Perhaps I shouldn't have promised you, the Widow said, locking the door. She put the plain, silver key back away in one of her little purses, and swept her shawl over her shoulders, pulling it close over her thin arms. It's cold here, don't you think? She took a seat in one of the high-backed, red velvet chairs.

Utena replied hesitantly.

It's always cold here, the purple haired woman admitted quietly.

Lady Saionji...

No, please, she said, holding up a dark-skinned hand. The black shawl slipped from her shoulder, and she quickly brought her hand back to hold the ends of the wrap together. If I'm to tell you, I must ask that you simply hear me out. Please, don't interrupt.

What a strange request,' Utena thought. And so unlike the Widow... She seems so meek. But, then, I wonder what is really as it seems, in this place?' I understand, she replied finally.

The Widow nodded. Thank you. I'm glad you do... This is - difficult, I'm afraid.

Utena waited, knowing the other woman would go on eventually.

Let me begin by telling you a story... Perhaps you've already heard it... And she proceeded to quote from memory.

... For Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

She paused, looking down at her hands, which were clutching the black cloth over her chest. Then the Widow looked back up at Utena, her green eyes soft, and gentle.

We are all naked, as children - innocent to the horrors of life. Her voice was quiet, and sad, and it touched Utena in a way that she couldn't wholly understand. We eventually come to understand, and we are cast out of the paradise of youth and safety. Sometimes there is some evil that will guide us to our revelations. Sometimes, we ourselves play the serpent, and beget our downfall...

My elder brother and I... We were naked before the world, as children, and we were not ashamed. We were always together, bound by trust and love of the purest sort. We were so deeply devoted to one another. His name was Akio, and he was never far from my side, nor I from his. He was brave, and good... He is brave, and he is good. Not even death could separate us...

Akio died when I was eight. He died terribly, painfully, I know - because he has told me - and I could not save him. He fell from the balcony of our manor house one day while we were playing in the attic. He fell four stories and landed on a marble pathway. But he wasn't dead, then... He didn't die right away...

By the next sunset, we had buried my precious elder brother. But even, then, he was not dead. He came to me and told me. He stood at the foot of my bed and said, Sister! Sister! Come and get me, please! Please, I can't breath... And his gentle face looked so hurt when I told him, through my tears, that I couldn't. He persisted - Please! Sister! I'm so frightened, sister! It hurts, and I can't breathe! It's so dark!

I didn't understand how he had come to me. Our parents had told me he was dead. That he was dead and gone, and that no matter how I cried, he wouldn't - couldn't - come back to life. Oh, but he was there, at the foot of my bed, crying, begging me to get him out. He looked so real. And then he stepped around the side of the bed, and came up beside me. When he touched my hand, I knew it was true... He was still with me. He touched my hand, and I could feel his skin against mine.

He took me to our family graveyard, and I dug up the fresh dirt all alone, with just my hands to move the earth. All the while, he was egging me on, telling me to hurry, that it hurt, that he was afraid. And finally I reached the coffin. It was nearly sunrise by that time, but one could hardly tell for the clouds that had gathered. It quickly began to rain, but I couldn't stop... My brother - I thought I might still be able to save him.

He got into the hole beside me and helped me pull away the coffin lid. I took one look at his body - flattened and mutilated from the force of the fall - and I couldn't help it anymore. I screamed. You're too late, he told me as I fell into the coffin. He held me while I screamed and wept, and he promised that we wouldn't ever be apart... And we never have been.

Akio has been with me ever since. When I was ten, they sent me away to the cloister in hopes that perhaps a life of devout seclusion would cure my ills, or help to ease my pain... Everyone thought I'd gone insane. They couldn't see my brother, could never hear him... But he followed me, even when they sent me to live with the nuns... He is never far away...

My brother ages as I do, as a living being... He has always been my strength, because I have always been weak... He is as real and as solid as any man I have ever seen, stronger, even, because he's become a little bit of a magician - although he doesn't call it that. He doesn't call it anything, and so I can only think of a magician' - sorcerer' is too cruel, and my brother is not... a cruel man.

But - the nuns... The convent was nearby a monastery, and the monks ran a highly reputable school for young boys. It was at the cloister that I met my future husband... May God grant his soul peace.

He was kind to me, at first... The young Saionji heir - he would be Lord Saionji when his father died, the nuns said in hushed voices. I didn't know who he was, when I first saw him. But he found me, and he took a deep liking to me. I was always a little afraid of him - Akio didn't like him, and he was a proud sort of man, perhaps a little arrogant, God grant his soul peace.

Lord Saionji wrote to my parents and requested my hand in marriage... By that time, they had become certain that I would take my vows and become one of the sisters, but it didn't take very much encouragement from the new Lord Saionji to win their consent.

And so, hardly knowing what was going on, I was taken back to his home, and made his bride. I never knew him very well - the nuns had taught me that I ought to be afraid of men, and Akio had taught me that I ought trust no men other than him... He frightened me... The more reticent I became, the angrier he was, and the less kind he was to me. He guarded me jealously, although I have never met another person, besides my brother, who has ever wanted me. No one would have dreamed to take me from my husband's hands, and, yet, he would hardly let me out of his sight for fear that I would slip out of his grasp.

Akio hated Kyouichi... He tormented the entire household. So many of Lord Saionji's servants quit after he brought me home... And so few of the townspeople would offer their services, once they heard what was going on. My husband, may God grant him peace, never believed a word of what the servants said, and he certainly never thought the disturbances' in his home had anything at all to do with me.

If it were not for his friends, I think that Kyouichi, Akio, and I would have lived as hermits alone in Saionji Manor. But his friends held him dear to their hearts, even if he frightened them, sometimes...

Lord Kiryuu was always closest to my husband. They had gone to the monastery school together as boys... His sister, Lady Nanami, and her... cousin' Lord Mitsuru... They insinuated themselves into the group, as well. Lady Nanami hated Kyouichi for the fact that her brother doted so sweetly on his friend... And she hated me, I suppose, for not being able to distract my husband's attentions from her brother. I sympathize with her, sometimes. I know how it feels to think you've lost your brother...

Ah, but in any case... You know the others. Lady Arisugawa, and her lover, Lady Takatsuki, the Kaoru siblings... They complete the ring... They are the ones who witnessed... who witnessed Kyouichi's death.

The Widow let her hands, which were pale and shaking terribly, drop into her lap, and her shawl loosened around her shoulders, slowly slipping to pool between her back and the chair. Utena opened her mouth to offer her condolences, but the Widow shook her head.

Please... Be silent a little longer, I beg of you, Lady Tenjou... A little longer yet, please...

Utena studied the trembling wraith of a woman, so frail and lovely. Finally, she nodded somberly, and the Widow Saionji smiled weakly.

Thank you, she said softly. I'll continue now... I think it's all right... She took a deep breath and began to speak once more.

We came here - to Ohtori Manor - almost five years ago, on holiday. All of Kyouichi's friends were thoroughly enjoying themselves, and even I didn't mind... The fresh air and the travel did me good, I think... I had spent so long being sedentary.

Arriving at Ohtori Manor with the intention of staying for several weeks, we all found it easy to settle into a rather lazy mood... This would be our temporary home, we thought... It was the longest we'd stayed anywhere since departing home. But, now, I realize how great the shadow was that had been cast over us... I don't believe, in all honesty, that I will ever leave this place.

It was here that... Well, one of Kyouichi's secrets came out into the open... He and Lord Kiryuu had become lovers... Perhaps they had been for some time. The maid - Miss Shinohara - She discovered them together... It hurt her greatly, for she had always loved her employer deeply, and his eternal rejection of her wounded her heart. But Miss Shinohara was not the only one hurt.

Lady Nanami fell into a fit of depression when she found out. She would weep for hours and scream at anyone who dared to come to see her... I understand her pain, although my brother has never so thoroughly abandoned me. And Lord Mitsuru, who loves Lady Nanami more than any other living creature, was depressed because his dear cousin was depressed, and he wept for her sake, and for the sake of his unrequited love for her.

Lord Kiryuu was furious... He is a very charming man, and I had never before seen him angry... But he is a terror, I'm afraid to say. Half of our staff spent that week nursing wounds he had inflicted - black eyes, sprained wrists... He was a frightening sight.

The Viscountess didn't care one way or the other, at first, but Lady Takatsuki was upset. She'd always fancied Lord Kiryuu, secretly... I have reason to believe they trysted when they were both younger, but Lord Kiryuu has always been easy-going with the women he takes... When the Viscountess began to suspect that Lady Takatsuki had feelings for Lord Kiryuu - she fell into a rage of her own, as well, although hers was much crueler than even Lord Kiryuu's... She and Lady Takatsuki - there is little love between them now, only pain, I fear... I feel for both of them... But Lady Takatsuki is, perhaps, the worse off of the two, because she still loves Lady Arisugawa, and doesn't realize that, no matter how cold she has become, the Viscountess is still in love, as well...

The Widow Saionji sighed heavily, tightening her clasped hands and then relaxing them a little. But the worst... Oh, the worst was, by far, Akio.

He never liked Kyouichi, may God grant his soul peace... He hated my husband for trying to steal me from him... Akio hated Kyouichi for not believing in his powers, for - for not believing he was real. My brother hated Lord Saionji because he had betrayed out wedding vows in what he believed to be the worst possible way - with another man.

And so... Akio killed my husband. He is buried beneath those climbing roses in the greenhouse. Lord Kiryuu goes there to speak to his ghost - for Kyouichi's ghost is here, as surely as Miss Shinohara's ghost is here, as surely as those shades are here, a surely as Akio rules over Ohtori Manor. But Kyouichi will not speak to me - Akio will not let him... He spends so much time tormenting Kyouichi, even now that he is dead.

Once my husband was dead, my brother took hold of the Manor. The clouds gathered, and on the day when the first drops of this eternal rain started to fall, I realized that I had no choice other than to tell Kyouichi's friends.

They were horrified... It was simple enough to see... They were hurt, and scared... Miss Shinohara had already killed herself, by then... It was Lord Kiryuu who made the decision, although the others did not disagree. We swore on our blood - all of us - that we would never leave Ohtori Manor again... We swore it because Akio had his sights set on all of us, now that Kyouichi was dead. He told me himself. He said he could easily lay blame on each and every one of us - and he threatened to kill them all... if they ever tried to escape him...

We will never leave... Akio is mad with power, and there isn't a one of us who can stop him, anymore... I've come to realize, in my period of seclusion, that he was always mad... His death changed him, and like a man come back from the grave, his soul was not fully intact... He is a creature of anger, and... My, it's getting so cold in here.

The Widow's hands went to her shawl, and pulled it back around her shoulders. She stood, rising gracefully from the blood-red chair. Well, I shouldn't have kept you in this cold room for so long. Good day, Lady Tenjou.

She went to the door and unlocked it. Utena, bewildered, overwhelmed, could do nothing but obey, heading to the open door. As the pink-haired heiress passed her by, the Widow spoke one last time, her voice a whisper.

I believe in you, Utena... There is not a one among us, but you are different... If you are careful, you can save us.




Author's Notes:
Yeah... Akio has become a sort of Lasher-like figure, if you're familiar with Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches trilogy. He's not so sexual as Lasher, but he's definitely that kind of maniac. In a lot of ways, he's like a little boy (well, maybe thirteen or so... a young boy, in any case) stuck in an adult's body. His ghost ages physically, always perfect, but he's never really grown up, and that, combined with the pain of being buried half-alive, has driven him mad... Maybe I'll further explore Akio's psyche later, but not right here.
OK, this is really starting to get weird on me. It doesn't need an R rating yet, does it? I hope not! Hm... In the next chapter, the Seitokai has a secret meeting... Well, actually, everyone exacept Utena and the servents has a meeting. Nerk!
The story' Anthy begins with, of course, is from the Bible, the King James Version. The Gensesis: 2: 20-25. (Hey, did I cite that right?) I just stole it from... The Bible Gateway (available at http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible ). So, any errors aren't mine... Well, not with that part, anyway. Saaaa...
This is officially the second longest thing I've ever written - fanfiction or original fiction. Only my Sorcerer Hunters fic, Keikoku, tops this. (Go read and review Keikoku! Yes! Please!)
Anyhoo... Serenahalfelven - Thank you very much. I hope this chapter has given you a little better idea of the characters' motives and relationships... I often write such sort pieces that I have no need to define characters, so I guess it's a bit of a weak point. Anyway, I'm working on it! Thank you, and I hope I can keep you interested! Anais the Gollum-Gollum - Wow. I'm touched! I'm glad the story's working out that way! Well, for you, anyway... I really do think Utena is an incredible series, and... Well, I guess I'm just darn pleased to hear someone say that there's a little bit of that in this story.
OK. That's it for now! More to come, eventually!

SnM