[KnM][RGU][MH] Revolutions
Revolutions – Chapter 4
A Kannazuki no Miko, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Mai Hime X-Over Fanfic
January 15, 2013 – January 20, 2013
Word Count: 7,400
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!
That Fuuka High School would see back-to-back landmark elections was unexpected. Last year, no one had been surprised when Fujino Shizuru beat Suzushiro Haruka in the Presidential race, but the size of the landslide victory was one for the history books of 817 to 12. The student political landscape a year later was markedly different. Rather than having two strong contenders (well, strong in their own ways), there were several candidates, none of whom appeared to be a clear leader. There were three seniors, plus two from the 11th grade including Kikukawa Yukino, as well as one dark horse candidate, Himemiya (Anthy) Chikane, from the 10th grade.
At first, most students laughed when a first year – and a transfer from outside Fuuka at that – showed up on the candidate list for President, a role traditionally won by a senior. They wrote her off as overly ambitious, even though she became immensely popular amongst her peers quickly. The most serious toss up was between the strongest of the 3rd years and Yukino, who, despite only being a 2nd year, was also the only candidate to have been on the council before, and had been working hard as a horse with the previous council on the rebuilding of Fuuka. Her mentor and best friend, Haruka, though graduated and moved onto Fuuka University, helped her out with her campaign (it was arguable whether this was to her benefit or detriment however).
It wasn't until the presidential debate that the second and third years finally have a chance to meet Himemiya Chikane and her position shot up astronomically through the polls. Chikane did not carry herself as a mere first year would. She stunned the school with her eloquence and poise, and she spoke intelligently and confidently, easily overshadowing the other candidates. Harada Chie soon dug up her background and the student body learned that she had placed exceptionally well in the national exams. She had also been class representative since primary school and possessed, apparently, a sizable measure of skill in both arts (piano) and sports (archery). Amongst her contemporaries in 1st year, some of her peers were so enamoured with her there were already rumblings of a fan club starting up. (Members of the still-strong-in-numbers Fujjino fanclub had scoffed when asked if there were any fears of defection.) She'd already been given a fond nickname by her classmates: Hime, or Hime-sama, a moniker that caused unexpected jumpiness in several people, including her roommate Natsuki, whenever it was used in their presence.
All of this would have been impressive on its own, but what ultimately clinched the victory for Chikane was when the student body saw her standing behind the podium, they were struck dumb by just how much her dignity and composure reminded them of their beloved and fondly remembered former-President Fujino Shizuru. Indeed, after the debate, she had gained another nickname: Fujino Version Beta.
In the end, the votes were split quite evenly but Chikane just barely beat out Yukino by a small handful of votes, and the school elected their first ever 10th grader Student Council President.
Haruka blew a gasket. Upon learning the results of the elections, she sought out Shizuru just before their shared history class, pointing one mighty finger in Shizuru's face and accusing, "You! You sacrileged Yukino with another bubuzuke-onna!"
"... do you mean sabotage by chance, Suzushiro-san?" Shizuru quirked an eyebrow. "I take it by your state of agitation that perhaps the President-elect is Himemiya-san?"
"Yes! No! Whatever! That's not the point!" Haruka was practically pulling out her hair. "Dammit all, Fujino, and here I was beginning to think better of you! After how hard Yukino worked with us, how could you do this to her?"
"Ara, but I had nothing to do with the election. I never endorsed Himemiya-san. I did wish her luck, but I wished Kikukawa-san luck as well." But though she said this, Shizuru had been aware that her limited associations to date with Chikane via Natsuki would influence the elections; she just hadn't particularly cared enough to stop the casual interactions.
The truth of the matter was, Shizuru would actually have preferred Yukino to win the Presidency. At least Yukino had been a part of the Hime Festival, and was smart enough to keep it buried. With Himemiya-san… Shizuru knew she'd done a thorough job expunging the details of the Festival from the eyes of 'normals', but there were certainly enough clues and inconsistencies remaining that an inquisitive mind could really open up a can of worms.
Let's hope she is as discrete as she is sharp, Shizuru thought, feeling a little troubled, it really would have been better if Kikukawa-san had won.
Uneasy and awkward as Shizuru's interactions with Yukino had been since the festival, and as much as they had tried to (and largely succeeded) to avoid any alone time with each other, none the less, they had been able to be cordial for the sake of their common goals and activities. It had actually been something of a milestone when Shizuru had wished Yukino luck, and the mousy younger girl had accepted it.
Yukino was still obviously wary of her; she still remembered Shizuru's actions. The Hime all remembered (even those trying their best to forget), though it was hazy for their most precious people. Some of the Hime had told their most precious ones everything. Yukino, evidently, had decided to tell Haruka a slightly tinted version (or perhaps Haruka had been too stubborn to accept the possibility that she had actually died and then come back to life), because the blonde had acted more or less the same towards Shizuru and Reito since.
In any case, Haruka continued her rant. "But that's not possible!" She cried, "how could Yukino possibly lose to a first year?! I helped her myself!"
Shizuru caught herself before she could sigh. "Have you considered, Suzushiro-san, that perhaps campaigning on a platform of harsher punishments for students caught skipping class just didn't resonate amongst the student body as much as you thought it would?"
"Posthumous!" Haruka declared.
"Preposterous?" Shizuru offered.
"Yes! No! Whatever!"
This time, Shizuru couldn't quite hold in her sigh. "Well, in any case, Suzushiro-san, I wouldn't be so worried for Kikukawa-san. If I had to guess, I'd say that Himemiya-san is the type who will recognize the value in a hard-working, experienced teammate. She'll likely ask Kikukawa-san to be her Vice President, if she hasn't already."
Haruka thought about this for a moment, harrumphed mightily, and turned on her heels to investigate if this could be true.
Left alone, Shizuru frowned slightly and pulled her phone from her pocket. To learn of the results of the election from Haruka rather than from Natsuki, whom Shizuru was feeling so much closer to now after their chat a few days ago, was disappointing.
Luckily, her disappointment proved to be misplaced as her phone buzzed with a text from Natsuki, even as she was looking longingly at it.
Hey. Chikane won. Mai says we should host a party tonight. Coming?
A smile came to Shizuru's lips as she quickly typed in a response. Of course.
As the sun had long set, Chikane looked at her reflection in the window. The bone white jacket of the student council President was much more flattering on her skin tone than the regular orange-gold jacket was, and she was pleased.
She felt a buzzing in her pocket and took out her cellphone. There was a short text from her mother: How did you do? Did you win?
The cellphone was a going away present from her mother. At first Chikane had thought the phone an unnecessary expense, and had admonished her mother for buying it for her, but Utena had been insistent. 'Most high school students would be happy to be given one,' her mother had said, 'so don't complain! And now you don't have an excuse for not phoning me!'
Chikane couldn't help but feel a little guilty. She had only been away from home for a short month, and already, she was not calling her mother as much as she had promised the woman. Wanting to assure her mother that she was doing well, and to not worry, she looked at the other girl in the room. "Yukino-sempai?" Chikane asked.
Her mousy haired senior, Kikukawa Yukino, wearing the black jacket of the Vice President, looked up. It actually looked quite good on her, the dark color allowing her to draw more semblance of authority. "Yes?"
Chikane smiled. "This is a bit of an odd request, but would you mind taking a picture with me? I'm trying to reassure my mother that I'm having a good time, you see. She worries so."
"Oh, okay. Sure, Chikane-san." Yukino pushed up her glasses. Walking over to where Chikane was, the two girls posed together while Chikane lifted the camera phone away and pointed it back at herself. Carefully smiling, she even staged the victory V sign and snapped the picture.
"Thank you," Chikane smiled appreciatively. She texted the picture to her mother with the simple explanation: Yes.
A few moments later, she got a reply back: d ^_^ b I'm so proud of you!
"Is Chikane-san close to her mother?' Yukino asked.
Chikane nodded. "Yes. It's just been the two of us for so long, you see. "
'Chu!' Came the quick reply of an insulted monkey-mouse, sitting on the desk beside the computer Chikane was working at (the laptop, Chikane decided, was the single greatest perk to being Student Council President. Now she didn't have to trek to the library so often to get news on Himeko).
"And you too, Chu-Chu," Chikane quickly added.
Yukino chuckled. "You're lucky our new Executive Director doesn't have a problem with pets coming to school. I don't think Haruka-chan, or even myself, would have been quite so lenient."
Chikane gave Yukino a wink. "Perhaps that is why I appointed you Vice President, and Sakaki-sempai as Executive Director instead."
Yukino only chuckled again.
Chikane knew her upperclassman had been wary of her, had even questioned why she had handed the coveted Black Blazer over to her, and Chikane had explained truthfully that she couldn't possibly run this school with as little knowledge as she had of it, being so new. Yukino had then wondered if Chikane was going to be the kind of leader that 'over-delegated', and had been relieved to find that on this front, Chikane's attitude towards work was much more hands on than her predecessor had been. The two girls were able to work together well. No one was calling them the "greatest couple in the history of the school" like they had of Shizuru and Reito, but they both had hope that at least they wouldn't drown in their predecessor's gigantic shoes.
Chikane stretched, looking up at the clock. "Hmm, it's getting late, isn't it?" She noted. "Shall we call it a day? Thank you so much for taking the time to catch me up about last year. I'm not sure if it's fortunate or unfortunate that the shoddiness of the original construction of the school was only uncovered by a year unusually heavy with natural disasters."
Yukino half-cringed and half-nodded. (Chikane thought her senior really could benefit from developing a better poker face).
They had discussed at length about the circumstances surrounding Fuuka Acadamy, and while Chikane was fairly certain that Yukino lied through her teeth about several things, at this point, she was also fairly certain the older girl was only doing so for Chikane's own sake. Chikane was okay with pretending to be the fool for now; she could investigate further on her own.
Just after Chikane shut down her laptop however, they could hear a little bit of a commotion outside their classroom door. Chikane looked at Yukino questioningly, but the older girl simply shrugged and went to open it.
Mai was standing at the door holding a cake. Behind her, Chikane could see Mikoto, Tate, Natsuki, Shizuru, Haruka and a couple of other classmates from Chikane's and Mikoto's class. The cake Mai was holding had written on it 'Congrats, Prez & Vice Prez!' As one, many voices shouted congratulations as bodies came into the classroom, laughing and shouting.
Chikane couldn't help but smile, feeling her heart warm. She wasn't expected this at all, and when she looked at Yukino's face, she could tell that her Vice President wasn't expecting this either. Haruka approached Yukino, and was thumping her on her back with pride and joy.
Mai got to Chikane first, putting the cake down in front of her. Mikoto jumped onto her roommate's back and was eyeing the cake with massive watery, starry eyes. Chu-Chu then jumped on top of Mikoto's head, and had the same expression on her face as well, a hint of drool coming out of the corner of her mouth. "Here you are, Chikane-san!" Mai said happily as she produced a knife from out of nowhere.
Chikane took the offered knife. "Thank you, Mai-sempai," Chikane said, and meaning it. "You really, really didn't have to."
"Consider this a bribe!" Mai said happily. "For bailing Natsuki out when she inevitably fails the 11th grade for truancy."
"Hey, shut up! I haven't missed class in weeks!" Natsuki retorted.
Chikane chuckled at her roommate. "I'll try to keep that in mind, but I should let you know that when it comes to matters of student discipline, those are strictly in the hands of the Executive Director, rather than my own, so there will be a limit to how much bailing I can do."
"Like I said!" Natsuki continued to insist, "I'm not going to fail! Stop making it sound like that's a foregone conclusion!"
The conversations continued on, and at some point in time, Chikane got a chance to meet the unsinkable Suzushiro Haruka, who gave her praise for her wisdom in selecting Yukino as Vice President. Chikane was able to smile and sustain a conversation with the indomitable girl, though on some level, Chikane wondered if she'd ever be able to truly like her. Unfortunately, Haruka's straightforward, extremely forthright attitude, while one she normally would have found admirable, reminded her far too much of a certain Oogami Souma, and that meant it would be difficult for Chikane to ever truly be at ease with the older girl.
Oh, stop it, Chikane chided herself. Oogami Souma had been married to Saotome Makoto for several years now; the marriage of the son of the largest temple in Mahoroba had been deemed newsworthy by the tiny town's local newspaper, so Chikane had been able to read the article in an old online newspaper archive a while back.
"Congratulations, Himemiya-san," Shizuru said, later on in the evening. "I heard it was quite the close election."
Chikane was pleased that Shizuru had approached her. She'd been hoping to see her predecessor again. The last time they had spoken was when Natsuki was still spying on Chikane at the same time Chikane had been trying to dig up intel on the older girl. From the few curt words they had traded, Chikane had realized that it was not only her ghost that was negatively affecting Natsuki; Chikane's own presence itself had somehow been wedged between the two girls, and Chikane really didn't want to be on the bad side of Shizuru.
Not only did the older girl genuinely intrigue her from an intellectual and camaraderie point of view; from what Chikane could tell, 'bad' was never a side anyone wanted to be on with Fujino Shizuru.
"That it was, Fujino-sempai," Chikane replied gamely. Noting that Haruka was out of earshot on the other side of the room, while Natsuki was much closer and within audio range, she let her eyes purposefully linger on her roommate for a moment, before moving them back to capture Shizuru's ruby own. The glimmer of comprehension she saw in those red depths confirmed to her that Shizuru had seen the movement of her eyes. Chikane continued, with a smile, "nowhere near the landslide that was your result. I'm afraid I'll need to do far better if I were to have any chance of impressing you enough to get that dinner, yes?"
Both the former and current Presidents could see Natsuki's nearest ear twitch, though she didn't turn to face them.
Shizuru blinked. And then she smiled, those twinkles in her eyes now seeming to dance with amusement. "Now why would you want to have dinner with me, Himemiya-san?"
Chikane feigned perfect innocence. "To see more of you, of course. I'm afraid I haven't seen nearly as much of you as I was initially promised, upon our first meeting. "
Shizuru laughed. "You are quite confident, Himemiya-san, to still believe that one dinner would be enough."
"Oh, I am fairly certain that it won't be," Chikane admitted. "Perhaps, a series of dinners, then?" She paused to inject a moment of seriousness in the flirting. "Actually, it really would be tremendously helpful to me to seek your council. I'm still a bit fuzzy about how I should go about my duties as President." And then she flipped back to flirting again. "In any case, shall we start with one and see if it really is not enough?"
The former President had to laugh again. "That is a shameless way of securing a date, Himemiya-san. But, alright, if it is to help my successor out, I suppose I am honor bound to do so. When shall we have this dinner?"
"Hmm," Chikane tapped her chin. "Natsuki-sempai?"
Natsuki practically pounced on the two. "What?" She cried, obviously perturbed by the conversation she'd been trying so hard to pretend she was not eavesdropping on.
"Would it be alright if Fujino-sempai joined us for dinner tomorrow? It's my turn to cook."
Natsuki opened and closed her mouth a few times like a fish. Her eyes darted back and forth between Chikane and Shizuru and it took her only a moment longer to realize they were having a laugh at her expense. She threw up her hands. "Agh! Do whatever you want! I can't believe there are two of you!" She cried in dismay. She stalked away, pretending to grab something to drink.
The former and current Presidents both chuckled. Shizuru gave Chikane an amused (but with a hint of thankfulness) look before going after Natsuki.
Chikane couldn't help but feel pleased with herself. She almost wished she hadn't staged that photo of having fun with Yukino to send to her mother. Had she waited a few more minutes, she wouldn't have had to stage anything.
The first month of school was surprisingly fruitful for Juri. After ratifying the agreement with Fuuka's administration, she spent some time sorting out her affairs at her home in Tokyo, and then moved into the visiting professor residencies at Fuuka University. For someone as notoriously picky as she was, there simply wasn't time to scout out a suitable long term residence on Fuuka Island, furnish it, and move in before classes started. She met a couple of realtors and went to a couple of open houses, but she planned on taking her time finding a new home.
In the meanwhile, the visiting professor residencies more than sufficed. Her place was set up similar to what an executive suite would have looked like at a luxury hotel, with a separate bedroom, study, kitchen and living room. It was a completely different beast from the student dormitories – nicer than even when she had boarded at Ohtori Acadamy as an adolescent.
She spent the first couple of weeks working with the teachers and administrators at Fuuka Primary School, and specifically with the gym teachers to set up a schedule such that each class in the 5th and 6th grades would have a module on fencing in their phys ed class. Not particularly enamoured with children, Juri none-the-less thought it important to introduce them to the sport as early as possible. Fencing was not very popular at all in Fuuka (must like the rest of Japan) so she felt it necessary to introduce the younger children to it, at least nominally. She hadn't yet found and hired an instructor for this, so when the first classes were rolled out, she ended up being more hands on than she had originally anticipated. Luckily, the teaching staff at the school was able to rescue her when giving pointy training foils to excitable pre-pubescents proved to be less than wise.
For the junior and senior high students, as well as at the post-secondary level, a fencing club was started with herself as primary instructor for now. Eventually, Juri's aim was to turn it into a serious club with contenders at the national level, but in order to build interest first, she realized it would have to start as a more informal club. At Fuuka University, in conjunction with the kinesiology department, fencing classes for credit would be implemented over the next semester.
It was towards the end of the month when Juri met the potential successor she had been hoping to train in Himemiya Chikane. It was during one of the first after school meetings Juri held to introduce the sport to potential takers, and since it was new and never offered before, and since Juri was a minor celebrity herself from the fashion world, a great many students showed up to see what all the fuss was about.
"Hi." Juri smiled winningly at her audience. She was wearing full protective gear, holding a foil in one hand and her mesh mask under her other arm. "My name is Arisugawa Juri. I'm a new Director for Fuuka Academy and will also be a fencing instructor over at the University. I did pretty well in a couple of Olympics a while back, but you kids probably don't know me for my fencing career, right? You probably know me more from my fashion line with Daidouji Tomoyo, Miracles?" She smiled somewhat sardonically at the sizable group of girls towards one side of the audience who practically had stars in their eyes and were holding back issues of Miracles' catalogue, as well as various fashion magazines she'd made the cover of once upon a time. Juri wasn't sure if she should be annoyed that there were those more interested in her exploits in the fashion world than fencing, or if she should be impressed that they had even managed to find those back issues.
"Unfortunately, for those of you here for fashion tips rather than fencing tips, I'm afraid you are not in the right place. I will not be discussing anything related to fashion or modelling or Miracles, while I am in this gym. This time is going to be used strictly for fencing, so if that holds no interest for you, please leave now."
The bluntness of her words caused a lot of kids to look crestfallen, and a good many of them did trudge reluctantly from the gym. That did annoy Juri a bit, but, still, it was best to weed out the most obvious autograph chasers early on.
"For those of you who've remained," Juri continued. "I thank you. Fencing is an amazing sport, and one I hope you'll give a chance. I'd like to begin by thanking the captain of Fuuka's kendo team, Tate Yuuichi, for graciously being voluntold by Sugiura Midori-sensei to assist me in this short demonstration. If you'll please, Tate-kun."
To the laughter, wolf whistles and the odd shout of encouragement from the audience, poor Tate Yuuichi, also dressed in fencing gear, was shoved forward by a busty redheaded girl who was smiling happily at him. Tate looked distinctly uncomfortable, holding onto the foil and the mask with one hand while tugging at the bottom of the padded, protective jacket. A dark haired girl with glasses standing beside the busty redhead laughed, and snapped a picture with her camera phone. "Smile some, Tate! You look sexy!"
"Shut up, Harada!" Tate grumped, quickly pulling the mask on over his blond hair. He looked over at Juri with misgivings and held onto the foil handle with both hands in a classic kendo ready stance. "Can we just get this over with quickly, sensei?"
Juri laughed. "Not so fast, Tate-kun. First of all, this is fencing, not kendo. You only hold onto the foil with one hand. Secondly, we should go over some basics of safety first, alright? You've got the mask on backwards."
The audience shared a laugh at Tate's expense, who growled back at them, only causing them to laugh some more, and Juri couldn't help but think him a fine young man for agreeing to this. He had known from the get go that fencing and kendo were completely different animals, and that he could only be made a fool for agreeing to participate, yet still agreed to. Juri was grateful to him for this; kendo was a popular club at Fuuka, and Tate had been a national champion in junior high, so as a popularity stunt to jumpstart the fencing club, she had high hopes from his participation.
So Juri went over various basic safety points and described the purpose of each piece of protective equipment, pointing to the various things Tate was wearing. She described the difference between the three different types of weapons – the foil, the epee and the saber, which one they were using now, and what the basic rules of the sport were, including the concept of right of way.
After describing this, finally, she had a short match with Tate. It was clear that his training and experience with Kendo made fencing that much more difficult for him, so he didn't do very well at all, but he seemed to have fun with it, even revealing a grin on his face when they finally ended the demonstration and he took off his mask.
Juri smiled encouragingly at him. "Thank you very much, Tate-kun. That was marvellous." She looked out at the crowd of eager, excited faces. "Now, I've got a few more sets of equipment here today. Is there anyone who'd like to give it a try?"
Several of the students put up their hands, and Juri sent them off to the change room to put their equipment on.
"Hey, Hime-sama, you should give it a try!" Juri heard a voice exclaim excitedly. "You'd look so cool!"
Hime-sama? Juri zeroed in on the speaker, and noticed the pretty girl with long, long blue-black hair that was suddenly the centre of attention amongst a small group of boys and girls urging her on excitedly.
"Oh, no, I don't think so," The girl said, her blue-green eyes crinkled at the edges apologetically to her admiring classmates. The color of those eyes startled Juri a little as she realized that they were very close to the same shade of blue-green as her own. It was not a very common color in Japan.
"And why not?" Juri let the authority in her voice carry over to the ears of the pretty girl.
The girl looked up at Juri, and those eyes so similar to her own suddenly narrowed in obvious displeasure. Juri was momentarily struck by just how much unprovoked dislike was being directed at her. Wondering how her words could have possibly offended the girl, Juri gave her another winning smile. "Come now, where's the harm? Your classmates are right to encourage you."
The girl's eyes only narrowed a little further. The reaction did not go unnoticed by the folks surrounding her, who reacted to this negativity with surprise and confusion. Finally, one of the girls beside her even said, "um, it's alright, Hime-sama. You don't have to if you don't want to."
But then the girl evidently changed her mind as she quickly schooled her features into an almost haughty look of neutrality. "Actually, maybe I will give it a try," she finally said, stepping forward. Her classmates, not quite sure what to make of this 180, gave a couple of words of encouragement.
Juri smiled as she tossed the weapon in her hand over to the girl, who caught it deftly by the handle without thinking. Oho, the fencer couldn't help but think, highly intrigued. So she does have some familiarity with the foil. The girl picked up the last set of equipment and walked past Juri without a look back. Juri could only feel her intrigue heighten.
While she went to get changed, Juri went through demonstrations with each of the students who had volunteered before her.
First up was one Minagi Mikoto, first year in high school. Juri had a hard time believing that the girl was a first year in high school as opposed to junior high, but that was how the girl introduced herself.
"Alright, Minagi-kun," Juri put her mask back on. "Let's go."
"HUUOO!" Mikoto war cried, gripping her foil with both hands. "Miroku!" She spun about in a full 360 degree circle while dragging the tip of the foil against the gym floor causing sparks to fly and taking a massive gouge out of the floor. Then she pulled her weapon up and thrust it into the floor. The tip of the foil embedded half an inch into the wood and the length of the foil bent into a crescent moon shape.
"..."
Juri stared incredulously at this display, wondering what the hell was wrong with the girl. She was not the only one as most of the students in the audience had sweatdrops on the backs of their heads. Interestingly enough, Tate-kun didn't, and the busty red headed girl beside him simply smacked a hand over her face.
Physics of a completely improbable sort came into play when the foil tried to correct itself back into the right shape and the force of the action launched Mikoto up into the air with an actually audible 'doiong!'sound. Mikoto went flying through the air and landed on the busty red headed girl.
Juri, still in the ready position, stared at the small student who climbed off of the red headed one like this was a completely normal thing for her and hopped back up to face Juri. But before Mikoto could do anything else, Juri simply poked her in the chest with the tip of her own foil and said, in a completely flat voice: "Get. Out."
Discouraged, Mikoto trudged away, even as a furious tick came to Juri's left eyebrow. She glared at the students menacingly, causing several to shrink back under her ire. "If anyone else wants to play Kenshin or Zorro, leave now."
Luckily, none of the other students were anywhere near as ridiculous as Mikoto was. Juri managed to get through the rest of the demonstrations without incident, offering professional but kind words of critique or encouragement. Finally, it was time for the last student.
The crowd hushed over when the girl addressed as Hime-sama came back out in full fencing gear. It fit as though it was made for her and she carried herself as though she'd done this a thousand times before. Coolly, she put on her mask and faced Juri in salute. The fencer's lips curled into an almost feral grin behind her own mask as she could feel the teenager's eyes glaring at her with cold challenge.
The match began.
The moves with which the girl opened her attacks stunned Juri, not, because it was flawless or even correct, but because it was exactly the same way Juri had been attacked only once before by one other. This surprised her so much, she almost missed blocking it. From then on, however, Juri's eyes narrowed in concentration, and she easily defended the other girl's attacks. Quickly, it became apparent to Juri that the student was indeed a complete amateur in fencing, but had an obvious, innate instinct for it.
Their match ended quickly with the girl scoring no points at all, but even to the untrained eyes of the crowd of students, they could tell that this last match had been different and far more intense than the other ones. When they removed their masks, Juri grinned appraisingly at the teenager. "What's your name?" She demanded.
The girl removed her mesh mask, though her features were still behind one made of schooled neutrality. Only the burning challenge in her eyes betrayed the intensity of the emotion she was feeling. "Himemiya. Himemiya Chikane," she replied coolly. "High school, first year."
"You absolutely must join the fencing club, Himemiya-kun," Juri praised. "You have serious talent for it."
But Juri's hopes were dashed just as quickly as her praise was given.
"I'm afraid I will not be doing so," the girl replied quickly, putting her foil down.
"Why ever not?" Juri demanded.
"I am already a member of the archery club and am student council President. I will have no time."
Juri's eyes widened. So this is Fuuka's new student council president. If she was already in the archery club as well, then the girl was right – it was unlikely she would have time to pursue fencing seriously. Juri felt the bitterness of regret in her, tempered only by the knowledge that as a Director on Fuuka's board, she would have continued interaction with this girl. Maybe she could convince her to drop archery for fencing. "A true pity," Juri replied sincerely. "Well, if your time ever does free up, let me know right away. You can find me in the kinesiology building at the University during office hours." She paused. "Hell, you could even come wake me up in the middle of the night at the visiting professors' residences if that's when the fancy strikes."
Unfortunately, Juri's offer was answered with a swift and cool, "that would be highly unlikely," as Himemiya Chikane turned and walked briskly away.
Juri could only frown as she wondered, once again, why this girl seemed so angry at her.
The events that afternoon were still on Juri's mind later that evening as she sat in one of the leather chairs in her living room, nursing a drink while flipping through the latest draft catalogue that Miracles was working to put out. The light in the room was warm, coming from the artsy floor lamp. She smiled faintly to herself as she took in the keynote photo-shoot spread with a critical eye, letting her fingers trace around the bared shoulder of one of the models on the page.
The photographer had done a fantastic job once again showcasing the beauty of the model and the clothing with the certain intangible kindness and soft loving care she was famed for. It was this quality about the photographer somehow filtering through the camera lenses that made her so well liked and requested by the models. Fashion was a brutal, cut-throat and, for many involved downright demeaning business, so the style and approach of this photographer was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise often putrid environment. Indeed, Juri herself could remember how unprofessional some of the seedier photographers she'd been forced to work with during her time on the catwalk were and how blown away she had been after working with this photographer for the first time. That day, Juri had been so offended with the first photographer, she had verbally ripped him limb from limb and everyone on the set had been on pins and needles. Then Tomoyo ushered this small, shy, woman onto the set and Juri's world had completely turned on its head.
The photographer's style wasn't to the taste of the majority of folks in the business though – many found her work too saccharine and lacking in hard sex appeal – but it suited Tomoyo's whimsical designs to a T, and so their company contracted her on many projects.
It was a good thing we got her when we did, Juri thought to herself nostalgically. Toiling away in the business for almost a decade with little to nothing to show for it, the woman had been on the cusp of being completely disillusioned with her own work and had considered switching to the harder, crueler, more proven methodology and styles of her peers.
That would have been tragic.
Had she become just another faceless camera lense and voice instructing Juri to simulate various sexual positions for the sake of a sexy expression, Juri wouldn't even have looked at her twice, much less completely fallen for her as hard as she had.
Just then, Juri heard her cellphone buzz on the table beside her. Smiling at the name, Juri answered the call fondly. "Perfect timing, Love. I was just going through the catalogue."
"Oh!" The woman on the line's voice was high and sweet. "What did you think?"
"I have some comments on the copy that I'll send to Tomoyo in the morning, and I still think Matsumori's suggested pricing on the intimates line is mostly garbage, but overall, I think the staff did a good job. Your spread with Ichiko-san was lovely."
Juri could practically hear the woman brimming with pleasure at the compliment.
"Thank you, Juri-chan," she finally said, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "But are you sure you're not being extra nice to me? You always have some sort of notes for everyone else."
"That's because you are in a special position to understand what I like and how I see things," Juri teased warmly. She paused for a moment as she closed the book in her lap. "... I miss you." She admitted softly, testing out the waters with uncharacteristic timidity in her voice.
"… I miss you too," the voice on the line replied, and Juri could hear the sincerity clearly in those soft tones. "If you're okay with my work, then I'll release the negatives to Tomoyo-chan. I don't have anything else lined up for the next couple of weeks. I could come visit you if you'd like?"
"More than anything else in the world," Juri smiled. That was exactly what she'd been fishing for. "I think you'll like Fuuka Island. It's quaint. Feels a little bit like Mahoroba. The kids are a riot." Juri smirked. "Hey, the strangest thing happened to me this afternoon."
"Oh? What happened?"
"I met a girl who fences almost exactly the same way you used to. It was completely déjà vu. I was so surprised I almost lost a point to her."
"That is a surprise! Juri-chan losing a point in fencing?" A giggle. "Was it the same kind of fluke mine was?"
"Almost exactly," Juri admitted. She laughed. "I really want to recruit her. Maybe I'll introduce you to her and you can help me convince her to sign up for the fencing team when you're here. For some reason, she doesn't seem to like me very much."
The voice on the line laughed. "Were you being overly scary again, Juri-chan? Well, if you want her so much, sure, I can help with whatever you want." Just then, Juri could hear some sort of commotion on the other side of the call. "Oh! Sorry, Juri-chan. I have to go. I'll send you a text with my travel plans in the morning? I might not be able to get there for a few more days."
Juri nodded reflexively, though she was alone in her apartment. "Sounds good. Good night, Himeko."
"Good night, Juri-chan. I'll see you soon."
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
The biggest problem I had with trying to write this story in Prince was because Utena and KannaMiko fit together so darkly in my head, I depressed myself. I have a lot more hope this time around with finishing since I'm including a series like Mai Hime in now, and MH has a lot of healing and soothing silliness and laughter in it; Mikoto is something of a walking omake to me, and it's hard for me to view MH completely seriously with characters like her (and Haruka) around, even though MH has a lot of really dark and heavy moments too.
The color of Juri's and Chikane's eyes seem to change depending on the animator, so in canon, Juri's eyes are probably a little more green than Chikane's but I think they're pretty darn close. I'm claiming a little bit of artistic license here. ^_^;;
Cheers,
jen-chan
jen-chan-shaw. livejournal. com
OMAKE 1: No lynching! Please!
[Two cats, CAT1 and CAT2 are lounging about a normal house in the middle of suburbia somewhere when the front door of the house is suddenly busted open. The AUTHOR grabs her cats and quickly barricades herself in the basement, tossing whatever furniture and junk is available against the door. She cowers in the corner, still holding onto both cats and a baseball bat in the other hand.]
CAT1: Meow?
AUTHOR: What? No! Mommy can't feed you right now, baby. She's going to be run through by either Chikane or the Swords of Humanity's I Mean Fandom's Hate, whichever finds her first!
CAT2: Meow?
AUTHOR: Because drama and conflict and the resolution thereof is important to a story! And it seemed like a good idea at the time!
[Suddenly there is a loud boom, and the barricade is blown open by CHIKANE with glowing red demon eyes riding on top of the SWORDS OF HUMANITY'S I MEAN FANDOM'S HATE.]
AUTHOR: Aww, crap! Not at the same time! [Cowering] Aaah! It'll get better! I promise! I promise!
CHIKANE: It. Had. Better. In fact, I am going to ensure that it will. [Brandishes one of the swords threateningly.]
[A head pokes in through the broken basement door.]
AUTHOR'S WIFE / FIC SOUNDING BOARD: Sweetie! When you're done paying for your crimes against fandom, can you go get some milk? And clean out the litter box before you go?
OMAKE 2: Running Joke
[In the student's council room, HARUKA is bawling her eyes out on YUKINO's shoulder, sobbing incomprehensibly.]
YUKINO: [Rubbing HARUKA's back comfortingly.] There, there, it's okay. Let it out. Everything's okay.
HARUKA: Buwaaaaaa! [Still crying]
CHIKANE: Uh, what's wrong with Haruka-sempai, Yukino-sempai?
YUKINO: Hmm? Oh, she's just super happy that she actually has lines in this fic besides 'Moo'.