AN: Okay, this chapter is mostly Kitty. Um… okay, yeah, I am planning on putting Juri and Saionji together, if I can reasonably justify it in the plot. I have all the subtlety of a leg of lamb to the side of the skull. Anyway. Here goes nothin'.
War, children,
it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
-The Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"
Kitty slid the last of her books into her bag and straightened her uniform.
"There's food in the minifridge," she said. "I'd smell anything in a tupperware container before I tried to eat it if I were you. Morning classes let out around twelve thirty, we'll bring you some lunch. Don't answer the door for anyone."
Rogue shivered.
"You don't have to tell me," she said. She was wearing Lily's clothes, sweatpants and a knit shirt, as she and Lily were about the same height. Her hair was far longer than she'd remembered, and she wasn't sure what to do with it yet, so she'd let Kitty braid it and pin it to the top of her head.
"There, you look like Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's," Kitty had said when she was done.
"I never saw that movie," Rogue had replied.
Kitty and Lily stood at the door with bags in hand.
"Professor Arisugawa is going to come by tonight, and they're going to give you a room someplace safe. Maybe you'll even be able to start classes again."
"Any requests for lunch?" Lily asked. Rogue smiled.
"It feels like forever since I've had a coke," she said.
Well, thought Kitty as she sat in Math, I'll never be able to skip math or history again. Indeed, as he taught, Professor Kaoru occasionally gave her a reassuring glance that went unnoticed by the rest of the class, she hoped. The last thing she needed was to be branded a teacher's pet in the hardest class she had.
While she tried to concentrate, she still wondered what Touga Kiryuu had promised Professor Xavier to make him allow this sort of thing to happen to Rogue. He must've noticed the distress she was in, he must've sensed the changes in Scott and Jean. In her experience, however, Xavier, Scott and Jean operated as a single unit. The disputes they'd had in the beginning had faded to minor personal disagreements as time went on. By the time Scott and Jean had left for Ohtori, the three of them almost never disagreed about anything.
She looked up at the blackboard, where Professor Kaoru had just written a complex formula. He got distracted and ran his hand through his hair before dusting them off, and left a white streak in his deep blue locks. Kitty cleared her throat, and he looked up at her. She gestured to her own hair, and he got the message, dusting off his hands and then shaking his hair. Kitty suppressed a laugh. She couldn't imagine that Miki Kaoru could possibly cause anyone the kind of suffering that Jean, Scott and Touga had caused Rogue.
The clock tower rang out the hour and Miki sighed.
"Well, looks like I'm out of time," he said. "Don't forget the homework."
Kitty got up and stretched. Miki's class ran from nine to ten fifteen, she had fifteen minutes to get to science, then an hour and fifteen minutes of science. Fifteen minutes to get to lunch, where she would meet up with Lily, and then back to the room to bring Rogue food and check up on her. At two classes resumed; Kitty and Lily would go to English together, then phys ed at quarter of four. The two then split up again, Lily going to her math class, Kitty to history, and then dinner.
Science was her least favorite class, by far. Unlike her charming and vibrant math teacher or her cool, collected and precise history teacher, her science teacher was a doddering scatterbrain and an incredible bore. She spent this class staring out the window, watching the sun in the sky. Anthy and Utena had told her that the duel would be at sunset. It was only September, but the sun seemed to set so early there in the mountains. When the bell rang she was out the door in seconds, meeting Lily outside the cafeteria. They had to wait a while in line, but then gathered as much food as they could carry and scampered back to Marlowe Hall.
"Something's wrong," Kitty said as soon as they approached the building.
"What?" Lily asked, but Kitty had already dropped the paper bag she was holding and run through the door of Marlowe. She tore up the stairs, dodging some students, phasing through others, until she reached the third floor.
The door was locked when she reached for the knob, and she felt a moment's relief. She dug out her key and unlocked the door.
The sleeping bag had been rolled up and placed in the corner. Lily's clothes had been neatly folded and placed on the bottom bunk. Leaning against the mirror was a white envelope sealed with blood red wax. Kitty snatched it up and tore it open as Lily made it up stairs and appeared in the doorway.
"Why'd you tear off like that? Where's Rogue?" Lily panted. Kitty said nothing, reading the letter again and again.
No one keeps the bride who does not duel for her. Wear the ring, wield the sword, and perhaps you shall revolutionize the world.
"Bastard!" Kitty spat, crumbling the letter and hurling across the room. Lily picked it up and read it.
"What the hell does this mean?" Lily asked. "Is Rogue the bride?"
"Yes," Kitty said, sitting dejectedly on Lily's bed.
"Whose?"
"I don't know. I'm gonna try and find her. Tell Professor Wilder and Coach Drexel that I'm sick or something."
"What if they see you?" Lily asked.
"Then I'll be in trouble," Kitty replied. "I'll see you later."
She was out the door before Lily could protest further.
She should tell Juri. She should tell Utena. She should tell Anthy. She should find Jean and Scott and murder both of them. She should find Professor Kiryuu and murder him first.
Anthy lived in the Chairman's mansion, and Kitty strongly suspected that Utena lived with her. Miki, Juri and Saionji each had almost an entire floor of Byron Hall to themselves, a distinct advantage to being a member of the board. She wasn't sure how many classes per day Miki and Juri taught, or what duties being Ohtori's official archivist entailed or where Saionji might carry them out. The library? Someplace else?
Byron still seemed the best place to start. She tapped on the door timidly at first, then more loudly, but no one answered. She pressed the buzzer for each of them, and no one answered. When she went to the Chairwoman's mansion, she got the same result. No one, no where, no answer.
Kitty continued her run around the campus, but Ohtori was a big place, with many buildings. She didn't know where Juri and Miki taught their other classes. She wound up by the rose garden, tired and panting, the sun halfway to the horizon and the clock tower chiming out four o'clock.
History! Kitty thought, getting up and running back towards Marlowe. Professor Arisugawa will be at history, I can catch her then.
Back in her room, Kitty grabbed the crumpled letter and smoothed it out, folding it in her history book, putting that into her book bag. Her uniform was rumpled and drenched in sweat from her marathon around the campus, and she needed to calm down. She stripped and got into the shower. Four fifteen. History didn't start until five thirty, the latest class of the day. Kitty stood under the hot stream of water and washed away her sweat, trying to wash her fear away with it. The knot in her stomach would not come undone. She shut the shower off and dressed in a fresh uniform, dumping the wrinkled one into the hamper. Quarter of five. She sighed and climbed up the ladder to her bed, to lie down and try to calm her thoughts. As she lay her head on the pillow, however, her head hit something hard. She sat up, and something shiny tumbled of the pillow onto the mattress. She picked it up and held it into the light.
Wear the ring, wield the sword, and perhaps you will revolutionize the world.
It was a silver ring inlaid with a blood-red glass rose, not unlike the one Juri had worn, but the rose in Juri's had been a blush pink, paler than the one Kitty held. Kitty slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand.
"Guess I'm gonna find out for sure whether or not fencing's my thing," she murmured, then leapt off the bed, grabbed her book bag, and ran out. She had to catch Juri before history. Maybe she got to class early, Juri was always there when Kitty arrived, though Kitty frequently arrived with only seconds to spare.
The sun was low in the sky as Kitty tore across campus once more, her muscles and lungs burning. She hadn't had this kind of a work out since she left the X-Men. She crashed through the doors of the building in which her history class was held.
To History, A Class, five-thirty:
I regret that I will be unable to attend class this evening (Friday). Please read pages 345-360 in your text book The History of Japan for Monday.
-Arisugawa Juri
"Damn it!" Kitty shouted, not caring who heard her.
"I'm sure Arisugawa would be flattered that someone's so upset about the cancellation," a dry voice said behind her. Kitty spun around, ready to spit venomous words, and saw Saionji.
"Oh, it's you," he said when she turned around. "Kitty, is it?"
"You have to help me," she said. "Rogue is gone."
"What?" Saionji said, his eyes instantly narrowing. Kitty scrambled in her bag and handed him the letter she'd found, but instead of reaching for it, he grabbed her wrist, much as Utena had grabbed Juri's. "Where did you get this?" he snarled. She glared at him and phased right out of his hand.
"It was on my pillow. From what the letter, which is incidentally what I was trying to give you, says, I won't be able to get Rogue back without it," Kitty snapped back. I couldn't find Professor Kaoru or Utena, oh no, I have to find Oscar the Grouch, she thought crossly. "Where's Juri-san?"
A look of horror crossed Saionji's face.
"She's already in the dueling forest," he said, turning white. "The sun's going down. She's not ready for this."
He tore open the collar of his jacket and grabbed something at his throat, starting to run as a thin chain fell to the ground.
"Hey! Where are you going?!" Kitty shouted, running after him. He glanced back briefly.
"If you want to help you'd better keep up," he growled, jamming a ring onto his hand.
Juri walked up the stone steps, a thin and impossible spiral up to the flat plain of the dueling grounds. She glanced down from whence she'd come, far back on the ground, and swallowed hard. She did not like being here again. She had never technically been at this arena, but it might as well have been transplanted from the Tokyo Ohtori. Maybe it was, thought Juri. Maybe Akio came along and planted a seed which grew into stones and water.
She reached the platform, and Touga was waiting, katana in hand.
"Where's your Bride?" Juri said coolly. Touga smirked and stepped to one side. Sitting there, tied to a chair, with a black satin gag in her mouth, was a girl in a silver tiara, wearing a green sleeveless gown with violet tassels at the shoulders. Anthy had always looked fairly placid at best, blank at worst. This girl looked angry and afraid.
"She's not quite so compliant as Himemiya was," Touga said. "But my victory over you will complete the transition, I think."
Juri stood shocked. The Rose Bride. Touga smiled smugly.
"Where are my manners? Maigo, this is Arisugawa Juri, Vice President of Academic Affairs. Arisugawa, this is Maigo, the Rose Bride."
The girl's eyes had burned with hatred when Touga uttered the name "Maigo." Juri could see why, the word was a bitter joke. Maigo was a Japanese word meaning lost child. It was not a name one would appreciate.
"I'm afraid you'll have to install your own rose, Juri, since our Rose Bride hasn't quite learned the ropes," Touga said, tossing an orange rose to Juri, who caught it and stuck it in the breast pocket of her jacket. Touga continued. "The winner decides the fate of the Rose Bride. If you win, then who knows, perhaps the duels will end. If I win, then the duels for control of her will commence."
"Then you shouldn't be dueling me, Touga, you should have challenged Tenjou, or Himemiya-" Juri protested.
"This is not a duel of spiritual prowess, Arisugawa, this is a duel of the sword."
"Then you should have challenged Saionji."
"But I didn't. I challenged you. You can forfeit if you're afraid."
You disgust me, she thought, and raised her sword.
The duel began.
Saionji ran as hard as he could towards the dueling forest.
She's not ready. She's going to trip up. She won't be able to focus. She'll get hurt. She'll get killed. She'll blame herself if she loses. What if this isn't just dueling for roses? What if Touga kills her? He can't, he won't, it would be just like him.
Kitty was hot on his heels through the woods, following him right up to the stone gates. He yanked on the handle, and water started to flow across the stone. The gates turned into a giant concrete rose.
"No gawking, come on!" Saionji shouted as Kitty paused to catch her breath and do just that. She sighed and charged after him, into a glass elevator which strobed into light and darkness as it passed level after level. The two of them scrambled out of the elevator and out onto the dueling floor.
There was a chair surrounded by short lengths of cut rope, a piece of black silk on the seat.
There was a scattering of orange petals.
There was Juri.
Kitty stood shocked by the elevator door as she stared up at the castle hanging above them.
"What is that?"
"It's a trick of the light," Saionji snapped. "Now get over here and help me."
Juri was kneeling on the ground, leaning back a bit on Saionji's arm. As Kitty approached, she saw that Juri had been cut up. There was a scratch on her face which was bleeding, a shallow cut across her chest, a deeper one in her shoulder.
"He got the worst of it… but he got the rose," Juri breathed heavily. "I'm so sorry Saionji. I should have listened, I wasn't ready…"
"Stop talking," Saionji growled. "You're hurt, you idiot."
"Should've cut his throat…"
"Where's Rogue?" Kitty asked. Juri rolled her head to look at her.
"With Touga. Down the stairs."
As Saionji picked up Juri, Kitty ran towards the spiral staircase, shut her eyes, and began to fall through the layers of stone. She sped up every time she hit air, slowed every time she hit stone, and then sunk through the floor at the bottom of the stairs.
"I won," she heard Touga say, a one sided conversation as if into a phone. "She's compliant now. We can commence. The first duel will be between you and Kanae."
Kitty rose out of the floor in front of them, looking extremely angry.
"Get the hell away from her!" she shrieked.
"Kozue, I'll have to call you back," he said, and hung up his cell phone. "Hello there little Kitty. That is your name, isn't it?"
"How dare you break into my room?"
"You're too late, Kitty," Touga said. "Juri lost, and so Maigo is now the Rose Bride."
"Stop calling her that! Her name is Rogue!" Kitty screamed, shoving him. He grabbed her hand.
"She doesn't have a name. She said so herself. And if you want her back, you're half-way there, Kitty," he said.
"What the hell are you talking about? Rogue, run!" she shouted. Touga threw his head back and laughed. Rogue just stood there, her eyes flat, as though she'd never heard a word Kitty said.
"You're wearing my ring," Touga said, once he'd composed himself. "All you need now is a sword and the courage to challenge the victor."
He let go of her hand and she fell backwards, landing in an awkward sitting position.
"Who's the victor?" Kitty spat. "You?"
"Silly girl. The victor won't be decided till Kozue and Kanae duel. I'm just the End of the World," he smiled. He stepped over her and headed towards the gate. "Come, Maigo."
Rogue, or Maigo, as she was now apparently called, leaned down and gently touched Kitty's face with her bare hand. Kitty's mouth opened in shock as nothing happened.
"Cheer up, Kitty," Maigo said smiling vacantly, and followed Touga out of the arena.