And Chapter 2 is here (this would be the chapter where things actually
start to happen. Exciting, ne?) and dang if it didn't take me long enough. Shows what watching fan subs of Utena will do for a poor writer's blocked author.
Disclaimer: There are gnomes that live in the laundry room and steal my
socks for clothing and sleeping bags. They love Utena too. But they don't
own it and neither do I.
This chapter title brought to you by Colin Raye and his song "I Can Still Feel You."
Guided By The Stars
by Lyra Matsuoka
Rated PG-13
Chapter 2: A Memory Like A Ghost
As Utena walked back to her apartment building, a slight breeze
began to blow. It whipped through her hair as she unlocked the front
door of her home, and proceeded onward. It danced across the streets
of Tokyo, pausing every so often to caress the cheek of an innocent
passerby. Gaining speed and strength, the puff of air whipped toward
Ohtori, and danced into the courtyard where a neat arrangement of roses
lay.
Carefully, the breeze enticed the loose petals to rise from the
ground and dance with it. When all the petals were off the ground, the
breeze blew them about in a spiral. The petals wound up the main tower,
across the sky and circled the moon. Then they dropped to Earth as one,
blowing toward the dueling arena.
The arena was dark, and nothing was visible inside it. The breeze
paused at the gate, too timid to enter this place, but the petals
continued. They rose to the center of the arena and spiraled faster
and faster, multiplying as they did so. In a breath they scattered,
glowing slightly in the dark. What they left behind was a dark figure.
The shapless nothing reached out a hand, and multicolored petals
gathered in the palm. It smiled, and blew upon them softly.
"I swear to you, I will change the world."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~*~*~*Five Weeks Later*~*~*~*
Akio watched the day slip from the Earth from his tower window.
The lights of the dormitories were blinking on, one at a time. Several
students hurried toward their rooms as the shadows stretched longer and
longer. Far in the distance, the Dueling Arena loomed. Akio gazed at
it with a sneer on his lips.
The Duelists had faded into the world by now. It was odd that he
still thought of them as choosing to vanish into the world; he knew
full well that they did so out of necessity. They did not remember the
girl with a heart strong enough to bring the world revolution, and any
memories they might have had of dueling for the right to seize the Power
of Dios could easily be explained away as dreams.
But the dreams were gaining strength. Slowly they were solidifying
and transforming into memories of a time long gone. Akio knew he couldn't
stop it...not now that Utena had faced the truth.
He remembered hearing her laugh. How he knew it was her was
uncertain, but when he had discovered the roses in the center courtyard,
all doubt had been removed.
Akio walked to his desk and withdrew a sheet of cream stationary.
A pile of sealed envelopes rested on his desk, waiting for the moment
when he would decide whether to turn them over to the postman, or to burn
them as he had done so many times before. Many sticks of multicolored wax l
ay to the side, and a candle burned nearby.
"I can't," he muttered to the empty air.
"You must," came the hard reply. "For the revolution of the world."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Touga Kiryuu was standing in the Ohtori Stadium. Though he had
graduated nearly two years ago, something about the structure beyond
the stadium held him to the lonely stone of the Ohtori Academy. He
didn't understand it, nor did he expect anyone else to understand his
fascination.
The sunset was beautiful, but Touga could hardly remember a night
when it wasn't. Blood red, this sky, as though the gods were grieving for
something...or someone...
Touga shook his head in wry amusement. The gaps in his memory were
nothing to be worried about. Saionji, Juri, Miki, even Nanami shared them.
No need for concern. And yet Touga wondered; was there something in his
past that drew him here so often? To the stadium, to that odd place beyond
it...
He remembered once, four months after graduation, when he had arrived
at the structure quite by accident. Though he gripped the ornate door handle
and tugged, the portal did not give. Perplexed, but hardly worried, Touga
had turned around and headed for his house.
And now? Now he was grown, and he had left his childhood behind. The
egotisim and playboy lifestyle...well, those were entertaining, and he
didn't really have anything better to do. The university provided a fresh
place to try his skills at many things, and Touga took advantage of every
opportunity.
But there were questions that surfaced briefly in his nightmares and
fantasies. Images, flashes of emotion. Pain, defeat, anger, misery, the smell
of roses, pink, all these things. And they were attached to something,
something that hovered on the fringes of his consciousness and waited for
the time to step into the light.
But he had one dream in particular, one that refused to leave him.
Nearly every night, the same scene. He saw the stars, and he was talking
while gazing at them. His mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear the words.
He could feel what they meant, but words seemed horribly inadequate. He
turned his head to look at the girl sitting next to him, though he could
not explain how he knew it was a girl who lent her company to the perfect
night. But before he could see her, he always woke, usually with the strains
of a piano playing gently in the inner part of his mind for a brief moment after.
He loved, if only in his dreams.
Something was missing. There was no point in denying that, even if he
had spent the last two years attempting to do just that. Occasionally, Touga
would hear laughter, or see a group of children playing basketball, and he
would smile slightly and wait for it to fade. He had stood silent and aloof
for two hours once, just listening as children ran about on a baseball field.
Touga looked down at his shoes and considered his life. Plenty of friends,
and he and Saionji were like brothers now. Juri and Miki had always been closer
to each other than to him, but there was a bond between the four of them that
could not be broken. None of them knew why it was there, but it was as much a
part of their lives as oxygen.
It was Juri who found him first. That surprised him; he would have bet
his trust fund that Nanami would have tracked him down by now. Saionji respected
the distance that Touga sometimes required. But Juri was a silent force, and she
did not speak. Together, they watched the sunset.
"What happened there?" Juri murmurred. "What do you remember that so
many of us have forgotten?"
"I don't know. I wish I did."
Juri nodded, and glanced back at the buildings of Ohtori. As the
color of the sunset began to mute itself, the bells rang out the hour.
The chimes were simple, a mere calling of the time. But Touga cocked his
head slightly, hearing something different. He heard a randomly beautiful
clang, and victory and defeat abided in those sounds. A sword...pink hair...
Out of the coming night came the last chime of the clock tower,
and Touga started as something brushed his cheek. He reached up and
freed the floating object from his hair; a red rose petal. He held it
carefully, and let go when the breeze tugged at it.
"Become like a rose petal, blowing free."
Touga turned his eyes to Juri.
"Why did you say that?"
"It felt...right."
Touga nodded and watched the petal floating away. It danced through the air, floating higher and higher...and suddenly, it dropped. The rose petal fell like a stone, and he fully expected to hear a crack when it touched the pavement. The breeze was gone, and Touga stared at the fallen petal. A memory stirred...a sword, glowing red and shimmering from within, red skirts, a golden crown, and blue eyes that shone from under that glimmering blade.
The wind shifted, and the memory was gone. Touga blinked once, and felt the tingle of anticipation race through him.
The time for answers was at hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry that took so long, everyone! I hope you enjoyed it, and I will try to do better, I swear! Forgive me?
start to happen. Exciting, ne?) and dang if it didn't take me long enough. Shows what watching fan subs of Utena will do for a poor writer's blocked author.
Disclaimer: There are gnomes that live in the laundry room and steal my
socks for clothing and sleeping bags. They love Utena too. But they don't
own it and neither do I.
This chapter title brought to you by Colin Raye and his song "I Can Still Feel You."
Guided By The Stars
by Lyra Matsuoka
Rated PG-13
Chapter 2: A Memory Like A Ghost
As Utena walked back to her apartment building, a slight breeze
began to blow. It whipped through her hair as she unlocked the front
door of her home, and proceeded onward. It danced across the streets
of Tokyo, pausing every so often to caress the cheek of an innocent
passerby. Gaining speed and strength, the puff of air whipped toward
Ohtori, and danced into the courtyard where a neat arrangement of roses
lay.
Carefully, the breeze enticed the loose petals to rise from the
ground and dance with it. When all the petals were off the ground, the
breeze blew them about in a spiral. The petals wound up the main tower,
across the sky and circled the moon. Then they dropped to Earth as one,
blowing toward the dueling arena.
The arena was dark, and nothing was visible inside it. The breeze
paused at the gate, too timid to enter this place, but the petals
continued. They rose to the center of the arena and spiraled faster
and faster, multiplying as they did so. In a breath they scattered,
glowing slightly in the dark. What they left behind was a dark figure.
The shapless nothing reached out a hand, and multicolored petals
gathered in the palm. It smiled, and blew upon them softly.
"I swear to you, I will change the world."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~*~*~*Five Weeks Later*~*~*~*
Akio watched the day slip from the Earth from his tower window.
The lights of the dormitories were blinking on, one at a time. Several
students hurried toward their rooms as the shadows stretched longer and
longer. Far in the distance, the Dueling Arena loomed. Akio gazed at
it with a sneer on his lips.
The Duelists had faded into the world by now. It was odd that he
still thought of them as choosing to vanish into the world; he knew
full well that they did so out of necessity. They did not remember the
girl with a heart strong enough to bring the world revolution, and any
memories they might have had of dueling for the right to seize the Power
of Dios could easily be explained away as dreams.
But the dreams were gaining strength. Slowly they were solidifying
and transforming into memories of a time long gone. Akio knew he couldn't
stop it...not now that Utena had faced the truth.
He remembered hearing her laugh. How he knew it was her was
uncertain, but when he had discovered the roses in the center courtyard,
all doubt had been removed.
Akio walked to his desk and withdrew a sheet of cream stationary.
A pile of sealed envelopes rested on his desk, waiting for the moment
when he would decide whether to turn them over to the postman, or to burn
them as he had done so many times before. Many sticks of multicolored wax l
ay to the side, and a candle burned nearby.
"I can't," he muttered to the empty air.
"You must," came the hard reply. "For the revolution of the world."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Touga Kiryuu was standing in the Ohtori Stadium. Though he had
graduated nearly two years ago, something about the structure beyond
the stadium held him to the lonely stone of the Ohtori Academy. He
didn't understand it, nor did he expect anyone else to understand his
fascination.
The sunset was beautiful, but Touga could hardly remember a night
when it wasn't. Blood red, this sky, as though the gods were grieving for
something...or someone...
Touga shook his head in wry amusement. The gaps in his memory were
nothing to be worried about. Saionji, Juri, Miki, even Nanami shared them.
No need for concern. And yet Touga wondered; was there something in his
past that drew him here so often? To the stadium, to that odd place beyond
it...
He remembered once, four months after graduation, when he had arrived
at the structure quite by accident. Though he gripped the ornate door handle
and tugged, the portal did not give. Perplexed, but hardly worried, Touga
had turned around and headed for his house.
And now? Now he was grown, and he had left his childhood behind. The
egotisim and playboy lifestyle...well, those were entertaining, and he
didn't really have anything better to do. The university provided a fresh
place to try his skills at many things, and Touga took advantage of every
opportunity.
But there were questions that surfaced briefly in his nightmares and
fantasies. Images, flashes of emotion. Pain, defeat, anger, misery, the smell
of roses, pink, all these things. And they were attached to something,
something that hovered on the fringes of his consciousness and waited for
the time to step into the light.
But he had one dream in particular, one that refused to leave him.
Nearly every night, the same scene. He saw the stars, and he was talking
while gazing at them. His mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear the words.
He could feel what they meant, but words seemed horribly inadequate. He
turned his head to look at the girl sitting next to him, though he could
not explain how he knew it was a girl who lent her company to the perfect
night. But before he could see her, he always woke, usually with the strains
of a piano playing gently in the inner part of his mind for a brief moment after.
He loved, if only in his dreams.
Something was missing. There was no point in denying that, even if he
had spent the last two years attempting to do just that. Occasionally, Touga
would hear laughter, or see a group of children playing basketball, and he
would smile slightly and wait for it to fade. He had stood silent and aloof
for two hours once, just listening as children ran about on a baseball field.
Touga looked down at his shoes and considered his life. Plenty of friends,
and he and Saionji were like brothers now. Juri and Miki had always been closer
to each other than to him, but there was a bond between the four of them that
could not be broken. None of them knew why it was there, but it was as much a
part of their lives as oxygen.
It was Juri who found him first. That surprised him; he would have bet
his trust fund that Nanami would have tracked him down by now. Saionji respected
the distance that Touga sometimes required. But Juri was a silent force, and she
did not speak. Together, they watched the sunset.
"What happened there?" Juri murmurred. "What do you remember that so
many of us have forgotten?"
"I don't know. I wish I did."
Juri nodded, and glanced back at the buildings of Ohtori. As the
color of the sunset began to mute itself, the bells rang out the hour.
The chimes were simple, a mere calling of the time. But Touga cocked his
head slightly, hearing something different. He heard a randomly beautiful
clang, and victory and defeat abided in those sounds. A sword...pink hair...
Out of the coming night came the last chime of the clock tower,
and Touga started as something brushed his cheek. He reached up and
freed the floating object from his hair; a red rose petal. He held it
carefully, and let go when the breeze tugged at it.
"Become like a rose petal, blowing free."
Touga turned his eyes to Juri.
"Why did you say that?"
"It felt...right."
Touga nodded and watched the petal floating away. It danced through the air, floating higher and higher...and suddenly, it dropped. The rose petal fell like a stone, and he fully expected to hear a crack when it touched the pavement. The breeze was gone, and Touga stared at the fallen petal. A memory stirred...a sword, glowing red and shimmering from within, red skirts, a golden crown, and blue eyes that shone from under that glimmering blade.
The wind shifted, and the memory was gone. Touga blinked once, and felt the tingle of anticipation race through him.
The time for answers was at hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry that took so long, everyone! I hope you enjoyed it, and I will try to do better, I swear! Forgive me?