Heime walked in, two large grocery bags in one arm.
"Anthy? I'm back! Anthy?"
She took the bags into the kitchen, putting away the essentials before checking the rooms. She just opened the doors, checking if Anthy was in any of the rooms, but would close them right away when she found that Anthy wasn't in them.
"Anthy?" Heime called again. She wasn't worried too much but she was curious as to where Anthy could have gone.
She opened the last door and found Anthy slumped against the wall, her legs sticking out at odd angles. Heime dropped to her knees and checked Anthy's pulse with to fingertips to the side of her neck. Her heartbeat was far too fast. She looked up at the opposite wall where the painting of herself and Anthy was. Heime had painted it, because she had been having dreams of herself and Anthy as of late.
They were always dressed in such finery, except when she had had the dream of them making love. Perhaps Anthy had had the same vision? She had seen Anthy faint before with Utena and Wakaba. It was quite possible that Anthy and Heime were experiencing the same visions, in different forms. Maybe of their past lives..
But no, Heime didn't believe that, yet she was still open to all explainations for these odd occurances. They could be nothing more than random dreams. That would explain for Heime, but not for Anthy. Perhaps it wasn't their past lives, but their ancestors? Either way, Heime had to wake Anthy up.
"Anthy? Hey, Anthy?"
She picked her up and took her into the bedroom, setting her down on the combined beds.
"Anthy!"
With a sigh, Heime went to the kitchen, wet a small cloth towel and returned to Anthy, folding it up and dabbing at her face, hoping that the cool water would help her wake up.
"Mmmm...Miss...Miss Utena?"
Anthy's voice was very soft, but it was unmistakeable whose name she had called.
"No," said Heime. "It's me, Heime. You passed out in one of my art rooms."
Anthy's eyes fluttered opened, surprise evident in them.
"Miss Heime! Oh! Forgive me, I didn't mean to inconveniance you, Miss Heime..."
Heime let out a small laugh as Anthy sat up on the bed.
"Calm down, Anthy. You didn't ' inconveniance ' me. Don't worry about it, okay?"
She patted Anthy on the shoulder, studying her a bit. Anthy swung her legs around, sitting on the edge of the bed. She attempted to fix her mussed up hairdo, trying to put stray hairs back into the roll.
"Would you like me to fix you dinner, Miss Heime?"
Heime shook her head, sighing and taking Anthy's shoulder, turning her to look at her.
"No, Anthy. I'm making dinner tonight. It'll be be a little welcome dinner in your honor, okay?"
Chu Chu sprang up, squeaking at her in mock anger, getting a laugh out of her.
"Forgive me. In yours and Chu Chu's honor. Okay?"
Satisfied, Chu Chu scampered off to unpack his little sleeping bag. Heime smiled and turned back to Anthy.
"Okay? Just for you and Chu Chu."
Anthy paused in her task of fixing her hair, thinking a moment. Heime seemed to be treating Anthy the same way Utena treated her. She felt different, though, for some reason. In her time with Utena, Anthy had learned self will. She became less dependant of Utena, more so of herself. That feeling of being just the Rose Bride, a doll with no heart, was gone.
"Thank you...Heime. It would mean a lot to Chu Chu and I," Anthy said while smiling. Heime arched a brow in surprise but smiled at the response.
"Great," She said. "What would you like for dinner, Anthy?"
Anthy smiled. Utena was always saying that. 'what do you want for dinner?' was alway her question. Without realizing it, Anthy smiled that small, special, only-for-Utena smile.
"Tortellini in alfredo sauce with garlic bread. Lots of garlic bread."
Heime smiled her own special smile and clapped Anthy's back, got up, ready to make dinner. "You like Italian food, Anthy?"
Anthy nodded. "Yes. It's my favorite food. It's always been my favorite food, since I was little..."
"Before you were the Rose Bride? Before all this?" Asked Heime, tilting her head a bit at the sudden sad look in Anthy's eyes.
"Yes...before this. My mother made the best food for us. Father and I loved her Italian cooking. Only Big Brother didn't like it. He said that mother shouldn't be cooking the food of 'outsiders'. He said we should only cook and ear and read and do anything from our own country."
Anthy stopped, realizing something. Her brother had never said anything like that before. Not in this lifetime, anyway. It sounded like something a snobbish prince might say. Her brother may not be the best man ever, but he was not prejudiced against other countries.
"Something wrong, Anthy?"
Anthy was startled out of her thoughts by Heime's question. "What? Oh, I'm sorry. I must have been lost in my thoughts."
Heime hummed a bit while thinking before shaking her head. "Okay. I'll get started on dinner."
The dinner was splendid. The tortelini shells were hand made and hand stuff with ingrediants Heime had gotten hand picked.
"How did you get the ingrediants so fresh if they're hand picked?" Anthy asked.
Heime grinned. "My own secret, but I guess I can show you after dinner. How do you like it, by the way?"
Anthy smiled. "It's wonderful. The best i've ever had." She said, realizing again, that in her lifetime, she had never had italian food before. She understood now that the memories of her parents and her brother and the different foods was from the past. Memories of someone else, perhaps, that were somehow bein channeled through herself. That was her guess, anyway.
"Thanks. I try. Probably not as good as your mother's, but I think it's good."
Anthy was again brought out of her thoughts by the comment.
"Oh no, it's much better than my mother's," She said, letting the past memories flow through her mouth. "She was always enthusiastic about trying new foods, but she wasn't terribly good at cooking them."
Heime nodded and laughed. "I was like that when I first started cooking. I got better over time, of course, but in the beginning, I was able to burn everything. This includes water. How do you like the food, little one?" She stroked Chu Chu's head with the tip of her index finger.
Chu Chu bounced around, cheeks full, happy to have such good food in his stomach and mouth. "Fuu! Fuu!" Was what came out, as his mouth was filled to bursting with sauce and a piece of shell.
Heime laughed and held the little monkey in her hands. "Glad you like it!"
Anthy smiled, surprised at how fast Chu Chu and Heime had become friends. Utena was the only other person that Chu Chu had taken to so fast. "It seems like you've made a friend, Heime. Chu Chu is usually more shy to people because of the way Saionji would treat him."
Heime looked over at Anthy from around Chu Chu. "Hmm? Saionji? The VP of the Student Council? How did he treat him?"
"Very badly," Anthy said. "He would kick and step on Chu Chu whenever it pleased him." She looked at at Chu Chu, who had gone quiet at the mention of Saionji.
"Anthy? Why does Chu Chu have a tie just like yours?"
Heime was curious and began to pull the tie around his neck off.
"No, don't!" Anthy cried, snatching Chu Chu away and holding him close. "Please...don't touch the tie..something happened to Chu Chu because of Saionji..the tie hides it...so no one sees..."
Heime's eyes softened. "Anthy...let me see. Please?"
There was that 'please' again. It was irresistable. She hesitated a moment before pulling the tie away from Chu Chu's little neck. Heime's widened at seeing the long, harsh scar across Chu Chu's neck.
"Oh my God..." She whispered. "What the hell happened to him!" She asked, eyes locked on the scar across Chu Chu's throat. Anthy stroked Chu Chu's head and put the tie back around his neck.
"Saionji. When I first fell into the role of the Rose Bride, bcame accustomed to being owned, I had more spirit and free will. I disobeyed Saionji, and he took an old fasioned razor blade and put it to Chu Chu's throat. He knew how much I cared for Chu Chu, so he used that against me.
I did he what he told me, but not fast enough for his liking...Saionji said he would cut Chu Chu's whole head off if I didn't move faster...Chu Chu almost died..."
She trailed off, tears welling up. Heime reached out and touched Anthy's shoulder, speaking in a soft, comforting tone.
"Don't worry, Anthy. I'll talk to Saionji about this. I'll bring it up with the President of the Student Council if I have to."
Anthy sniffled. "Thank you..." She said, unaccustomed to such a kindness. Utena's kindness was loud, silly, childlike even. Heime's was comforting, quiet, gentle.
"Anytime, Anthy. Anytime. Now that we live together, I'm going to treat you with the respect you deserve. Okay?"
Anthy nodded, her special smile returning, unbidden. No matter how much she tried not to, Anthy began to like Heime. It was that same gentle caring that made Anthy beging to like Utena, before, too. She began to think about everything that she and Utena had been through, before this. All the duels, all their laughs and tears. ' Like that time that Touga won me. ' Anthy thought. Utena had cried and lost all her will. Then Wakaba had helped her realize that she needed Anthy, needed to be with Anthy. Would Utena challenge Heime to a duel later? 'Will she try to win me back?' Anthy asked herself.
It had been just today that Utena confessed her love for Anthy, and Anthy had returned the sentiment. She did love Utena. She did. One way or another, she would always love her.
"So," Heime said, "Shall I show you my secret to fresh picked ingrediants?"
Anthy nodded, a grin lighting her face. "Yes. I would like that very much."
They stood and Heime held out her hand. Anthy took it and was lead out the front door, up another flight of stairs towards the roof. Before they went out on the roof, Heime had Anthy close her eyes. Heime had a combination lock on the door, and didn't want anyone, not even Anthy, to know the code.
"Ready?" She asked. She took Anthy's hand again to lead her with her eyes still closed.
"Yes, Heime." She replied. "Good."
Heime opened the door, leading Anthy out into the cool night air, still holding her hand. Heime's hand was warm and that made Anthy smile a little. She knew that Heime wasn't the cold person she seemed to be. "Okay," she said. "Open your eyes, Anthy."
Anthy did so, and her eyes went huge.
"Heime...it's wonderful..." Anthy whispered.
The rooftop had been transformed into a garden. It was beautiful, even more so than her own rose garden. Not only did it have roses, it had trees, patches of crops, and over in the northwest corner, a patch of roses that seemed to glitter and shine. Anthy moved closer to see what made them glitter so, and was amazed again when she saw that they were all different kinds of crystal in the shapes of roses.
They were all different colors, just like the patch of real roses on the other side of the roof.
When Anthy knelt down to take a closer look at the roses, she noticed a small crystaline case tucked away in the corner. Anthy moved to see it better, and her eyebrows shot up. It was a miniature version of her birdcage rose garden.
"Heime, how long have you been here?" She asked, standing and turning to face the taller girl.
Heime turned her head from an examination of a pumpkin vine to look up at Anthy.
"Hm? Oh, about two months. The chairman let me move in and get settled before I started school."
"I see," said Anthy,
She shivered a bit, but tried to stop Heime from noticing. Didn't work. Heime noticed anyway, as was her way.
"You cold?" She asked, tilting her head.
"Just a little," Anthy answered, hugging herself now.
Heime strode over, unbuttoning her school coat and shrugged it off, revealing a tight black tank top.
"Here," she said, wrapping the warm coat around Anthy's small shoulders.
"What about you, Heime?" Anthy asked.
"I don't get cold," She said. "If it were winter and I were naked in the snow, I still wouldn't be cold."
She saw the look of sceptism on Anthy's face and the corner of her mouth turned up in a half smile.
"Trust me. I've been naked in the snow before. I wouldn't be cold."
A blush wnet to color Anthy's dark cheeks as an image of Heime naked in the snow popped into her head. A sudden warmth flared up 'downstairs' at the thought, and Anthy was confronted with confusion as to why such a thought had aroused her. 'It must be because she's attractive...' Anthy thought, another shiver running through her.
"Still cold?" Heime asked.
"No," Anthy said, turning back to her. "Not anymore, thank you."
"Anytime," Heime said in a soft tone. "Shall we go back inside, Anthy? It's getting late."
"Mmm." Anthy replied, nodding.
They went downstairs, back into their own room. It was larger than Utena's actual dorm room, as was all of West Hall, compared to East Hall. Anthy took her nightgown and went into the bathroom to change. When she came out, Heime was already laying in bed. She wore a light blue sleeper top with a high collar. It looked Chinese or Thai.
Anthy crawled under the covers next to Heime and felt her legs brush up against Heime's bare ones. 'She must not wear sleeper pants' Anthy thought as she drifted to sleep. Heime said goodnight to Anthy and Anthy mumbled it back. Then they both went off to sleep, thinking their own thoughts.