[KnM][RGU][MH] Revolutions
Revolutions – Chapter 1
A Kannazuki no Miko, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Mai Hime X-Over Fanfic
January 3, 2013 – January 11, 2013
Word Count: Approx 6,300
NOTES: The characters from Kannazuki no Miko (KnM), Revolutionary Girl Utena (RGU), and Mai Hime (MH) that appear in this fanfic do not belong to the author and are being used without permission from their owners, who include TNK for KnM, J.C. Staff for RGU, and Bandai for MH.
[MaiHime][KannaMiko][Utena] "Did you hear? Did you hear? Have you heard the news? The revolution has come and gone, and there is a new Prince to amuse!" The Hime and Miko are caught again in the eternal struggles between the Prince, the Eight Headed Demon, and the Obsidian Lord. Bonds of love and friendship are forged and tested between Chikane, Shizuru, Natsuki, Utena and others.
The main story takes place a few weeks after Mai Hime, about 15-16 years after the end of RGU, and about 15-16 years after the end of KnM.
More Author's notes follow at the end. Comments and Criticisms are greatly appreciated!
The unexpected smell of dinner told Himemiya Chikane that her mother was home early when she opened the door to their apartment. Surprised, she called out for her mother, even as she unlaced and removed her shoes. "Tadaima! Okaa-sama? Is that you?"
"Oi! Okaeri, Chikane!" The voice came first through the curtain that separated the kitchen from the main living area of the apartment, followed a couple moments afterwards by a young, ocean-blue-eyed face framed with bright pink hair pulled up in a ponytail. Tenjou Utena smiled welcomingly at her daughter. "Quick, come help me with this pot."
Putting her school-case down, Chikane hurried into the kitchen, grabbed a couple of dish clothes, and quickly took the steaming pot from her mother. "Soup for dinner?" Chikane asked.
"Soup for dinner," Utena confirmed as she left the kitchen to set up the low kotatsu table in the main living area.
Soon dinner was ready, and they sat down to eat. "You're home early today," Chikane remarked casually.
"Yeah, I managed to finish report cards a little earlier than I thought I would," Utena replied. "Where abouts were you? Library?"
"Yes," Chikane nodded, lifting her glass of water to her lips. "Using the computer."
"Ah. Still cyber-stalking that cute photographer? Kururusomething?"
Chikane almost choked on her water, causing her mother to laugh and hand her a napkin. She gave her mother a chagrined look. "Occasionally googling someone is not cyber-stalking," she replied coolly, before turning the offensive back onto her mother, hiding the smirk she felt behind her napkin. "I know what cyber-stalking is. I've seen what your students have been leaving on your wall again."
"Aaah, do I still have those privacy settings wrong?" Utena winced, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head. "Mou, Chikane, help your old woman out. I really don't want to give the school board any more ammunition. They've been giving me so much flack!"
Chikane feigned innocence. "Oh? Doesn't being named Educator-of-the-Year earn you any sort of respite?"
"Only the kind that also comes with a giant magnifying glass. Sometimes I think that award brought more trouble than opportunity." Utena sighed.
The sigh caught Chikane's attention. Her mother might be young (wasn't even 30 yet; too young for most to suspect she had a 15 year old daughter), but even that wasn't an excuse for how ridiculously young Utena routinely could pass for. Long-time acquaintances swore she hadn't aged a day since she had Chikane. More often than not, strangers thought them to be sisters (with Chikane being the older sister. That Chikane really could be construed in some ways to actually be older than her mother was beside the point).
Sometimes, however, when Utena would sigh a certain way or maybe look into the distance, Chikane could see some evidence of the years, the hard years, on her mother. Now was one of those times.
Despite the tiredness in her voice, Chikane knew her mother didn't really mean her words. Utena had all but broken her back with hard work over the last decade making betterments at the high school where she taught sports medicine and coached basketball. She had been speechless with emotion when her peers so publically acknowledged her good work.
When Chikane was a toddler, her mother had planned on joining the work force after finishing compulsory education, but Chikane convinced her to stay in school, reassuring her that she would be fine at home by herself. After all, she had said to her mother at the time, wouldn't their future would be a bit brighter if her mother was a little more employable? And wouldn't a high school diploma and maybe even a college degree after that be the best way to bring about that future?
So Utena (stirred but also a bit perturbed to be given this speech by her preschooler daughter), had grinded her way through high school and college and eventually became a teacher at a school in an underprivileged community where some of her students included young, unwed mothers like she had been as a teen. Her friendly, youthful relatability and continue-on-against-all-odds attitude became an inspiration to many of her students and she continually made huge impacts on many of the young lives who needed it most. Sometimes, those students tried to show their gratitude in ways that weren't entirely appropriate, and this gave Chikane the chance to tease her mother; Utena really wasn't as online or computer savvy as she needed to be in this day and age.
No, Chikane knew the award was a source of great pride for her mother, although it recently had brought about a situation that had lost Utena some sleep at night – the trouble her mother had alluded to.
Suddenly, Chikane had an inkling as to why her mother was home early today. Putting down her napkin and schooling her features carefully, she gave the pink haired woman her complete attention.
"... so I guess you've made a decision about that offer from Fuuka Academy?" Chikane asked softly.
Utena sighed again, her clear blue eyes downcast as she wrapped her hands around a warm cup of tea. "Yeah, I think I have."
"... and...?" Curiously, Chikane could feel her own heart beat a little faster. Her mother's decision had huge impacts on her own plans after all.
Utena continued to be silent for a moment longer, before finally looking Chikane firmly in her own blue-green irises. "Fuuka Acadamy is an amazing school, and the island is a beautiful place to live. It's got some really interesting policies and the facilities are top of the line, or will be anyway, after the reconstruction finishes. But, having said that, I just can't see myself teaching there."
Chikane held her mother's gaze for a moment longer and felt the expectation quietly drain from her limbs. She let go of a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. It took her longer than a moment, but finally, she nodded. "… I understand." She simply said, and she did.
Her mother saved lives where she worked, a beacon of hope for those who most needed it.
A Prince.
Utena couldn't do the good work she was meant to do, she was born to do, she needed to do, at Fuuka Academy, where the students were mostly from the affluent and stable. Chikane couldn't imagine an Utena who wasn't saving somebody's world every single day.
Still, she would be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed. One of the best benefits that Fuuka had for its teaching staff was that their children were accepted into the school for free, and the school was (at least until recently anyway), considered one of the best in the country. Chikane didn't sigh, though she wanted to. In her mind, Fuuka made the distance between hers and Himeko's different stations in life, somehow, a little smaller.
"I can't see myself teaching there," Utena repeated, her gaze softening, as she reached out and gently put her hand over top of her daughters. "But, I can totally see you going there. They've got a very strong arts program, and their leadership training program is revolutionary! The student council practically runs the place. It would be perfect for you."
This was likely to be true.
Chikane had been extremely multi-talented in her previous life, and having been through everything before, she found school this time around to be easy enough. Rather than lashing out in boredom, she'd quietly taken on extra tasks to the delight of her teachers, dabbling in some of the extra-curriculars she had excelled at once upon a time. In particular, her maturity meant that she quickly became roped into student government, first chosen as class rep by her teachers, and then as elected by her peers. Leadership came easily to her and she enjoyed it enough as a distraction.
Archery and piano were her true favorites. The extra lengths it took for Chikane to find ways to practice those expensive arts had only fine-tuned her appreciation for them, frustrating though it had been, having to re-develop muscle memory from scratch when her mind was already at a master's level.
There was only one art that she knew thoroughly and completely by instinct: swordsmanship.
Chikane was resigned to the fact that her soul would forever be tied to Ame no Murakumo, the God of Swords.
In this life, she had only ever picked up a sword once, during an iaido presentation at a community centre, and felt a deep familiarity with the weapon. But one look at the inexplicable horror on her mother's face, and Chikane quietly gave the weapon back to the presenter. She wasn't sure why her mother had reacted the way she had, still wasn't sure to this day, but from that point on, one thing was clear to her:
Her mother. Hated. Swords.
Shaking her head free of loose thoughts, Chikane regarded her mother with eyebrows lifted in surprise. "I can't go to Fuuka. We couldn't possibly afford that," she said softly. Though she'd mostly made peace with it, sometimes, when she remembered the luxury and downright decadence of her past life, bitterness would creep into her heart, as it threatened to do now. It was a mercy, somewhat, that over the years, the detailed memories of her prior life had fuzzed over.
But Utena only gave Chikane an enigmatic smile. Wordlessly removing her hand from atop her daughter's, she reached under the table for a package that Chikane hadn't noticed and handed it to her.
"Hai. Here you go."
Chikane stared at the package – a brown envelop with Fuuka's school crest on it. Flicking her eyes back up to her mother's mirthful ones, Chikane opened the package and scanned the cover letter quickly. Her breath caught.
"A Kazahana scholarship? But how?"
Utena smiled. "When I went out there for my interview, I might have brought your national exam results with me, as well as copies of five or six of those high schools pre-acceptance letters. Their student aid department couldn't think of a better candidate for that scholarship."
Chikane was momentarily stunned. One by one, the obstacles in front of her were dissipating. There was only one left; the biggest one. Her brow crinkled. "But I'll be so far away from you."
Utena had come a very long way from the days when suicidal thoughts plagued her, though Chikane could still remember some of those scary nights. But there were no traces of the demons that her mother once dealt with now; Utena's ocean blue eyes shone with love and pride. "I'll have Chu-Chu. And you'll be back for the holidays, right?"
As if summoned by her name, a small mouse-sized purple-grey monkey jumped up on the table from somewhere, giving Chikane a small 'chu!' in greeting and then diving face first into the remains of dinner in Utena's bowl. Chikane barely even noticed her, accustomed as she was to her antics and ability to seemingly burst into existence from out of nowhere.
Quietly putting the package back on the table, Chikane got up, walked over to the other side of the low table where Utena was sitting, and gave her mother a tight hug from behind.
Chikane couldn't help but feel her heart soar. If she could get to Fuuka, such a prestigious school, and do well there, she would be just that much closer to being ready for Himeko.
"Mai! Maaai!" Minagi Mikoto burst into her dorm room on all fours, an expression of half proud and half crazed excitement clear on her face. "Look! Look, look, look!"
"Hmm? What is it, Mikoto?" Despite the abruptness of the entrance, apron clad Tokiha Mai wasn't even fazed enough to turn fully towards the door. Standing at the stove in the kitchen of their studio style dorm room and continuing to stir the pot of lunch she was working on, she only casually half glanced over her shoulder. What she saw prompted her eyebrows to arch as the surprise utterly missing in her before finally appeared on her face. Putting her chopsticks down and wiping her hands, Mai smiled broadly as she gave the small girl her full attention. "Eeeeh! That uniform looks good on you, Mikoto! You look so grown up!"
The black haired wild child beamed, standing up on her (hind) legs and spinning around with her arms outstretched to the sides, causing the grey pleated skirt of Fuuka High School's girl's uniform to twirl around her thighs. Fuuka High's trademark orange gold blazer was tailored to Mikoto's small torso (not a very smart idea, in Mai's opinion, as there was still a slim chance that the small girl could grow, unlikely though that was) and the girls' red bow was also knotted primly around Mikoto's neck just under the collar of her white dress shirt. Mai gave the accessory maybe 15 more minutes before it was accidentally lost or purposefully discarded.
Seeing Mikoto standing before her caused Mai's heart to tighten strangely in her chest.
Mikoto was in high school now, she realized with not a small measure of wonder and worry. There definitely had to be some sort of shadowy power still at work that enabled Mikoto to pass the ninth grade, but since those powers seemed to be on their side, Mai decided not to worry too much about it. With the conclusion of the Hime Star Festival, the pretense that got Mai and her brother Takumi the Kazahana scholarship to attend Fuuka in the first place was no longer in effect. For a while, Mai wondered if they'd be kicked out, but Director Himeno Fumi had assured the Tokiha siblings that their scholarship would see the both of them through high school graduation.
"Heeeh. Well look at you, Mikoto," came an amused voice from the door. "You actually look more like a normal girl than a wild animal for once. Almost even respectable!"
Mai and Mikoto looked up and saw their other roommate, Kuga Natsuki, smirking at them from the door Mikoto had all but kicked in.
Mai couldn't help but notice that Natsuki's smirk was noticeably nicer than it used to be when they had first met. Given everything they'd gone through together, the three had become close friends, with Natsuki even moving in with Mai and Mikoto for several weeks while Fuuka Academy and its dorms (and parts of Fuuka Town, for that matter) were being rebuilt in the aftermath of the Hime Star Festival. The dark haired biker's presence in their dorm room had been much more welcome than not by Mai. She appreciated all those times Natsuki had 'babysat' Mikoto, allowing Mai time to spend with Tate Yuuichi (and on a couple of rare occasions, Kanzaki Reito too). She'd miss Natsuki when she moved out, but maybe she could still convince her to babysit, assuming the biker's new roommate wasn't going to be as much of a handful as Mikoto.
Not catching the backhandedness of that compliment, Mikoto only 'umphed!' happily with Natsuki's assessment, putting her hands on her hips. Mai caught it though, and laughed. "Hey, at least she wears the full uniform like a respectable girl, unlike some hoody wearing truants who live here! You're lucky you're not actually repeating the 10th grade alongside Mikoto, Natsuki."
The dark haired girl cringed dramatically; it was always so easy to press her buttons. "Stop reminding me. I just got out of my last makeup lesson. I can't believe I had to spent almost all of spring break in remedial!"
Turning back towards the kitchen, Mai grabbed some bowls from the cupboard. "Well, you both got back with perfect timing; I just finished making lunch."
"Ramen?" Mikoto cried hopefully, stars and hearts in her eyes.
"Your very favourite," the red headed chef affirmed.
The three sat down at the coffee table, Mikoto digging in before the bowl had even met the table surface while Mai tossed Natsuki a familiar bottle of white condiment before the long haired girl could ask for it. Natsuki sighed happily as she doused her ramen with a (not-so) healthy amount of mayo. "Aw man, excellent food and great service. I'm gonna miss living here!" There was more than a hint of wistfulness in her voice.
"Well, there's some things I won't be missing," Mai replied, grinning. "Three of us in this tiny space was a bit much, even if Mikoto doesn't sleep in her own bed. I'm so glad they've finished with the repairs to the girls' dormitories. If I had to share this bathroom with you one more semester...!" She trailed off. There'd be bloodshed! "Who'd have thought that Kuga Natsuki was such a princess in the morning?"
Natsuki's face colored a bright red, as Mai knew it would. While she sputtered for a retort, Mai continued, her grin now a kinder smile. "But, anyway, since you're only moving a couple floors up, you can just drop by for food whenever. Ahhh, but bring money; I can't afford a freeloader."
Her face still somewhat pink, Natsuki stopped trying to come up with a retort and merely gave the redhead a grumpy look. Her mood greatly improved as they ate though, and soon lunch was over. The three friends sat back with happy full stomachs.
"Don't blame me when I take you up on your offer. That really hit the spot," Natsuki sighed before becoming silent, satiated.
Mikoto, also finished with her meal, promptly curled up like a cat, resting her head on Mai's lap, and went to sleep. Mai noted absently that the red bow formerly around the girl's neck was, true to expectation, gone. Stroking the top of Mikoto's head absently, Mai looked over at Natsuki and noticed that the long haired girl was looking about the room they shared with a pensive, thoughtful expression on her face. It was an expression Mai wouldn't have thought Natsuki was capable of once upon a time, until their friendship had deepened. Natsuki always tried to hide any hints of delicacy and vulnerability; that she could now let her guard down enough to not even think to hide this particular face anymore suggested to Mai that Natsuki's comments had less to do with lunch, and more as commentary over her last several weeks in Mai & Mikoto's company.
Natsuki had spent so many years of her life caught up in the conspiracy of the Hime Star that she was a bit lost as to what to do with herself now that she was a normal girl like everyone else. Mai & Mikoto's place had turned out to be the safest, most nurturing place for her to figure that out, for all the complex and heavy personal issues the red head and the wild child had of their own. Between Mai's motherly nature, and Mikoto's antics, some semblance of the day-to-day normalcy and laughter most high school students took for granted had started to grow roots in Natsuki's heart.
There was really only one other place Natsuki might have stayed the last few weeks that could have potentially been better and healthier for her in the long run, but she really hadn't been ready for the consequences of moving in with Fujino Shizuru, as she had eventually been able to confide in Mai.
Mai couldn't help but worry for her friend on that front. While the frightful side of President Fujino that had reared its terrifying head during the Festival was conspicuously absent these days, Mai wasn't sure if that was because that side had been driven out entirely or simply hidden itself. And, for all that Natsuki had vehemently defended Shizuru when the President had come up in recent conversation amongst the former Hime, Mai was sure that not even Natsuki herself was entirely sure what to make of Shizuru...
Still, in Mai's heart of hearts, she wasn't really able to hold it all against the other girl. They'd all done some things they wanted to take back, and Shizuru was still undoubtedly held in high regard by the person who's regard mattered the most. Besides, the President hadn't actually done anything against Mai herself, and anyone who was working as hard as Shizuru was to rebuild the school couldn't be all bad, right?
"So when do you have to move into your new room?" Mai asked softly. It was probably better to focus on the future than dwell on the past at this point.
Her question prompted Natsuki to close her eyes, and for a moment, there was an expression of regret-tinged nostalgia on the pretty girl's face before she opened her eyes again and shrugged with disinterest Mai knew to be feigned. "Whenever. But, probably, before the new semester starts."
"There's still a couple of days, then. The move shouldn't be too bad; you don't have too much stuff. Well, except for your lingerie collection." Mai giggled. "How do you intend to explain that one to your new roommate? Honestly, Natsuki, if you're luck, she'll just think it's ridiculous. If you're not lucky, you'll be branded a complete perv."
Natsuki threatened to turn pink again. (She's just so easy, Mai thought). "Well, if she knows what's good for her, she'll stay out of my business," the long haired girl replied gruffly. "I'm her senior, and she's my underclassman, after all."
"That might be hard when your 'business' overflows from all the drawer and closet space." Mai enjoyed another chuckle at Natsuki's expense. "So do you know who it's gonna be yet?"
"Yeah, she's a tenth grader not coming up through Fuuka's junior high. She's got a weird name. Himemiya Anty or Anthy or something like that."
Fujino Shizuru, outgoing Student Council President of Fuuka Academy, knocked on the door of Director Himeno Fumi's office and opened it when she heard the Director bid her come in. Despite her holding the office for several weeks now, it was still a little jarring for Shizuru to see Fumi in business attire rather than a maid uniform, and Shizuru wondered, not for the first time, when she would become accustomed to seeing Fumi holding the reigns rather than Kazahana Mashiro.
Director Himeno had faced not a small amount of challenge when she had stepped up. For all that she looked like an 11 year old girl, Director Kazahana was a respected figure in Fuuka's business and conference board rooms, while Himeno Fumi had maintained a public façade of being but her simple maid. As it turned out, Himeno Fumi was an even better "public servant" than she was a personal servant (which was really saying something). Where Fuuka should have completely folded between the physical devastation to the school and the financial constraints it had suffered due to the pulling of the SEARS Foundation's support while the First District was still roiled in utter chaos, somehow, the school was still standing, its operations still running and its students and staff none the wiser as to just how close things had gotten to really bad.
That 'somehow' was actually due in not-a-small-part to Director Himeno knowing to tap Shizuru for help. As the outgoing Student Council President, it would have been understandable to all if Shizuru had wiped her hands clean of the debacle and let the new student council handle it.
Instead, the Student Council President and Vice President had pushed up their sleeves and tackled the school's problems head on with such solemn responsibility that even Suzushiro Haruka could not find fault with them, and she'd thought them nothing but tea-drinking slackers since the beginning of her tenure. The indomitable blond had remarked that it was a pity her peers hadn't applied themselves so completely and devotedly from the beginning; maybe such misfortune wouldn't have even befallen Fuuka in the first place! Shizuru and Reito had shared an awkward look when Haruka had said this; Haruka hadn't known just how deeply her casual remark had cut them, for each was keenly aware just how much of Fuuka's dire constraints were caused by their direct actions alone during the Festival.
It was a debt neither thought they could ever repay, though they had to try. Shizuru had it worse than Reito. He had barely been in control of his own actions, his mind so dominated by the Obsidian Lord. She could not quite claim the same for herself.
In a way, Shizuru was glad that the sheer mountain of work to do was so massive that even she had had to resort to using concealer for the dark circles under her eyes. She'd had so little sleep in the last few weeks that her mind was mostly mush by the end of the day, incapable of higher thought. The few times she saw Natsuki, she was so tired and out-of-it that sleep-addled giddiness and old habits kicked in and she reverted to the role of so-over-the-top-flirty-and-touchy-she-had-to-be-joking-and-therefore-harmless friend. The look Natsuki had given her the first time this happened was multifaceted – confusion, exasperation, disappointment, relief – there had been so many emotions warring on her face. Ultimately, though, Natsuki had settled on being exasperated, had sputtered out an admonishing, "S-Shizuru!" and only the crimson-eyed girl herself had noticed the relief evident in the exasperation.
Her silliness had given them a welcome reprieve from actually having to deal with what was between them, though it was clear to both that the other knew that this was temporary. They'd have to deal with it eventually – the sooner the better. After this deal, Shizuru promised herself, we'll talk. We'll really talk. After this deal.
"Ah, Fujino-san, thank you for coming." Director Himeno gave Shizuru a friendly smile as she came out from behind her impressive mahogany desk filled with papers and grabbed her purse from a lavish coatrack. She calmly walked over to Shizuru, her heels making no sound against the lush carpets. "Ready to go?"
"I am," Shizuru replied.
After she had helped to contract Suzushiro Construction to the physical rebuilding of Fuuka at a ridiculously low bid (Haruka herself still hadn't realized that it hadn't actually been her family's idea to be so generous), Director Himeno had then asked Shizuru to help secure one last final replacement investor for the school. While Fuuka could not be quite as frivolous as when SEARS wrote the cheques, with one more investor, things would likely go as far back to 'normal' as it ever would.
The two took a little bit of time to walk over to Fuuka University. While the sprawling University grounds were still a part of Fuuka Acadamy, it was a bit further away from where the administration, high school, junior high and primary schools and dormitories were clustered.
They were due to meet one Arisugawa Juri in one of the fitness facilities at Fuuka University.
The Arisugawa zaibatsu had been an unusual conglomerate to approach as a potential investor for Fuuka, but through meticulous research and inspired analysis, Shizuru had realized that the company was actually poised to become a player in the business of private education and that the person most likely to sign on the dotted line was actually the second daughter of the illustrious clan as opposed to the current clan leaders or named successor.
Arisugawa Juri, now in her early thirties, had brought national pride to Japan when she won bronze and then silver in fencing in back-to-back Olympics a few years ago. She was also a semi-retired but still known fashion model whom had helped popularize the attractiveness of healthy athletic women over the skeleton drug-addict look that had previously dominated Europe's runways. As a part owner in a label helmed by fashion world darling Daidouji Tomoyo, Juri had also experienced a little bit of business success as well.
None of this would have made Arisugawa Juri a likely candidate to invest in Fuuka Academy save for Shizuru's deeper analysis which led her to deduce that based on Juri's personality and temperament, there was no way a mere silver metal would satisfy the woman as a legacy.
They found Juri on the second level of Fuuka University's main gym where the running track was, leaning on the railing and looking down at the hardwood courts beneath her. Her orange hair was curled but unbound, and she wore large sunglasses that hid most of her face. Her stylish blazer had a distinctly militaristic flair about it and she noticed when Shizuru and Director Himeno approached her.
"Arisugawa-dono, welcome to Fuuka Academy," Fumi said warmly, bowing respectfully. "It's a pleasure to see you again."
"Ah, gokigenyou, Director Himeno. Thank you for indulging me in my request." Straightening up and taking her sunglasses off, she nodded politely to Fumi in greeting but her sharp marine eyes remained on Shizuru's ruby hued ones.
"Not at all, we are very pleased that you would want to come see the campus personally," Fumi replied smoothly. "After all, we are hoping that you will be spending a lot of time here. I thought it might be a good idea to introduce our Student Council President of Fuuka High School to you. This is Fujino Shizuru – one of the key administrators of Fuuka's High School. We're lucky that she's decided to attend Fuuka University when the new semester starts; hopefully she'll agree to pop back over periodically and impart her wisdom on the new student council."
Shizuru smiled pleasantly as she bowed respectfully to the older woman, all the time catching the appraising glint in Juri's eyes and feeling amused and maybe even a little flattered by the nature of that appraisal; Juri had come out in the public eye a couple years back, an unusual but not entirely unexpected announcement to most who knew her. "It's nice to meet you, Arisugawa-sama."
"You as well, Fujino-kun," Juri replied, smiling. "I understand from Director Himeno that you were very involved in this entire process. It's unusual to see one so young so capable." She smirked. "I too was on the student council in my high school days, but I seem to recall spending most of our time messing around and playing cruel games on each other."
"Fuuka's philosophy allows its students to be all that they want to be," Shizuru responded evenly. "We are run by the students, for the students, after all. To have that freedom means to shoulder that responsibility and Fuuka is an attractively safe environment for one to learn the ropes."
"Yes, and such a philosophy certainly will attract the type of student I am most interested in. The bold. The best." Juri remarked. She looked down at the gym where several games of volleyball were in session. "I have hope that I can train a successor here, someone to claim gold for Japan where I failed to."
And with those words, Shizuru traded a discrete glance with Fumi, feeling satisfaction warm her belly. After receiving and contemplating the proposal, Juri had returned it with a note that she could potentially be interested if Fuuka could meet a few very key and specific demands; one was a seat on the board of directors; two was that she be able to implement a fencing program from which children in primary school through university were able to join. All of this was contingent on Juri finding the training facilities up to her standards.
The three women spent the next several hours touring the various facilities across Fuuka Acadamy's lands, but from the fencing champion's early words, Shizuru was quite sure that the school had indeed proven up to snuff. There were only formalities left now.
Finally, Shizuru thought, now I'll be able to spend some time with Natsuki.
The thought filled her with anticipation and nervousness.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
That Utena might have been with child when she left Ohtori is an idea I remember explored by a couple different authors in a couple of different fics before KannaMiko and MaiHime came out, so the idea that Chikane could be her child – a mixture of heroic and despotic characteristics she inherited from parents not entirely human, was an idea that's been with me from the first time I watched the end of KannaMiko. This became the basic idea for an earlier fic of mine called Prince, but it was too ambitious an idea for me at the time to complete. Hopefully, I've got a bit more life under my belt now to pull this off. :)
Daidouji Tomoyo is from Card Captor Sakura, who will be mentioned here or there but won't be a big part of this fic. That Tomoyo might be acquaintances with Juri was from another set of crack fics I once wrote similar in setup but completely different in theme and feel from Revolutions.
Also, Guubear and I apparently have very different definitions of cyberstalking. ^_^;;
Cheers,
jen-chan
jen-chan-shaw. livejournal. com
OMAKE I: Damn it Google! You've betrayed me!
UTENA: Chikane, sweetheart, we need to talk.
CHIKANE: Sure, what's up, Mom?
UTENA: Now, please don't get angry, I wasn't trying to spy on you or anything, but today by complete accident, I discovered how to look up internet search histories, and, um, I'm a bit worried.
CHIKANE: [Massively sweatdropping] Uh-oh.
UTENA: Sweetie, this obsession you have really isn't healthy and what you're doing is harassment. You could get in a lot of trouble if that young woman decides to go to the legal system. What's going on?
CHIKANE: ... I'm really sorry, Mom, but I'm going to be sharing fic-space with Fujino Shizuru soon, and I really wanted to maintain some sort of an edge over her. I mean, I only won that first Sai-Yuri popularity contest over her by a very slim margin, and now this fic's being posted on the MH board rather than the KnM board and I just really couldn't stand it if that bubuzuke-onna let that go straight to her head.
UTENA: [Sighs] Honestly, Chikane, I think it might have been healthier when you were just obsessing over Himeko...
OMAKE II: Aging not-so-gracefully
[JURI and UTENA are sitting at a coffee table. JURI is absolutely glowering at UTENA]
JURI: Damn it, this isn't fair.
UTENA: [Sweatdrops] Oh? Whatever do you mean?
JURI: [Slams both hands on the table] Look, we're both supposed to be a lot older than the main cast is; why have YOU not aged a day?!
UTENA: [Sweatdrops multiply]. Aaah, I think that's supposed to be a plot point. But, if it makes you feel any better, Juri-sempai, you could have passed for 30 when you were 16. I mean, really, your taste in jewelry and formal wear was really... uh... old school.
JURI: [Hangs her head] You are not helping.
OMAKE III: Company's A-Coming!
[The entire MAI HIME cast is holding onto brooms and mops and buckets and frantically cleaning every single piece of the scenery.]
NATSUKI: [Polishing a statue of MASHIRO] Mou! I have had enough of this [Throws towel down] Why the hell do we have to make everything so sparkling clean anyway? I hate cleaning!
SHIZURU: [With deep circles under her eyes] Natsuki! Quickly! Pick up your broom! Before Fumi sees you!
[It is too late. A massive monster of PINK HAIRED DOOM appears and gets right up in NATSUKI'S FACE.]
FUMI: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, KUGA-SAN! GET BACK TO WORK!
NATSUKI: Ahh! [Hurriedly picks up her towel and continues polishing] Okay, okay! [FUMI goes away] Geez, what's her problem?
SHIZURU: Fumi's been a bit on edge since Fuuka is going to be hosting visitors from two other high profile yuri series. She really doesn't want to be embarrassed, and with her background as a maid, everything's got to be spick and span. Why do you think I've been so busy lately? The Student Council's been on cleaning duty for weeks!