Noir
By spheeris1
Pairing: Utena/Anthy [others implied]
Warnings/notes: See 'Teaser' & 'Ichi'
~~~
'no, nothing's here, I close my eyes it's on the other side
'and what I've worked so hard to gain I'd gladly give away
'cause I don't need this I don't need it I need more…'
~
'Why did you call me here?' Arisugawa Juri asked, sitting down at the bar. Utena took a sip of her beer.
'Drink?' Utena asked. Juri watched her for a moment in silence.
'Scotch. On the rocks.'
So Utena ordered it up, watching the bartender turn to the many bottles on the shelf. Ice clinking against glass and sweet brown liquid poured upon it. Utena asked for a refill on her chilled mug.
'I would like an answer to my question.' Juri reminded as her drink was placed in front of her on an off-white napkin.
'I need your help with this whole 'ring' business.'
Juri laughed then, a ripple of sound so delighted yet cold. She took an even sip of her scotch.
'I have no intention in having anything to do with that ring. Ever.'
'But you seemed so interested before…' Utena commented.
'Well, the 'interest' is gone now, Tenjou. I suggest you do the same.'
They sat in quiet for endless seconds. Utena nursing her second beer and Juri working on her tumbler of scotch.
'I can't do that. Neither can you. None of you can…none of you can really let go, can you? That's why Kiryuu Touga died. That's why Saionji died. That's why Kaoru Miki is so damn sad and his sister, Kozue, has run off. That's why Kiryuu Nanami hides behind you…and why you try to shelter her…it dictates all you do.'
Utena finished talking and pushed her drink away. She didn't feel like it anymore.
She could feel Juri's eyes on her like the aim from a rifle. She could feel the other woman's tug-of-war inside, the one side saying to go away and the other asking to fight. Utena just had to find the right button to push.
'I want to find this Akio. I want to get this damn mess behind me, solved and filed away…that is my job after all. And I'd be lying if I said it had nothing to do with Anthy.'
At that, Utena could see Juri smirk out of the corner of her eye. Utena smirked back.
'So, the little girl got under your skin as well…' It wasn't a question at all.
'Did she get under yours?'
Juri knocked back the last of her drink and signaled for another.
'No. Not me…but others. You are not the first, nor will you be the last, Tenjou.'
'We'll see if you are wrong or right…if you help me out here.'
Juri watched Utena for some time, scanning over her face as if trying to imprint the image to her memory.
'I want Nanami kept out of it.'
'Done. Anything else?'
'Just that I don't think you get this at all, Tenjou. This is more complicated than you realize.'
Utena sighed and paid her tab.
'Don't think I haven't noticed…'
~
Will people read about this one day?
Will they see sketches of you in white, battling the villain in black?
Will they run their fingers over the words that proclaim your victories?
You hope so. Everyone needs to know about it.
You'll be the name on all the lips of the children, you'll be in every page of the dime-store novel, you'll be Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's inspiration.
Sam Spade trapped in a girls body.
The pretty dames, the smoking gun and a trail of dead…
The castle, the dueling arena and a garden of roses…
It's all the same.
Nothing has changed.
~
'She made it out then?' Kaoru Miki asked, his big blue eyes so hopeful. Utena just nodded in the affirmative.
He sighed and smiled.
'I should have known she would. Juri is like that, nothing keeps her down.'
'And she is going to help me.'
Miki looked up for a second then back down to the body below.
'With what exactly?'
'With seeing Himemiya Akio.'
The scissors clattered to the floor, slipping too easily from Miki's latex-gloved hands. He didn't bend to pick them up.
'You don't have to help out, you know. I understand if you can't do it…but I have to do it. Anthy has gone to him and if it is to save me, as you said at the bar…I can't have that. No one saves me but me.'
She watched Miki zone out, seeing something only he could see. Perhaps his past…perhaps his loss years…perhaps his sister, gone from his side…
'Kozue is with him.'
Utena felt a grin tug at her lips.
'Seems this Akio guy gets all the chicks.'
Miki just ignored her comment, pulling the sheet over the corpse and then sliding the gloves off. He tossed them into a shiny silver trash can.
'Why does a detective care so much about this twisted fairy-tale?' Miki asked quietly.
And Utena wasn't sure if she had the perfect answer for the guy. Was she 'the one', as Miki once said? Did she harbor some need to rescue others? Or maybe she was just damn stubborn? Maybe she didn't want to give up on this particular case just yet…or maybe it was more simple than that.
Maybe Utena is just a two-bit PI who has spent her life from one dodgy deal to the next…and she finally got a glimpse of something beautiful, something worth fighting for.
'I don't care. I just don't like leaving things unfinished. So…you in or out?'
Miki smiled slightly, flipping the switch to the florescent lights and putting the room in eerie darkness.
'I'm in, Tenjou Utena.'
~
'a postcard from where life's a thrill on top of Marvel Hill
'but I don't need this I don't need it I need more
'no, I don't need this too good to be true too good to ignore
'I don't need this I need so much more it's too much to ask for…'
'Marvel Hill' by The Cardigans
~~~
TBC
