse? Where's 'home'?"
"In another world. I passed through the glass coffin when I wanted to hide from death, and ended up here. I want to go home. I hate this place." Apocalypse started to cry, holding her head in her hands and racking with sobs. Looking out of the window and not knowing what she was doing, Kozue placed her hand on Apocalypse's pink head and stroked her hair. She almost even cried herself.
According to the schedule, there were two more hours before she could reach Touga.
* * * * *
Saionji and Wakaba stood together, face to face in the back courtyard of the art gallery. Neither of them spoke for a whole five minutes, looking at everything but each other. All of a sudden, Saionji grabbed Wakaba by the arms and whispered harshly, "What would you know about a pink-haired girl who attended Ohtori several years ago?"
"Huh? I know she was with me, and we were close, but I can't seem to remember anything!" Wakaba winced from Saionji's tight grip on her thin arms. By the time he let go, they would be red and have finger imprints on them.
"What do you want with me, anyway?!" She let out a nervous cry.
"Because... you knew her the best. I remember everything. I need to know everything about Tenjou Utena. Everything."
Tenjou... Utena... Wakaba remembered. Utena was her best friend, her comrade. Utena defended her when Saionji publicly embarrassed her with a love letter, and they shared a joke that Wakaba was her girlfriend... she remembered all at the sound of those words: Tenjou. Utena.
"But how would you remember, Saionji-san? And why would you need to know?"
"That doesn't matter! Just tell me everything! Here's my address; I think your fiancée is coming," Saionji held out an ornate business card to Wakaba hurriedly and immediately started to walk away, his hands stuck in his trench coat.
"Wakaba! What are you doing here?" Bewildered, Tetsuya shook his head and looked into Wakaba's wide eyes.
"Nothing. I thought Saionji wanted to say something to me, but I was wrong," Wakaba lied with the most innocent look she could manage plastered on her still-cute face.
"Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yes. Don't worry yourself, all right? Let's go home." Wakaba dragged a still suspicious Tetsuya towards the gallery exit.
As the two of them sat in a train headed for home, Wakaba looked out at the cloudy sky and smiled secretly to herself. She could keep a secret from her darling.
But it was a secret that would change the fate of the world.
Author's note: Well, how'd it go? Sorry about all the cliffies...^_^ Well anyway, this is about the previous chapter: you know in the endnote, I called the story "Noble Roses, Bloody Roses"? That was a mistake, gomen nasai! The original was that, but I changed it. Anyway, I'll have the next act/chapter up soon, so don't worry (if you like it, that is). Later! And I also apologize for the length of this act/chapter... a bit long, heh! ^_^
Act 2
A maroon-haired young woman dragged a blond boy a couple of years younger than her out onto the street in the heavy rain. Making sure that nobody saw them, she shoved him into a dark alley corner.
"Tell me where she is! You should know; you always hang around that girl you admire so much! She was once in the Student Council, so she MUST know! If you don't tell me, you know what'll happen...!" The maroon-haired monster snarled. She held out a small but incredibly sharp dagger in front of the poor kid's face for emphasis. Gulping, the boy tried to stand his ground. "I'm not gonna tell that to a rabid dog like you! Nanami-sama's secrets are for my ears alone! So, no matter what th-threats you give, I won't t-tell!!"
Laughing almost maniacally, the woman in the ruffled white coat peered closely into the boy's face. "Mitsuru, you don't wish to die, do you?" She held the knife so close to Mitsuru's face that she actually managed to scrape it a bit. Wincing as his face bled, Mitsuru choked out, "What does a harlot like you want with Nanami-sama? You have nothing to do with her, and she has nothing to do with you!"
Furious that Mitsuru had figured out her occupation, the woman started to throttle Mitsuru. "That's where you're wrong, Mitsuru! Yes, I have nothing to do with your precious Nanami, and she has nothing to do with me, but two things tie us! One of them is her brother! Another is a certain girl that disappeared almost nine or ten years ago, oh what's her name! So, cough up the information, you little brat!"
The throttling did it. Nobody treated Mitsuru this way (except for dear Nanami-sama!) and got away with it. The fifteen-year old boy kicked the maroon-haired woman soundly on the shin. The pleasure of her screaming almost made him laugh out loud. Unfortunately, he didn't get time to, since he was too busy running like mad from the furious woman.
As he finally reached his dorm in Ohtori, Mitsuru was giddy to realize that he had saved the secrets of Nanami-sama! He plopped down on his bed happily.
Unknown to Mitsuru, the woman he had kicked limped down the alleyway to search for an alternate source of information in a bar. A bar where a woman named Kaoru Kozue worked.
Once she got there, though, Kozue wasn't there. After much cussing and kicking slumped drunks, the woman stormed out into the sudden downpour. If she were lucky, a man would come her way. She needed the money.
* * * * *
Coughing violently, the twenty-year-old brunette doubled over as she walked in the rain. It was raining so hard that it was impossible to see through it. And, if that wasn't enough, it was freezing cold for a spring day! Where was her apartment building? She hoped that she wouldn't get lost again. Then it would be her fifteenth time that month. The fits of amnesia that struck her brain constantly were terrifying. Right now, she only knew her first name: Keiko. Perhaps it was the time that Nanami-sama struck her on the skull because she spoke to Touga-sama that was the cause of all of this. Stumbling, Keiko managed to find a rail to lean on to. I would get myself treated, she thought, if I had the money.
Suddenly aware of the two pairs of sinister eyes that peered at her from a dark alleyway, Keiko got up from the rail and kept on walking in the direction she knew as home. North, right? Or was it south? Guess I'll take north, then, she supposed. A young girl walking in the most dangerous, dirtiest, slummiest part of Tokyo was always prey to evildoers like those watching her at that moment.
Aha! Home at last! Keiko squinted into the rain and gazed at the old, run-down concrete apartment building she knew as home. Running inside the lobby to her mailbox, she was anxious to see what mail she would receive. She turned a rusty key in a corroded keyhole. With a creak, the door swung open, and a bunch of letters dropped out.
"Oh, no." Keiko bit her lip with sadness. Time for bills! Her job as a waitress gave her measly pay. She sighed and picked them up from the dirty imitation-marble floor. Suddenly, an elegant letter caught her eye. What was this? It was from a Kiryuu Touga. Touga-sama! Keiko's eyes lit up for the first time in a year. But, why did he want to see her? He thought of her as "lower class" in the last years that he attended Ohtori Academy. Brushing all that aside, she decided to accept. Ripping the letter open straight in the lobby, she scanned through it.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh-huh," She muttered as she read it. She was to meet him and a few others in his home, the letter read. Unfortunately, it was too far away for her to get there. She could take the train, she supposed, but to go the distance would be too expensive! After all, she had taxes to pay, and the bills... Then, she read the P.S. "Don't worry about paying for it. I've got it all covered." Whew! Immediately after, she wondered what he meant. He wasn't stalking her... was he?
* * * * *
The middle-aged man looked out of a stained glass window calmly. A smile curled around his lips as he watched the woman down in the courtyard. Yes, he would, once again, conspire with her to get what they both wanted. That girl from the dark past... nobody else remembered her well, but he and his sister did. More like he and his partner in manipulation, actually. Suddenly, the dark-skinned woman with violet hair like his looked up at him. Smiling sweetly, she waved. The man watched her carefully as she walked up to the tower in which he was standing. Ah, she is the perfect partner, he thought smugly. She had the appearance of a sweet, innocent woman, but it wasn't that way on the inside. Until SHE came.
Once bound entirely to his will, Himemiya Anthy clung on to every word he said, and followed it. After Tenjou Utena attended Ohtori, won the former Rose Bride's heart, and saved her from her horrible fate, however, it wasn't always that way. Sure, the man thought sadly, she still conspired with him, but manipulation just wasn't the same anymore.
"Damn you, Tenjou!" The man pounded his fist onto the surface of the expensive mahogany desk to his left. "Because of you, Anthy no longer takes the pleasure in manipulating naïve people like you anymore! Because of you, this displeasure annoys me! Because of you, I CAN'T ENJOY MANIPULATING AND HURTING NAÏVE FOOLS ANYMORE!!! DAMMIT!!! DAMN YOU, TENJOU!!!" He snarled furiously, his voice raising with every sentence.
"Brother dear, please don't shout."
Seething, the man spun around. Seeing who was standing in the doorway, his face lost its tight mask of fury. He smirked. "Anthy dear, have you done your task?"
Smiling happily now, Anthy nodded. "Yes. I told Kanae-san, Touga-san, and Miki-san the basics. I let their hearts and souls direct them into their own directions. No matter what steps they take, the outcome will come to our advantage." She took off her oldest red beret and placed it on the man's desk. "Akio dear, what have you been doing recently?"
Laughing, Akio replied, "Oh, why don't you guess? I've been doing the usual."
"I see. Seduction and sin, then, is it?"
"Correct."
"I, as well. However, I have only been seducing the ones you've ordered me to and the weak, ignorant, stupid fools. Not the naïve ones. I do hope that you've done the same."
Akio looked at his sister angrily. He could seduce whomever he wanted to! Who was she to tell him who to seduce and who to not? Clenching his fists, he whirled on his sister and snapped, "I'll do what I want, and you do what you want, understood?"
With a grim smile, Anthy said to Akio, "My, my, brother dear! What has happened to the calm, calculating dark prince I knew so smany years ago?"
"You know perfectly well what has happened, Anthy!!! It was that- that PRINCE of yours, that Tenjou! Look what she's done to me, dammit!" Then, with a single motion, he swept all the contents off of his desk. Furiously he slammed his fist onto the table. Anthy stood there stiffly, watching every move with soulless eyes.
"Brother dear, do calm yourself down." She bent down to retrieve the hat that had fallen to the floor. "Akio, she has done nothing to you. This worry, this anxiety, they are merely the side effects of what you have done to yourself." She paused for emphasis, as if waiting for Akio to reply back. When he just stood where he was, grinding his teeth furiously, Anthy turned around to go out the door. Before she closed the ornate ebony door to Akio's study, she bade him a final farewell. "Just think about what will happen, Akio. Think about what will come."
At those last words, Akio turned around to face the closing door sharply. He tried to run after his sister, but by the time he caught her at the courtyard, she simply gave him a hollow smile and blended eerily into a bush of roses.
Clutching his face with rage, Akio screamed a blood-curdling scream. "TENJOU, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Then, following his sister, he too blended after her into the roses.
* * * * *
"Kozue, just remember one thing. Don't tell them why you are there. Just do it, all right?" Kiryuu Touga's voice echoed in Kozue's ear endlessly. Walking nervously in the dark alleys, she wondered why this errand was so important. After all, what was so important about keeping watch on a little pink-haired girl? Despite the resemblance to some past person that Kozue couldn't conjure out of the dark recesses of her mind, there really wasn't anything all that special about her, anyway.
Or so she thought.
That little girl wandered around the whole city, driving Kozue crazy. She didn't seem homeless, but nor did she appear to live in this area of Kobe. It was as if she was visiting. A space Martian, Kozue thought glumly. Kozue followed the girl for four hours, near to the state of collapse. She wondered how in the world the girl was able to skip vivaciously for four hours nonstop. Didn't she have something called "fatigue"?
Suddenly, the little girl stopped in her tracks, and Kozue nearly bumped into her. Managing to keep her distance, she spied on her behind a phone booth.
Two figures came into view and started walking straight towards the little girl. With a gasp, the pink-haired child stepped back and kept on backing up while the two of them advanced forward. The taller of the two people, a man with dark skin and purple hair, had a cunning, calculating look about him that warned people he was not one to mess with. The shorter of the two, a woman with the same complexion and a bindi on her forehead, had an emotionless expression on her face as she walked forward.
Kozue remembered them.
They were Ohtori Akio and Himemiya Anthy, brother and sister.
Completely baffled by now, Kozue wondered why they would be interested in a little girl like the one she was following. As the girl turned around and Kozue saw her face, she knew why.
On the girl's forehead was a metallic silver imprint, almost like a tattoo, of a rose signet. It was as tiny as a bindi, but so prominent that the viewer could tell that it was a rose. Also, it didn't look fake at all. It appeared to be something of a sign, a mark that gave its owner some special meaning. Without even knowing what she was doing, Kozue involuntarily stepped forward to catch the little girl.
Akio and his younger sister spotted her immediately.
"Kozue! What in the name of God are you doing here?" Akio asked, trying to mask his shock but nearly failing. Anthy had the same expression on her face, and better controlled.
"I..." Kozue was at a loss of words. She remembered what Touga had said about not giving anything away, but she was not able to just stand there like a buffoon. Opening her mouth and then closing it, she fidgeted nervously while keeping a grip on the little girl's clammy arm. Guess she's as nervous as I am, she thought agitatedly.
So, Kozue did the first thing that came to her mind. She ran, taking the stumbling girl after her. Sniffling and whimpering, the child gasped as she ran alongside the blue-haired young woman, "What's happening? What's going on?"
"Shut up and come on! We don't have much time!" Kozue snapped sharply. Not knowing why she was taking the little girl with her, she dashed towards the nearest train station.
As the train station came into view, Kozue risked a back glance. Akio and Anthy no longer were chasing her. They merely stood their ground, watching her. A cold shiver crept up Kozue's spine. Those two were dangerous, and had contacts with nearly everything physical and spiritual, she knew. Shaking such thoughts from her head, she bought two tickets with the money that Touga paid her for the task of watching the girl. Jeez, tickets are so pricey these days, a whiny voice complained in her head.
After they had boarded the train, the little girl finally spoke. Fearful, she looked down at the ground from her seat and whispered, "Who are you and what do you want from me?" Tears came to her face and she wiped them away, frightened.
"That's what I want to know, kid. Who are YOU?" Kozue felt guilty about scaring the poor child to death, and she too looked away.
"I... I..." The child opened her quivering mouth. "I... am called Apocalypse. I don't know my real name. Everyone at home called me Apocalypse." Astonished, Kozue gasped, "Apocalypse? Where's 'home'?"
"In another world. I passed through the glass coffin when I wanted to hide from death, and ended up here. I want to go home. I hate this place." Apocalypse started to cry, holding her head in her hands and racking with sobs. Looking out of the window and not knowing what she was doing, Kozue placed her hand on Apocalypse's pink head and stroked her hair. She almost even cried herself.
According to the schedule, there were two more hours before she could reach Touga.
* * * * *
Saionji and Wakaba stood together, face to face in the back courtyard of the art gallery. Neither of them spoke for a whole five minutes, looking at everything but each other. All of a sudden, Saionji grabbed Wakaba by the arms and whispered harshly, "What would you know about a pink-haired girl who attended Ohtori several years ago?"
"Huh? I know she was with me, and we were close, but I can't seem to remember anything!" Wakaba winced from Saionji's tight grip on her thin arms. By the time he let go, they would be red and have finger imprints on them.
"What do you want with me, anyway?!" She let out a nervous cry.
"Because... you knew her the best. I remember everything. I need to know everything about Tenjou Utena. Everything."
Tenjou... Utena... Wakaba remembered. Utena was her best friend, her comrade. Utena defended her when Saionji publicly embarrassed her with a love letter, and they shared a joke that Wakaba was her girlfriend... she remembered all at the sound of those words: Tenjou. Utena.
"But how would you remember, Saionji-san? And why would you need to know?"
"That doesn't matter! Just tell me everything! Here's my address; I think your fiancée is coming," Saionji held out an ornate business card to Wakaba hurriedly and immediately started to walk away, his hands stuck in his trench coat.
"Wakaba! What are you doing here?" Bewildered, Tetsuya shook his head and looked into Wakaba's wide eyes.
"Nothing. I thought Saionji wanted to say something to me, but I was wrong," Wakaba lied with the most innocent look she could manage plastered on her still-cute face.
"Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yes. Don't worry yourself, all right? Let's go home." Wakaba dragged a still suspicious Tetsuya towards the gallery exit.
As the two of them sat in a train headed for home, Wakaba looked out at the cloudy sky and smiled secretly to herself. She could keep a secret from her darling.
But it was a secret that would change the fate of the world.
Author's note: Well, how'd it go? Sorry about all the cliffies...^_^ Well anyway, this is about the previous chapter: you know in the endnote, I called the story "Noble Roses, Bloody Roses"? That was a mistake, gomen nasai! The original was that, but I changed it. Anyway, I'll have the next act/chapter up soon, so don't worry (if you like it, that is). Later! And I also apologize for the length of this act/chapter... a bit long, heh! ^_^