The Princess & the Playboy
Disclaimer: I do not own Revolutionary Girl Utena (RGU or SKU) or the Beauty and the Beast
Reader Responses:
Suppis Tenshi : Thank you very much again for helping me with this. (At least I know 1 person's reading it) Thanks for the constructive criticism and thoughts, it helps keep me motivated to write.
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Chapter 4: A Duel
The next morning Utena awoke to a soft knocking on her door.
"Miss Utena?" Mikis voice rang through her door.
"Yes?" she asked groggily.
"Touga wished for me to wake you, for breakfast will be served in ten minutes."
"Okay, I'll be right there, thanks," Utena replied slowly pushing back the soft down comforter. After realizing she was still in her unconventional school uniform she walked over to the closet, discovering a uniform nearly identical to the one she already had on. When she finished changing and brushing her hair she found Miki in the hallway waiting for her with a smile on his face. Bright rays of sunlight shone through a wondrous stained glass window, depicting a girl in the midst of a cage of swords, and the eerie glow it seemed to radiate made her shiver.
"Come now, we don't want to be late," Miki said ushering her to the dining room. There they found fresh strawberries, pancakes, bacon, piles of violet grapes, biscuits, and sausages adorning the table. Taking a seat between Touga and Miki, Utena filled a plate with some of the fluffy pancakes, luscious strawberries and a hot biscuit.
*Its only a window. Theres nothing strange about it. Its nothing to get worried about. But, Utena worried her lip, Then why do I feel as if I have seen it somewhere before?* Utena thought, absentmindedly pushing her food around on her plate, not able to dispel the odd feeling the window gave her.
"Are you feeling well, Utena?" Touga asked, a caring note in his voice, gently placing a hand on her forehead. Utena snapped out of her thoughts.
"Oh yes, Im fine," Utena said to an unconvinced Touga.
The rest of breakfast went by slowly. Utena was lost in her thoughts; no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get away from the unpleasant feeling that the window outside of her room gave her. Touga and his companions were relatively quiet, for each too were in their own worlds.
After breakfast Miki left muttering something about needing to find his shining thing.
"Would you like that tour now Utena?" Touga asked, interrupting her from her contemplation of that strange window. "Since our tour was canceled yesterday, I thought we could finish it today."
"Why thank you, Touga, I would like that," Utena replied.
Touga wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him, and he guided her out of the room. He led her to an immense library with huge shelves easily reaching the ceiling, stocked full with books of all sizes and colors. In one corner of the room rested a great chair, a blanket lying on it, just perfect for reading. In another area there was a soft couch, and a lovely cherry desk was positioned in the middle of the room.
*This truly is a perfect library*, she thought, observing the room with big eyes. Touga found that he enjoyed watching her more.
After the library he escorted her to the music room where they located Miki playing a lovely tune on the piano. Not wanting to bother him they listened in delightful silence, Utena leaning into Tougas willing arms, wrapping her tight.
"What was that you were playing?" Utena asked Miki when he was finished.
"The Sunlight Garden. When I was little my sister and I wrote this in our garden and all of our neighbors used to come to watch us play, but that was a long time ago," Miki said, a sad look crossing his eyes.
Utena was about to ask what happened to her but Touga quickly escorted her out of the room sensing her impending question.
"What happened to his sister?" she asked
"I'm afraid I'm not in the position to tell you, it's a very touchy subject for him. Touga replied
Next he showed her the parlor, kitchen, living room, and lastly the dojo. When they arrived there they found Saionji practicing with his sword.
"It seems like its been forever since I've dueled anyone," Utena said, almost wistfully.
"You duel?" asked a confused Saionji.
"Of course!"
"Then I challenge you Utena," Saionji stated.
"Challenge accepted", Utena replied, a slight fire of determination growing in her eyes.
"Wait just a minute. Are you sure you want to duel, Utena?" Touga asked having an ominous feeling about this.
"Yeah, I need the practice anyway."
"Alright then. The first person who severs the rose from their opponents chest is the victor," Touga said placing a red rose on Utenas chest, Saionji fixing a creamy white rose on his own.
Start the duel, Touga shouted.
When the two duelists commenced their swordplay, Touga noticed that Utena possessed more skill than Saionji, even though she claimed to not have dueled recently. Saionji was putting up a very good front with each matched for blows, but the instant Saionji let his guard down, creamy rose petals littered the floor.
"Good match," Utena said turning her back on a fuming Saionji, disgusted with his defeat. Suddenly he raised his sword and brought it crashing down towards an unsuspecting Utena.
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Sorry that chapter was so short. The next one will be longer and please remember to review.
~Silver Stripes~