[KnM][RGU][MH] Revolutions

Revolutions – Chapter 2

A Kannazuki no Miko, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Mai Hime X-Over Fanfic

January 8, 2013 – January 19, 2013

Word Count: Approx 6,200

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!

*FIFTEEN YEARS AGO*

A broken Prince walked up to a large barrier where the Demon of Despair he had vanquished many lifetimes ago was sealed. Large chains and paper wards with potent seals on them ensured that the Eight-Headed Demon remained bound, once again, in obedience. It had experienced a brief taste of freedom recently, too brief a taste, before It was bound by chain and ward once again, as It had been for so many years now, passing by the time in silent, scheming slumber and madness. It cracked open a single glowing eye on one of Its many heads as the broken Prince approached. His reflection, tall and erect, wearing the whitest of fine suits, was distorted in the Demon's eyes, His dark hands and face now the deepest of black voids. The Demon noticed that the sparkle of gallantry that once made Him blinding to all who beheld Him was conspicuously absent. The Demon closed Its eye once again.

"The years have not been kind to you, Prince." It intoned, though Its monstrous mouth never moved, nor any noise uttered from Its tongue. There was regret in Its voice, sincere regret, at seeing the pitiful form that Its old nemesis now held.

"I have a proposition for you," replied He, with no greeting save for the false smile that seemed to perpetually light His face these days. His tone was gamely, and He leaned against a nonexistent support in front of the bound Demon casually, as though settling in for a friendly chat.

"A proposition?" The Demon echoed, snorting dispassionately. "I believe the term you are looking for, is 'a favor'. Even I felt the revolution pass, from all the way down here, and it has left you behind. What are you now? Nothing but a ghost, nothing but a shell. You are empty, and I have felt your despair take over you. You belong to me now."

"And you are disappointed."

The Demon did not dignify the statement with an immediate reply. "How many millennia has it been since you first sealed me here? How many times have I battled you since, Ame no Murakumo? This time... this time, I would have crushed you! Crushed the archetypal Prince, and all that he stood for! But I never got the chance now, did I, for a mere slip of a girl has stolen the pleasure from me. She has left you but a husk, already mine. You are no longer the Prince. You are nothing, and so you belong to me."

"... will you seek vengeance against the one who robbed you?"

The Demon gave a short bark of harsh laughter. "Oh, make no mistake. When I am free again, I will drown her in despair, along with the rest of the world. I may have underestimated her this time, but not next time, no. Into me, I will seep the one who opened the Gate to the Prince. I will prove that the darkness of my despair cannot be won against. I will destroy her. I will pluck her limbs apart, one by one, and scatter them over the four corners of the earth. I will savor her screams, and grind her bones between my teeth... but she will not bring me satisfaction. For though she may be the one to inherit the title of Prince, she is not you."

The Demon stopped speaking, simmering, seething as It regarded Him, this pitiful once-Prince who could not even hold onto His own stature long enough to give It the satisfaction of crushing Him.

"She carries my child." The Prince, the Hero, the Savior - He had known so many names - could not help but smile once more, though this one was markedly more sincere, and nasty, than all His previous. He felt genuinely pleased with the Demon's reaction of stunned silence. Confidence, that which had eluded Him for so long that it felt slightly uncomfortable (though He did not let the Demon know that), dared Him to continue speaking. "A baby girl, borne of two princes. Pure. Innocent. She is me - my blood, my flesh. She is all that is left of me."

He walked back and forth in front of the Demon as He spoke, as though His physical steps would allow His words to resonate more clearly. Now, He neatly clicked His heels together, and turned to regard the Demon once more. His eyes were half hooded, sly, challenging.

"... could you break her?"

"Of course I could break her," the Demon sneered again. "In the end, there will be only me, for I break everyone! Even those damnable Miko. Even you, if not for that blasted Witch, even you would have broken before me!"

He smiled coyly. "You couldn't break the Lunar Priestess."

The Demon smoldered in impotent fury at the trite comment. "Do not be mistaken," It said, slowly, dangerously. "The Miko of the Moon was mine, through and through. She was broken. It was simply that the Miko of the Sun put her back together again."

"That seems like splitting hairs to me," He chuckled at the Demon's expense while It glowered. "Mah, mah, calm down. I don't mean to insult you. In any case, would it give you satisfaction? To destroy my line? To destroy all that remains of me?"

There was silence for a moment. Finally, the Demon rumbled, "at this point, it would have to suffice."

His smile broadened. "Well then, allow me to repeat myself: 'I have a proposition for you.'"

The ground vibrated with the Demon's annoyance, but Its attention was gained. "Fine. Speak then, Prince- no, to barter with me, you are not the Prince anymore. What do you call yourself these days?"

He paused for a moment as He considered this. Finally, He chuckled. "I suppose you may call me, the End of the World."

"Shizuru! What are you doing here?" Natsuki was surprised and pleased when the ruby eyed older girl showed up at her door (well, Mai & Mikoto's door, really). It was her moving day and she hadn't expected Shizuru to show up at all, knowing how busy the student council President was.

"My meetings finished so I came to help, of course," Shizuru replied easily enough with a ready smile.

Natsuki opened and closed her mouth a couple of times to come up with some reasons to excuse the other girl but found that she couldn't find any. Instead, she looked down at Shizuru's attire dubiously. In direct contrast to the old jeans and t-shirt Natsuki had on, the other girl was still in her uniform, skirt, and bone-white blazer. It was pretty obvious Shizuru had come straight from her meetings. "You didn't have to," Natsuki said softly, not quite succeeding in hiding the appreciation from her voice. "Come on, I'll grab you an old shirt or something."

They went deeper into the dorm room where Mai and Mikoto were busily taping up a few last boxes. The red head and wild child greeted Shizuru when she entered and Natsuki fished an old sweater out from one of the boxes so Shizuru could put something on over her school clothes. Shizuru took the offered sweater and happily inhaled its scent (much to Natsuki's embarrassment and Mai's chortling) before doffing her blazer.

It took them several short trips, but soon they got Natsuki's stuff to her new dorm room two floors up from Mai & Mikoto's where they started to help her unpack as well, at least, until Mikoto's antics got her and Mai booted out.

"Hahahaha! Mai! Look!" Inevitably, Mikoto had made it into Natsuki's lingerie collection and was sitting in a pool of her underwear with lacy things dangling from every possible limb, the box they'd been stored in emptied over her head. Natsuki's left eyebrow began to twitch spastically, and she was about to go give Mikoto a whollop but Shizuru beat her to the smaller girl.

Rather than reprimanding the wild child however, Shizuru simply picked the white and baby-blue laced push-up off of one of Mikoto's's ears and gazed at it fondly. "Ara, Natsuki! Do you remember this one? I haven't seen it in so long!" Her ruby eyes glinted playfully. "You never wear half of the things you buy. Come now, give us a show-!"

"Aaah, that's it, I can finish the rest of the unpacking!" Practically swiping the bra out of Shizuru's fingers, Natsuki harrumphed mightily, cutting off the rest of Shizuru's request before anyone else could chime in. Picking Mikoto up by the scruff of her neck in her other hand, Natsuki escorted the small girl to the front door. "Out!"

"Aaah, hai, we'll catch up with you later." Laughing, Mai accepted Mikoto from Natsuki like a kitten, still by the scruff of her neck. Her eyes darted towards where Shizuru was standing quickly before she looked back at Natsuki and gave her a wink as she left.

That wink brought a bit of heat to Natsuki's cheeks as she could almost feel words of encouragement coming from it: Good luck! Silently staying by the open front door, Natsuki felt slightly off balance as she realized that this was going to be one of the very few times she'd been alone with Shizuru ever since... since the festival.

Really? Has it been that long? Natsuki had a hard time believing it. Surely she'd been alone with Shizuru since the craziness, hadn't she? But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that between Shizuru's work and her make up lessons, they really hadn't seen each other very much at all. When they had, they'd been in the company of the other former Hime during karaoke, or with Sakamoto-sensei that other time. Once, Shizuru had tried to come by later at night to help Natsuki with her studies, but she had been so exhausted that she had soon fallen asleep instead.

Natsuki felt her heart speed up a little bit and she cautiously looked over her shoulder at Shizuru. The chestnut haired girl was busy piling a bunch of Natsuki's shirts together to put into a drawer with a quiet but obvious fondness in her actions. As she was doing so, Natsuki thought there was something different about the Shizuru in front of her from the Shizuru in her memory.

She's tired, Natsuki realized after a moment. Are those bags under her eyes? She's really been running around a lot the last few weeks. Natsuki couldn't help but feel her heart squeeze a little – with guilt, with joy, she wasn't sure, and worse yet, wasn't sure why she felt that way – that despite how worn out Shizuru must have been, as soon as she had a moment's downtime, she came to see her.

Sensing that she was being watched, Shizuru looked over at Natsuki and cocked her head to the side. "Ara, did Natsuki mean for me to leave as well?" She asked, walking over to her.

Natsuki's face got a little warmer. "N-no," she said quickly. "You can stay, Shizuru." She paused. "Um, that is, I'd like it if you stayed."

Shizuru's smile deepened, even as the amused twinkling in her eyes softened. Wordlessly, she walked right up to Natsuki, causing the dark haired girl to take one step back, and then lean in towards her. Natsuki's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected boldness of the other girl's actions as their faces hovered close to each other.

And then Shizuru's lips parted, turning her knowing smile into a triumphant grin as Natsuki felt the undergarment she'd still been holding in one hand gently taken away from her. Shizuru leaned back and held the bra up in front of Natsuki's nose. "Ara, so Natsuki really will model this cute set for me?"

The dark haired girl blinked twice in incomprehension before her face twisted into one of embarrassment. Quickly swiping her bra back, she sniffed icily as she stalked around Shizuru. "Mou, I can't believe you sometimes, Shizuru. If you're gonna be a pain, then you can leave too."

"Aaah, then in that case, I promise to be good." Shizuru chuckled as she followed after Natsuki, picking up another discarded piece of underwear. She looked at them with a chuckle and stretched the low-rise pink cotton-lace T-back panties in between her two index fingers, holding them up in front of her face. "Well, for now anyway."

Feeling a bulging aneurysm about her temple, Natsuki grit her teeth as she narrowed her eyes at Shizuru dangerously, summoning every ounce of self-control she could to not fall for the taunt. But then Shizuru wiggled her fingers back and forth, making the panties dance a sexy jiggle, and whatever self-control Natsuki had mustered went flying out a nearby window.

With what could almost be termed a war cry, Natsuki pounced at Shizuru for the liberty of her (very private) property, but the older girl was able to simply sidestep the attack. She wasn't able to avoid Natsuki's unexpected follow up however, as the dark haired girl lashed a leg around and tripped the upright girl down onto the floor.

Amidst shrieks and cries of laughter and torture, they tried to wrestle the other to the ground to claim the prize. Natsuki almost won too, until Shizuru started fighting dirty, her fingers going for Natuki's most ticklish areas. Natsuki tried valiantly to escape, but it was a lost cause, her body pinned under Shizuru's own.

"St-! Stop! HIII! Hhaha! Stop it! Shiruzu!" Natsuki cried, gasping for her breath, even as she laughed. "Alright! You win, I give! I give!"

Hearing the dark haired girl's surrender, Shizuru gradually stopped her attacks, though she still held Natsuki's wrists down, mindful of the possibility of sneak retribution. Her eyes danced with mischief as she looked down at Natsuki beneath her, and Natsuki smiled as she looked back up at the older girl, her wounded pride soothed by the fact that at least now Shizuru looked a little less tired from before.

That's better, Natsuki wanted to say, even opened her mouth to say, but a startled sound interrupted her.

"Oh."

Both Natsuki and Shizuru blinked. It took them a moment to realize that neither had made the sound. Looking towards the source of the sound, they saw a pretty girl with long blue-black hair standing in the still-open doorway with wide, wide blue-green eyes. She was wearing a jacket and collared shirt and a knee length skirt with a large duffle bag on one shoulder. Her other hand pulled a rolling luggage behind her.

Very slowly, she turned her head to look at the numbers on the front of the door, as if to confirm that they were the right ones, before equally slowly turning her back to look at Shizuru still straddling Natsuki on the floor amidst an explosion of undergarments all over the place. As she blinked a couple more times at the two girls on the floor, Natsuki felt her entire body threaten to spontaneously combust.

"Hmm. Well now. I appear to be interrupting. Forgive me. I'll come back later." With the driest voice Natsuki had heard in recent memory, the pretty girl gave a quick bow of apology and stepped back into the hallway, closing the door behind her with a firm click.

Natsuki and Shizuru stared at the now closed door for a moment longer before turning to look back at one another.

"Who was that?" Shizuru asked.

Oh. My. God. "I think," Natsuki swallowed, twitching spastically in an effort to keep the embarrassment running rampant through her veins from popping every single last one of her blood vessels, "that was supposed to be my roommate."

"Oh." Shizuru considered this. Seeing that her skirt had flipped up around her waist at some point during their play, she flipped it back down as casually as possible. "She's pretty."

Something inside her broke and Mt. Natsuki erupted. She wished she had a handy halisen or giant mallet or something. "Is that really all you can say?!"

Chikane stared at the wooden door she had just closed and stared at the numbers affixed to it one more time to make sure that this, indeed, was supposed to be her room for her next three years in High School.

It was.

She frowned as she tried to remember her first time through highschool. Were high school students really so... open... these days? Then she remembered some of her mother's students' behavior. They probably are. She certainly didn't remember high school being like that at Ototachibana Acadamy, but she'd lived at home that life, rather than in the dorms. Suddenly, thoughts of what Himeko and her roommate (what was her name? Saotome? Saotome Makoto. Right) might have been up to when they had shared a room entered into her mind's eye, and Chikane's heart clenched a little bit with jealousy.

Stop it, you're being silly. She scowled herself as she turned away, willing the slight blush on her cheeks to die down. Studying the skies for a moment as she pondered what to do, she put her heavy duffle bag on top of her rolling suitcase and then stuck her hands in her pockets as she thought about where she could go for the next little while. Would an hour be enough time? Two? Surely they wouldn't last all day?

Maybe she could go to the library and use one of the computers. Himeko hasn't involved with anything newsworthy lately, not even on the most obsessive fashion blogs, but one never really knew what things could turn up.

Just as she was about to go, her dorm room door opened, and a tall, chestnut haired girl with ruby eyes looked out at her. Chikane recognized her as the 'one on top' from a moment ago. Her eyes flickered past the girl into the room, and Chikane could see the other girl (the bottom) was frantically throwing her weight against a closet door that looked like it wanted to explode. None of the underwear previously littered across the room was in sight.

"Ara, sorry about that," the chestnut haired girl said cheerfully. "You must be Natsuki's roommate? Don't go, we were just playing around. Please, come in. After all, this is your room too now." She smiled winningly.

Her hair's the same color as Himeko's, Chikane noted absently. And judging from her accent, she's from Kyoto. For someone who's just been walked in on, she's remarkably composed. Quickly scanning the girl over, she noted that she seemed a little familiar, though off the top of her head, she couldn't quite place her. From the casual way she was able to project complete ease and confidence in a situation which should have instead prompted humility, Chikane decided that this person might be someone of significance to Fuuka Academy, and that she had best be polite and respectful to her. Remembering her manners, Chikane returned the smile, bowing politely. "In that case, if you're sure about that, then please excuse me." Grabbing her things, she walked into the room while the chestnut haired girl closed the door behind her.

Seeming to have the closet under control, the other dark haired girl slowly backed away from it, eyeing it pleadingly. The closet rumbled ominously, but held for now. Satisfied, she then turned to face Chikane and offered her a half-cringe, half-smile.

Hmm, Chikane noted. This one feels embarrassment.

"Hey. I'm Kuga Natsuki. Second year. You must be Himemiya Anthy, right?"

Chikane bowed lightly in greeting. "Yes, I'm Himemiya Anthy, first year. Nice to meet you, Kuga-sempai."

"Ah, Natsuki is fine," Natsuki replied quickly.

Chikane thought about this for a moment. Given the circumstances she had first met her upperclassman, maybe it would be better to dispense with formalities. "Well then, Natsuki-sempai, please, call me Chikane." She expected the confused expression her senior gave her and smiled in explanation, "yes, I know, it's strange, but while Anthy is my first name on paper, I've never gone by it, ever. Please, I'd much prefer Chikane."

Natsuki traded a quick look with the chestnut haired girl (a look Chikane did not miss), and then shrugged. "Um. Okay, if that's what you want, Chikane."

Chikane looked over at the chestnut haired girl expectantly who was still smiling serenely. "Ara, where are my manners. My name is Fujino Shizuru. I graduated from Fuuka High school last semester, and will be going to Fuuka University. I was just visiting Natsuki." Shizuru paused for a second. "Since you are on a first name basis with Natsuki already, then you can call me Shizuru too, if you want."

"Oh, no," Chikane replied quickly. Having heard the name, she quickly realized who the chestnut hair girl was and where she'd seen her; she was on all of Fuuka Academy's promotional materials to prospective students. "It would be far too presumptuous of me to address our Student Council President in such a casual manner."

Shizuru raised an eyebrow appraisingly for a moment before she smiled. Fascinating, Chikane thought. She could feel a little bit of a smirk of intrigue behind that smile.

"Ara, well, if that is how you feel then who am I to push familiarity onto you. Very well, Himemiya-san. Perhaps one day you will feel more freely around me." She winked over at Natsuki. "You'll be seeing quite a bit of me, I imagine."

"Hopefully not in more ways than one?"

Both older girls blinked again. And then Natsuki started to get flustered while Shizuru simply chuckled.

"Aah, you've got it wrong!" Natsuki cried, sputtering and waving her hands wildly about. "About earlier, Shizuru and I were just horsing around! We weren't…! I mean, we're not…!" And then she trailed off somewhat helplessly, her mouth opening and closing as she seemed to regret her not-quite-words, looking over at chestnut haired girl desperately.

For her part, Shizuru simply continued to smile, though Chikane thought she detected a hint of a complex feeling within those ruby depths. The student council President came to Natsuki's verbal rescue. "We really were just having a bit of innocent fun while putting away Natsuki's things. She just moved in too, you know. So, no, you won't be seeing so much of me again," she considered for a moment, her lips curling further upwards. "Well, at least, not without dinner first."

Now it was Chikane's turn to blink again as she considered the motivation behind the older girl's flirty words. Huh. Am I being tested here? Chikane decided that she probably was. After all, her comments upon coming across the pair's compromising position, had actually disclosed a lot about herself, and what biases influenced her assumptions. Hmm. She's good. Chikane thought, as she eyed the older girl with intrigue and decided to play along. "Just one dinner?"

Something dangerous glinted in the back of the older girl's eyes as she rose to the challenge. "Ara, and here I thought Himemiya-san was worried about being rude?"

Chikane would have answered except that Natsuki spoke up, her brow furrowed in slight annoyance. "Uh, what are you two talking about?" She asked, her emerald eyes darting back and forth between them, narrowing her eyes disapprovingly at the older girl.

But before either the 10th grader or the President could answer right away there came a small 'chu?' of inquiry from Chikane's duffle bag. Surprised, all three sets of human eyes in the room look towards the bag sitting atop the luggage and saw a small form suddenly appear on the side of the bag, as though something on the inside was trying to burst out. The form disappeared and reappeared along the bag until it found the zipper opening and with a triumphant 'chu!', a small, humanoid purple-grey palm sized monkey popped out from the duffle and stood atop of it with her hands on her hips.

"Gah!" Natsuki reacted first, recoiling more in surprise, "what is that thing?!"

Natsuki's jump back however caused her to knock an elbow against the closet she'd been fighting with earlier and with an ominous groan, the doors that were holding back what appeared to be highly pressurized contents gave way. With no further warning, the overstuffed closet burst open, avalanching out the largest and most colorful collection of lingerie Chikane had ever seen. Natsuki only had time to give a dismayed cry before being buried under a plethora of cotton, satin, silk and lace.

Chikane stared at where her roommate had previously been standing in abject disbelief. She looked over at Shizuru, whose face was almost a mirror of her own shocked expression. They stared at each other in disbelief before Chikane snapped out of it first.

Looking over at the amused monkey-mouse, Chikane admonished, "Chu-Chu! You're supposed to be home with Okaa-sama! What are you doing here?"

The monkey-mouse didn't answer Chikane. Instead, she hopped down onto the ground and walked over to the nearest piece of underwear (the same pair of panties Shizuru had used to give Natsuki such grief), gave a 'chu!' of love and started to make a nest.

Natsuki spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and putting things away with Shizuru and her new roommate – Himemiya Anth, no, Himemiya Chikane. After the initial surprise and confusion caused by Chikane's pet had passed, the younger girl excused herself to step outside and let her mother know the family monkey had stowed away in her luggage.

While Chikane was gone, Natsuki tried to put the lingerie away properly – so that it would actually fit in the closet, but the marmoset was so enamoured by Natsuki's choice in underwear, it (no, she – Chikane had explained that the monkey, Chu-Chu, was female) stubbornly refused to release the few she had in her possession. Shizuru wasn't quite been able to hold back her chuckles as Natsuki tug-of-warred with the small mammal 1/8th her size.

"Oh, give me that!" Natsuki cried, her patience fraying. With one mighty tug, she managed to extract the last pair of panties from the paws of the animal. "Aha!"

Then Chu-Chu started to cry piteously, twin trails of tears warbling down her face.

Oh, crap. Natsuki wrinkled her brow uncomfortably. "What are you doing? Are you crying? Ahh, stop it! Don't cry! Wait, can monkeys cry?"

Shizuru picked up the crying primate and stroked her head as comfortingly as possible, trying not to be bothered when the monkey blew her nose on the sleeve of Shizuru's shirt. "Oh, Natsuki, just give the poor thing a pair or two. How can you say no to this face?" They both turned puppy dog eyes onto the brunette, who sputtered indignantly, but ultimately, with a resigned sigh, found herself returning her hard earned garments.

Chu-Chu was overjoyed, burying her face into the soft cloth.

Alas, the peace didn't last. Mai and Mikoto showed up a few minutes later with food.

"Hey, how's the unpacking coming? We brought dinner!" Mai said cheerfully, holding up some plastic bags.

Mikoto mirrored the action, holding her plastic bags out with a massive, pleased grin on her face. "Yakisoba noodles and fried-gasp!" Her mouth opened in shock as she spied the mouse-sized monkey in Shizuru's palm. She dropped her bags in surprise as instinct took over. Mikoto lunged for Chu-Chu, hissing and spitting. If she had hackles, they would have been up. As it was, her braids were standing on end in agitation.

Massive sweatdrops rolled down the back of Chu-Chu's fuzzy monkey head. Self preservation kicked in at exactly that moment as she leapt off of Shizuru's hand just in time to avoid Mikoto's teeth. The mouse-sized monkey frantically tried to put as much distance between herself and the frightening cat girl behind her, but Mikoto was on her tail. Their actions knocked Shizuru over into Natsuki who ended up face first in the closet again, sending clothing and lingerie and hangers flying.

By the time Chikane entered into the room again, Chu-Chu and Mikoto had demolished most of it. She stared incredulously over at Natsuki, who could only hang her head in shame.

It was late into the evening by the time they finished cleaning up and eating dinner, later still into the night by the time Natsuki and Chikane bid adieu to Natsuki's friends (Mikoto having somehow become fast friends with Chu-Chu by the end of the evening) and went to bed.

A familiar howling woke Natsuki in the middle of the night.

Duran? Natsuki thought sleepily, blurrily blinking her eyes as she thought she heard her Child's lonely cry. Turning over from her back onto her front, she looked up towards the window and could see the beautiful light of the full moon shining into the room through the open curtains. Her eyes followed the light shining into the room and Natsuki's heart gave a skip of surprised as she spied a dark skinned, dark haired figure sitting on Chikane's bed on the other side of the room. Natsuki froze with surprise.

The beautiful, ageless woman sitting on the edge of Chikane's bed wore a simple crimson sleeveless silk tunic that ended mid thigh, tied at the waist with a sash. Long purple hair spilled over her shoulders and down her back in luxurious cascading waves. In her lap, Chu-Chu lay asleep, nuzzling against something white and cotton, and continued to sleep so, even as the woman gently ruffled the fur on the top of the monkey's head. After a while, she turned to look over fondly at Chikane, also fast asleep on her side, facing Natsuki. The dark skin woman brushed Chikane's bangs from her eyes and tucked them behind an ear.

Natsuki swallowed nervously. She was ready to bolt upright in her bed and demand to know who the woman was and how she got into their room, except that the woman then looked directly at her and Natsuki froze again, finding herself trapped inside a magnificent, ancient, emerald gaze.

The woman raised her eyebrow, intrigued, as she studied Natsuki. Finally, after a moment, she cocked her head to the side and asked in an amused voice. "Can you see me?"

Natsuki could only nod silently, still captured by those ancient, ancient eyes.

"Hmm. I wonder how that could be." The dark skin woman considered this for a moment before an expression of understanding dawn on her. "Oh. It must be because Duran misses you so." And then she smiled kindly at Natsuki. "You are lucky. He is such a good boy. Perhaps he will be reunited with you soon."

Natsuki's eyes widened. "What did you say?!" She cried, but didn't cry at the same time.

Natsuki awoke again with a start, bolting upright. She gasped loudly. What the hell was that?! She whipped her head over to look at Chikane's bed, but the dark skinned woman was no longer there. In fact, there was no evidence of her ever having been there. Chu-Chu was asleep on Chikane's bed in the exact same spot she would have been in had the woman not been there, still nuzzling against some underwear. Chikane was also still asleep on her side, facing Natsuki.

Natsuki stared at Chikane for the longest time, trying to notice anything different about her.

She couldn't.

... that was a seriously weird dream, Natsuki thought to herself as she laid back down, her eyes still on her roommate. Her heart was still racing, though eventually it calmed down. A twinge of heartache grasped at her heart. She hadn't thought about Duran in a while now.

Natsuki was about to go back to sleep when she sensed Chikane stir on her bed. Chikane's bangs felt out from behind her ear – her bangs! Natsuki realized, her bangs were moved! – as she awoke blurrily. It took her a moment to focus her gaze on Natsuki.

"Is something wrong?" Chikane asked, obviously still sleepy.

Natsuki was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say to the other girl she had just met today. Finally deciding that she didn't want to be thought of as a weirdo to someone she had to live with for a while, Natsuki muttered, "... no. I just thought I heard something."

Chikane considered this for a moment, rubbing her eyes. "Hmm. I did too," she admitted. She looked at the window as Natsuki had dreamed she herself had done so, squinting at the brightness of the moon. "A wolf's cry. I didn't realize there were wolves around here."

Natsuki stared at Chikane, stunned. "There aren't." Her heart continued to squeeze. "Not anymore."

Chikane crinkled her brow confusedly at Natsuki, even as she laid back down and snuggled into her blankets again. "... perhaps we can ask the RA about it in the morning..." Within moments, she had fallen asleep once more.

Natsuki continued to stare at Chikane, sleep robbed from her already. Unable to shake the feeling of unease, she curled up under her own covers quietly, even as she stared over at her sleeping roommate.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I seem to remember Natsuki not being a very formal person as, early on, she just told Mai to call her Natsuki.

... crap. I suddenly realize that since Chikane and Shizuru are far smarter than I could ever hope to be, their dialogue is going to be hard to pull off convincingly. -_-;;

I'm preeeeetty sure Chu-chu is a girl, but I can't quite remember where I remembered that from. -_-;;

Cheers,

jen-chan

jen-chan-shaw. livejournal. com

OMAKE I : Using protection

[UTENA is saying goodbye to CHIKANE at the train station before CHIKANE goes off to Fuuka.]

UTENA: ... and remember to call! And floss! And don't give it up on the first date!

CHIKANE: [Sweatdrop] Uh, sure. I'll keep that in mind, Mom. [They hug]

UTENA: Oh! And if someone does strike your fancy, remember to use this! [Hand CHIKANE a box of condoms]

CHIKANE: ... [Sweatdrops massively multiply] Uh, Mom? Not that we really talked about this, but, um, I thought you knew me better than that. I won't be needing these...

UTENA: Sweetheart, I do know you very well. Trust me, you'll be accessorizing before you know it, so, yeah, you're gonna need those.

CHIKANE: [Turns beet red] Oh. Um. Uh. Thanks Mom. [Sticks the condoms into her pocket and hurries onto the train without looking back].

OMAKE 2: If There Was A Mai Hime Movie And It Was As Whacked As The Utena Movie Was

[On Fuuka school grounds, close to the church, a giant HARUKOW is idly grazing grass. What is a HARUKOW? It is an impressively sized cow with purplely-grey eyes and shoulder length blond hair with short bangs. The hide around its front half is green and somehow contains markings that resemble the cut of an Executive Director's vest. It has a white band with a red marking around one of its front legs. It's middle and rear section resembles a dark grey pleated skirt while its back legs look like its wearing stockings. Cows should never be able to pull off the Zettai Ryouiki "Absolute Territory" troupe, but HARUKOW does so impressively.]

HARUKOW: [Lazily munching on grass] Mooou. [As she inhales, a CHIBI-SIZED GENNAI gets stuck in one of her nostrils.]

HARUKOW: ! [Indignant!] Moooou!

[Suddenly, HARUKA strides onto the scene and boots HARUKOW into the stratosphere]

HARUKA: NO WAY! If there's going to be a Mai Hime Movie, I am NOT going to play a COW!