[KnM][RGU][MH] Revolutions
Revolutions – Chapter 14 (Flashbacks)
A Kannazuki no Miko, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Mai Hime X-Over Fanfic
March 3, 2013 – March 9, 2013
Word Count: 9,700
More Author's notes follow at the end. Comments and Criticisms are greatly appreciated!
Warning: This chapter should proooobably be rated closer to M than T.
In the middle of nowhere, a landscape devoid of everything except for jagged rocky outcrops and ominous, thick fog, eight, massive torii gates loomed out in the darkness, lighted only by the glow of the malevolent crescent moon swirling over top. The torii gates were carved from stone and numbered 1 through 8, with tops thick enough for full grown men to pace back and forth upon.
Two girls stood on top of the torii gates – the tawny-haired one holding a dark red naginata-like weapon on top of gate number five, while the blue-black haired girl with the long nodachi sword was currently standing on top of gate number seven.
Shizuru looked about her desolate surroundings and frowned. "Is this where you've been spending all your time these days, Chikane-san?"
"... quite a bit more than I've ever hoped to," Chikane admitted, a look of distaste on her face.
"No wonder your humour has been so poor of late. This place is not exactly a shining example of tranquility and zen. Why, it's even affected the quality of your penmenship," Shizuru said in disapproving tones as she held up a simple white envelope – the letter she had found on her desk this morning. "I take it this invitation is from you?"
Chikane's eyes flicked over to the letter, before flicking back to meet Shizuru's ruby gaze. She smiled, somewhat distantly. "Should I be flattered? I recall Natsuki-sempai once telling me that you receive so many written confessions, you've made it a habit not to respond to them unless the sender was courageous enough to put down their name."
Shizuru chuckled. "That is true, but, I suppose, I cannot be faulted for making exceptions for someone so beguiling I presumed them to be you, now can I?" She put the letter back in her blazer jacket pocket – not the student council president one, but one that just happened to be similar in color. Her voice grew serious. "Come back with me, Chikane-san," Shizuru said softly. "It's not too late."
Chikane's eyes cast downwards. "I'd like that very much, Shizuru-sempai," she admitted softly. "But I'm afraid that you will have to be the one to come with me."
Shizuru's gaze drifted over to the long sword that her friend - her opponent - was wielding. "Didn't you once tell me that your mother disapproved of swords?" She asked softly.
The blue-black haired girl's responding smile was sad. "... I can't see Okaa-sama approving of much I do these days."
There was silence in the air after that, regretful silence.
Shizuru frowned, and lifted her naginata-like weapon. "Come with you, hmm... " she said softly. "I suppose, if that is your wish, then who am I to refuse?"
The gauntlet thus thrown, Shizuru sprang towards Chikane, even as Take no Yamikazuchi roared in the background and lunged at Kiyohime.
Natsuki knew better than to let herself get distracted while on the road, especially when the rain was coming down as hard as it was, especially when their destination was still at least forty-five minutes away. It wasn't just her own life at risk either – Yuuki Nao's arms were holding her tightly around the waist and the younger girl was clinging to her back for shelter, for warmth, and for dear life. One wrong move, and they'd both be eating asphalt.
Still, she couldn't help herself. The tightness of Nao's arms around her reminded her so much of Shizuru's last embrace.
"How can you ask me to go?" Natsuki cried. "Shizuru, Chikane's... Chikane's not well!" She would have said that their friend was completely out of her mind, but, somehow, her heart kept telling her that that wasn't necessarily true. What was true however, was how absolutely dangerous Himemiya Chikane was proving herself to be. "I can't just leave you here and go running off!"
Her girlfriend smiled comfortingly at her, and brushed a lock of hair that had fallen in Natsuki's agitation back behind the white gold hair clip. "I won't be alone, Natsuki. Most of us are staying here after all. But you know that you will be of most help with Midori-sensei, and Nao-san. What we need right now are answers to the riddles, and you, knowing the riddles the most thoroughly, would be best at uncovering those answers."
"Stop saying those things," Natsuki almost begged, hating the logic coming out from Shizuru's lips because she already knew those things to be true and really didn't need to have them repeated to her. She reached up to touch the hand at the side of her face, to hold Shizuru's palm to her cheek, wishing the other girl could feel the way her heart was clenching in her chest. "Everyone's already said that to me a dozen times already but you, you of all people should understand why I can't go."
The way Shizuru's eyebrows crinkled with gratitude as she swallowed back the lump in her throat told Natsuki that she did understand - completely - Natsuki's sentiments. And Shizuru showed Natsuki what she was feeling too, by stepping forward and catching Natsuki's lips with her own.
Natsuki wasn't ready to be mollified so bodily, and even considered struggling for a moment, but the warmth of her lover, the taste of her lips, the smell of her skin, was too much to resist, and she found herself wrapping her arms around Shizuru's neck and pulling her closer instead, even as Shizuru moved her arms down to hug Natsuki tightly around the waist.
When they parted for breath, Natsuki kept her eyes closed, realizing she'd lost whatever edge she was hoping to use in convincing Shizuru into letting her stay.
"You are not leaving me to death or slavery, Natsuki." Shizuru said softly, the promise in her words echoing the pledge of her kiss. "I belong to you. No one else. So go and return quickly, and know that we're all waiting for you to return, all of us, even Chikane. We'll stop her, and we'll keep her whole until you do."
"Well, keep yourself whole too," Natsuki said, frowning intensely, as she reached up and touched Shizuru's cheek. "Don't underestimate her, okay? Kiyohime's big, but Chikane's Child, or whatever that thing is, he's strong..."
Shizuru smiled gently, even as she nodded, and then tilted her head to kiss Natsuki's fingertips, before those fingers turned her face back, so Natsuki could kiss her again.
Natsuki frowned as a sudden gust of wind forced her bike to the side, and she had to struggle to keep them from tipping. She felt Nao panic a little at the sudden motion and the grip around her midsection tightened until it hurt. Between their helmets and the rain, there was no way Natsuki could have heard the redhead, but she could have sworn she'd heard her string together a long rope of colorful obscenity. Then one of Nao's arms left Natsuki's waist and Natsuki could feel her passenger smacking her roughly upside the back of her helmet.
Natsuki rolled her eyes. Honestly, if Nao was going to complain so badly about her driving, she really should have just ridden with Midori.
The biker looked a little behind her, and could see the auburn haired teacher just a little ways behind her, standing on top of Gakutenou, on the platform between the massive spinning wheels that made up his hind legs, even as his front legs galloped furiously. She was wearing a bright yellow rain jacket and pants, and had the sensibility to cover half her face with goggles, but the wind had blown the attached hood of the jacket off her head, so her long hair was trailing behind her, soaked.
Natsuki turned her eyes back onto the road, feeling sorry for the teacher, and even a little bit for Nao behind her. She was almost frozen herself, and she was in full gear. No wonder Nao had chosen to ride with her instead; at least she could huddle against Natsuki's back for warmth.
Warmth.
Heat.
Why was she so surprised to find how warm a body lying next to her own could be, especially when that body belonged to someone was fiery and as passionate as Shizuru was? Why was she so surprised to find how warm her own body could be, still flushed from release? How could they be anything but warm after love making so intense?
Had it been intense? Actually, Natsuki wasn't sure. It wasn't like she had a frame of reference to compare to, after all. Lying on her back, looking up at the ceiling she could have sworn was spinning uncontrollably just moments ago (or had that simply been her vision?), she blinked slowly, still dazed, and mesmerized that the world outside of pounding and shuddering and her body and Shizuru's touch existed at all.
She turned to face Shizuru.
Her girlfriend was lying on her side, facing her, one arm supporting her head, the other one tracing lazy circles around Natsuki's lower abdomen and giving her a fond smile. The ever present adoration and esteem that usually glittered so freely in those ruby depths were there, of course, but they shared space in Shizuru's eyes with dark passion, and heady desire, and bodily need, and Natsuki found herself wondering just how warm Shizuru's body could get.
Rolling carefully onto her own side, Natsuki tenderly lowered her head to catch Shizuru's lips softly, pushing the older girl onto her back as she continued to roll her own body over top of the older girl to straddle her, careful to keep most of her weight on her legs, nestled against the sides of Shizuru's hips. She let her hands glide down the body of her girlfriend, her lover, her most important person.
The gala had already started; they were already running late.
Natsuki decided to take her time anyway.
She let her lips meander away from Shizuru's swollen own to nibble along the older girl's jaw line, then, onto her throat. The vibrations from Shizuru's satisfied purring felt funny against Natsuki's mouth, and she couldn't help but smile, even as she continued to kiss her way downwards. She'd have to remember that Shizuru liked having her collar bone suckled.
Just like how she'd have to remember that the flesh on Shizuru's side, just below her breasts, was also a delightfully sensitive place that could cause shudders to ripple across her lover's flank.
Shizuru made another noise in the back of her throat as her fingers dug encouragingly into Natsuki's scalp. She let her head roll backwards in pleasure, the action causing her back to arch a little off from the bed. Just enough to let Natsuki slip her hands underneath the other girl's torso and slide them upwards to, with a little bit of leverage, lift Shizuru upright off the bed, as Natsuki shifted her own weight back into a sitting position.
Shizuru's eyes fluttered open, a little disoriented, before looking upwards to focus on Natsuki's own, and Natsuki found herself utterly swallowed in Shizuru's crimson gaze, curtained by her own long blue-black tresses falling downwards, dark with wild passion. Shizuru lifted a hand up to thread her fingers through Natsuki's hair, grasping a handful of it at the back of Natsuki's head, to pull Natsuki downwards, crushing their lips together hungrily.
Things got a bit more intense after that.
Somehow, their slow, gentle, love making suddenly took on an almost fearsome sense of urgency, like they just could not get enough of one another, like they could never get enough of one another, and Natsuki found herself almost fighting Shizuru – with nips and teeth, with nuzzles and caresses, with hard kisses that left both of them gasping – to pin the older girl back down again, so that she could keep exploring this wondrous body that was now *hers* (*hers*, and *no one* *else's*), the way she wanted to, the way Shizuru had just explored hers, the way she suspected Shizuru was far too aroused to appreciate, at least, for now, but would undoubtedly come to appreciate, in short order.
Gasping. They were both gasping, even as Natsuki finally had Shizuru back down on the bed, holding the tawny haired girl's hands above her head by the wrists, on the pillows. And then Natsuki let those wrists go and kissed Shizuru deeply again, and a moment later, could feel those hands on her face once more, cupping her cheeks.
They took only a moment longer to rest their foreheads against one another, and then, Shizuru whispered, so softly, so throatily with lust, that Natsuki could barely hear her.
"... Natsuki...*please*..."
And Natsuki realized she might have enjoyed herself at her lover's tortured excitement for a little too long. She slid her hands down Shizuru's body, and Shizuru shivered with anticipation. She was already very ready, very aroused, from the time she had spent attending to Natsuki's own needs earlier, and Natsuki was somewhat amazed and fascinated by how slick her lover was, for all that she *still* felt like she really hadn't yet had the time to explore the tawny girl's body the way Shizuru had done for her.
For a moment, just a brief moment, Natsuki panicked when she was reminded that this was Shizuru's first time too, as she met a hint of resistance inside the slick heat. Shizuru made a noise that was half in pain, and half enthralled, and, after that brief hesitation, Natsuki realized that Shizuru was letting her know exactly what to do, even without the use of actual words in instruction.
Tentatively at first, and then with a little more boldness, Natsuki navigated her way through Shizuru's pleasure, and was rewarded when Shizuru gasped out of their kiss, throwing her head back as her body arched.
"Na...! Natsu...!"
Natsuki swerved wildly when a blowing leaf smacked into her visor. That time, both she and Nao screamed, and it was nothing short of a flat out miracle that they didn't become little bloody smears on the road to be run over by Gakutenou behind them.
Nao beat furiously on the back of Natsuki's helmet, and Natsuki could just imagine the younger girl almost hysterically screaming, 'the road, you idiot! Keep your mind on the road!'
Miraculously, after a few more minutes, the rain began to let up, and by the time they reached their destination, the small coastal town of Marohoba, the road was dry, and the skies were cloudy but beginning to clear.
They stopped at the first gas station in town, where Nao practically sprang off the motorcycle, and ripped her helmet off, her eyes ablazed with fury and indignation. She was absolutely drenched in her hoodie, leather jacket, and blue jeans, and her teeth were chattering fearsomely, but her body was evidently limber enough to execute a drop kick to the side of Natsuki's head, punting her right off the bike after the driver had pushed the kick stand down.
Natsuki sprang up to her feet and ripped her own helmet off. "What the hell, Nao?! What was that for?!"
"Stop fucking thinking about Fujino while you DRIVE!" Nao screamed, eye twitching furiously. "We could have DIED!"
Natsuki flushed a bright red. "How did you-?!"
"What ELSE would you have been thinking about?!" Nao continued to rant, throwing her hands up in the air, even as she savagely ripped some paper towels out of the dispenser and tried unsuccessfully to dry herself off. "Blessed Jesus, there is a time and a place, Kuga!"
"Natsuki, where the hell have you been?!" Mai shouted on the phone so loudly that Natsuki had to jerk her head away to save her eardrum. "An orphan showed up! A massive one! Mikoto came across it in the forest, and started to fight it, and she's been able to summon her claymore and Miroku too!"
"What?!" Fumbling off of Shizuru's bed, Natsuki desperately tried to find her underwear and put it on while still on the phone. Shizuru just looked at her, somewhat amused and bewildered by what had lit such a fire under her ass. "Is Mikoto okay? Are they still fighting?"
"No, they've finished, but, Natsuki, Mikoto didn't take down the orphan alone! Chikane was there too, and so was Groundskeeper Fumi, and, oh, Natsuki, I don't like this one bit! I don't like this at all!"
"Mai, calm down, and start from the beginning," Natsuki hissed, now trying to throw some pants on. Shizuru had to actually help her into her clothes, as she was so riled up she couldn't tell the difference between the left leg and the right leg of her jeans with most of her attention still on the phone with Mai.
"Her Child is HUGE, Natsuki!" Mai cried. "He's got to be the same size as Kagutsuchi, and he... he doesn't look right! His face is all twisted and skeleton like, and after they finished with the Orphan, I don't really know what happened, but Mikoto said Chikane's child turned his weapon – it's a bow and arrow – onto Miroku. She thinks Chikane might have attacked Miroku if Fumi hadn't stopped her!"
"Mai, we're on our way," Natsuki cried. "Hang in there!" Finally ending the call, Natsuki looked over at Shizuru, who had managed to get completely dressed already, and whose face was a mask of grim worry. "It's Chikane," Natsuki breathed, feeling her heart sink into her stomach. "Mai said she's tried to attack Mikoto."
If Midori hadn't pulled up on Gakutenou (and dismissed the Child quickly before the gas station attendant could see him), Natsuki and Nao might have killed each other. As it was they had both grabbed each other's cheeks and were pulling viciously. They didn't let each other go until Midori showered them with a spray of cold water as she took her goggles off and shook out her mass of long, pointy, waterlogged hair. "Wow, that was some ride, wasn't it? Remind me to inquire about the non-convertible option next time."
All three Hime could hear a disembodied whine from Midori's child. The teacher laughed, even as she looked up into the sky. "Just kidding, Gakutenou! Unless you've got like, a 'sedan' mode or something. Then I'm not."
"Please, can we not just get a car?" Nao asked, taking off her jacket and trying to wring it out. "Damn it, I chose to leave Fuuka because I didn't want to die or be maimed again, you know."
Natsuki visibly flinched as the redhead's thoughtless words cruelly reminded her of those they'd left in danger's place, but Nao wasn't apologetic. "Oh, don't get your panties in a bunch," Nao snapped. "Julia's 1/5th the size of monsters like Kagutsuchi and Kiyohime. There's a big difference in the survival probabilities between me and Fujino or Tokiha."
While the redhead was likely right in her assessment, that still didn't make Natsuki feel any better about the circumstances of their leaving.
"I'm going," Natsuki said hesitantly, finding it hard to meet Shizuru's gaze. She swallowed the lump down in her throat. Ittekimasu.
"Come back safely," Shizuru responded. And she tilted her head up to kiss Natsuki on the forehead. Itterashai.
"You too." Natsuki gave Shizuru's hand a tight squeeze.
And then Natsuki swung her leg over her bike, and waited for Nao to get on.
Midori gave her a thumbs up atop Gakutenou and then the three of them were off.
As they drove down the street, and then another, and then another, Natsuki heard a terrific, horrifyingly familiar screech. Skidding to a halt that also turned her bike around 90 degrees, Natsuki stared back in the direction they had come from, flipping her visor up for a better view, and felt her heart drop into her stomach as she thought she saw Kiyohime's form appear in the distance, mouths on all six heads open, teeth bared, and hissing.
The image of Kiyohime didn't stay for long. Within the span of an eye blink, the Child then wavered, and disappeared, as though it were never there in the first place.
Natsuki started in horror at where Kiyohime had disappeared.
"Shizuru..." She whispered, swallowing.
Revving her engine, she started to head back in the direction they'd come from, but Nao grabbed her shoulder and shook her roughly, flipping her visor up to speak. "Get a hold of yourself, Kuga. We have to go now. It's okay. Fujino knows what she's doing. And you are not going to be any help to her if you go after her with her head half baked. Let's go."
Natsuki clenched her fists. "But-"
"Don't make her have to worry about you too," Nao snapped.
And Natsuki grit her teeth. Pushing her visor back down, she reluctantly turned the bike around.
"Hmm... I think Oogami Shrine isn't actually that much further away," Midori said, taking her backpack off of her shoulders, and then opening it up to pull out a map. "Yeah, there it is. It should only be about another thirty five more minutes, and at least the rain's let up."
"It's closer than that, Midori-chan!" Came a happy voice.
The girls all looked up and saw a good looking man with tousled brown hair smiling at them; he'd come out from the gas station.
Midori's eyes brightened. "Yuki-chan! What are you doing here?"
Morimoto Yukihito laughed. "Well, your email sounded so urgent, I thought I'd go meet you to welcome you, and was just stopping for gas. Didn't realize you'd get here so soon." He looked over Natsuki and Nao and nodded in greeting, the two students returning the motion. "Hey, how'd you get here anyway? Don't tell me you balanced all three of you on that motorcycle?"
Midori laughed. "Nah, our butts aren't that small. But if you've got a car, I am definitely gonna let you pick us up!" She looked back at Nao and Natsuki, who didn't seem all that pleased with her, and amended her statement. "Erm, well, I mean, you can pick me up. Those two are still jail bait."
Yukihito chuckled, and held up his left hand to show a wedding band. "Sorry, Midori-chan, but I don't think the husband would be too pleased if I did that! He's open minded, but not that open minded."
"O-ho!" Midori gave a cluck of approval and grabbed Yukihito's hand to look at his ring. "When and where did this happen?"
"Just earlier this year," Yukihito replied gamely. "Did it in a quaint little tourist town in Canada. Oh! I'll tell you all about it on the way! Shall we go?"
Chikane swung and if Shizuru hadn't flipped back at the exact moment that she had, it was likely she would have lost her head.
Shizuru frowned.
Or would I have?
They'd been fighting and parrying each other's strikes for a while now, and Shizuru could not shake the distinct sensation that her opponent was pulling her punches. She herself, was, of course, doing the same. Every cut, very slash, every thrust was deliberate, on Chikane's part, too deliberate. She was broadcasting her moves very clearly and very evidently, and Shizuru could feel like the other girl was simply going through the motions, like she didn't actually want to hurt her.
It was a curious sensation, Shizuru thought, since she knew she was doing the same. It was almost like the Festival again, when she had fought against Natsuki in their final battle. Bullets had flown everywhere, and Shizuru's whip like glaive had destroyed many things, and yet, neither she nor Natsuki had gotten a scratch on the other, until the very end, when Natsuki had ordered Duran to take out Kiyohime. And even then, in each other's arms, with the air cleared between them, Shizuru had felt more peace than pain.
Shizuru frowned. She tried to read into Chikane's movements. She couldn't shake the feeling that the blue-black haired girl, her friend, her good friend, was trying to tell her something with her sword that wasn't along the lines of 'I-want-to-cut-you-up-into-little-pieces.'
In fact, if anything, the way the sword wielder was moving, the slips that kept entering her guard, the way each move was just a little too slow, or just a little over-reached, it was almost like Chikane was asking, no begging, for her to end this.
Shizuru bit her lip. That was not something she was willing to do.
She had promised Natsuki that she'd keep Chikane safe and whole, after all.
So they danced, and feigned against one another, and in her own movements, Shizuru let Chikane know that she intended to do (or not do).
"Enough of this," Chikane finally hissed, evidently getting Shizuru's unspoken message. "Get serious, Shizuru-sempai. Do you know what happens if you do not defeat me? If I turn you, and Kiyohime, onto my side?"
"Humour me," Shizuru said. "What happens?"
"Then you lose Natsuki-sempai." Chikane said, and even as she said this, she let go of her sword, and it disappeared into nothingness before it even hit the ground. A ball of light appeared in Chikane's hand, and winked into the shape of a bow. Chikane brought it up, and pulled the string back. She looked up at where Take no Yamikazuchi was dueling Kiyohime, in the distance behind Shizuru. Even as she looked at the two monstrous forms, an arrow appeared in her bow, and began to glow red.
"No, it's not that you lose her." Chikane amended. "It's more like you never meet her in the first place. Your prized relationship, with your most important person. It never happens in the first place at all. She becomes nothing to you, and yet, you will remember what might have been, what should have been. Is that despair something you can stand?"
Shizuru's eyes narrowed.
Chikane began to loose her arrow.
Shizuru lashed out with her naginata. The pole extended into a whip and flung out at Chikane, the blade catching her in the middle.
Chikane gave a cry of pain, and her arrow lost its red tinge, returning to blue-green. She lost her hold on it, firing it, and it flew straight into Shizuru's leg.
Moving out of the visiting professor's residences proved surprisingly fast. The last of the boxes were packed a couple hours sooner than Juri thought she would finish, so she had a while to wait before the movers would show up to take it all.
She supposed it was a mercy that she hadn't moved very much of her things permanently to Fuuka yet. Most of her things fit into eight or ten boxes and several garment bags.
Himeko's items had only taken half a box.
The thought of her… (her what? Her girlfriend? Her ex?)... the thought of Himeko made Juri's heart clench.
Get used to it, Juri, she told herself. It's only going to get worse.
Himeko had barely kept anything here after all that Juri had to sort through. That was a slightly different story back in Tokyo. She really didn't relish the task awaiting her back in their home there. Not that Himeko had that much more stuff there either, but every single thing she owned (since she owned so little), had some sort of special meaning or significance, and Juri had bought most of that for her...
Oh gods, I am going to need a drink.
Heading to the kitchen, she unpacked a bottle of wine, and uncorked it. She considered drinking straight from the lip of the bottle, but, at the last minute, decided to unpack a glass.
Just because she was heartbroken didn't mean she was a barbarian, after all.
Heading over into the living room, she flicked the built-in sound system on for one last listen. She had enjoyed this feature of the unit, and would probably get something similar installed into her home in Tokyo.
After a moment, piano music came on.
Juri frowned as she nursed her wine. She didn't recognize the song, but it suited her mood just fine. Despite knowing better than to let it do this, her mind drifted back to happier times with Himeko.
The music playing in the background was soft, and they were sitting at a comfortable distance from the fire so that the flames were gently warm against her skin, though, not as warm as Himeko was. They were kissing, their mouths exploring each other's with a pleasant urgency they'd experienced many times before in the last year since they'd started their relationship, though they had yet to surmount beyond this.
Himeko broke off the kiss but continued to hold Juri's head against her own, breathing deeply. Juri could recognize the telltale signs of anxiety from her girlfriend, and though the dull ache inside her lower abdomen protested, she moved to pull her hands back out from under Himeko's sweater, as she had brought herself to do several times before.
Curiously, this time, Himeko stopped her, removing one of her hands from Juri's face to press it against Juri's own, overtop of her sweater, staying the hand where it was, lightly grasping her breasts.
Juri raised an eyebrow. "... Himeko?" She asked softly.
Himeko swallowed, obviously nervous. "... don't stop." Himeko said softly. "Juri-chan, whatever I say, don't... don't stop, okay? Don't... don't let me run away again. I'm ready. I'm... I'm a little scared, but... I'm ready."
Juri frowned, even as she pulled back so she could look her girlfriend in the eyes. She was only able to look into those conflicted lilac pools for a moment before Himeko cast them away from her. Juri's frown deepened – it was so obvious when Himeko lied. "How can you be ready if you're scared?"
Himeko didn't answer right away. She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering courage, before reopening them and finally turning to look Juri in hers. Those lilac depths remained complicated. "Juri-chan, we've been together for a year already," she said softly, "and neither of us are young anymore. I'm ready. I want... I want you to make love to me. I want... I want to make love to you." She blushed something fierce. "So please, don't... don't let me run away anymore."
She gazed at her girlfriend in appraisal, surprised and maybe a little excited that the other woman finally wanted to take this step. Nodding, Juri gave Himeko a shy smile. "Alright," she promised softly, before moving her head forward to capture Himeko's lips once again, the small woman digging her fingers into her hair.
A little while later, Juri got off the couch, and offered Himeko her hand. Himeko stared at the outreached fingers, and seemed to hesitate for another moment, before reaching out and grasping Juri's fingertips, following her into the bedroom.
Juri took a deep, shuddering breath, and put her wine glass down on the coffee table. She ran her hand through her flame colored locks and tried to keep it together. Despite this, however, she found her eyes looking over at the one box stacked on the top of all the other boxes by the door.
'Don't go there. Don't go to it. Don't do it. Don't open the box. Stop it. Stop opening the box. Stop this now, Juri. Don't pull back the tape. Don't do it. Stop pulling the- Fuck.'
Standing in front of the boxes, Juri found her arms shaking as she ripped the packing tape off and threw open the lid. With trembling hands, she pulled the garment bag protecting the red evening gown out and then practically ripped the dress out of the bag to cling to it, sinking to the ground as she pressed it tightly to her chest.
Himeko was silent as Juri pulled her sweater over her head, mussing up her long, tawny colored locks. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she looked up at Juri with worried anticipation in her eyes, even as Juri pulled her own shirt over her head, and then crawled onto the bed on top of her lover, their bodies touching as Juri gently pushed Himeko down into the satin sheets.
They kissed again, and for a while, Himeko was calm. But she murmured nervously against Juri's mouth when Juri unclasped her bra, and slipped her skirt and panties off.
Juri struggled to keep a steady breath as she simply held Himeko's dress against herself, burying her face against it. She thought she could still faintly detect the perfume Himeko had been wearing that night from the soft, silky fabric.
Despite the woman's earlier words, it was painfully, obviously, clear that she was not ready.
Himeko swallowed nervously, blinking several times.
"See, the thing about puppies? Um, about, about, shiba-inu puppies? They... they're kinda mischievous, so, so, you have to really, um, look after them closely. Um. If you don't, they'll... they'll run away, and they don't know they're running away. They don't know that they're causing trouble. Um. They wouldn't want to cause anyone trouble, um, right. Because... they're just puppies, and you know, just... just puppies, who don't know any better. They don't really know what they're doing, right? How... how could they know? How could they know..."
Juri stopped what she was doing, and looked up at Himeko confusedly. Himeko was looking straight up at the ceiling, but when Juri tried to move her hands away, the tawny haired woman shook her head ever so slightly.
Himeko's words came back to Juri. 'Don't... don't let me run away again.'
Frowning and unsettled, none the less, Juri continued.
So did the babbling.
"... but, I mean, I guess, I suppose, if they do cause trouble, then... then the only thing to do is to punish them for it, right? To... to let them know that they did wrong, so... so they don't do it again... even if they don't really know what they did wrong, because... you know... they're just puppies... "
Himeko licked her lips. She looked down, for a moment, and then quickly looked back up, biting her lip. She blinked several times in rapid succession.
"But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that they don't know, because, you know, even if they're just playing... um... if... if they do get out of the yard, you... you have to look for them right away, you know? Because... because if you don't... um... they could get in trouble. They could even get in traffic accidents, and, well, nobody wants that... right? So... so, you have to... to scold them. Right. Scold them. And make sure they don't leave the safety of the yard again, right? Because... because... well, what if they're not lucky? Right? I mean, what if they're not lucky, and... and it's traffic they run into, instead of rose bushes, and... and you can't let them do that... you have to punish them... so... so... they don't end up in traffic... because, because it won't always be rose bushes, right? Because... because they won't always find... find rose bushes... so... so you won't always be able to... to catch up to them... so... so instead of... of a meeting... a meeting that could change... change your whole life... they... they could get run over instead... so... so you have to... to protect... to... protect... them... even if that means... even if... if that... if that means... even if that means... means... you... you... you have to... to hurt... to hurt..."
Himeko got very, very quiet after that, her breath hitching in her throat as she squeezed her eyes tight and just let her body convulse.
It took a while, but eventually, Juri calmed down. Swearing softly to herself, she stood up on unsteady feet, and tried to put the dress back on the hanger to put back in the garment bag. It didn't work, and for a few minutes, she couldn't figure out what was wrong with her that she couldn't even accomplish such a simple task.
It took her a while to realize that she'd actually damaged the dress, quite irrevocably. The left strap was ripped up beyond repair.
Unwilling to accept that she couldn't fix the stupid dress, Juri went looking for a stapler.
Juri really, *really* wasn't sure if she was supposed to stop or not.
She couldn't shake the disturbing sensation in the back of her mind that her lover's babbling wasn't just caused by the nervousness of virginity, that it was actually a protective response mechanism to something... something buried deep inside Himeko's psyche.
Something... about being punished... for things she did not understand...
Truth be told, whatever that something was, Juri wasn't sure how she was supposed to handle it.
Yet Himeko had asked her to keep her tethered to the moment, no matter what happened, so Juri found herself bound to do as her beloved asked.
She kissed Himeko timidly on the shoulder. "Did I hurt you?"
Himeko was turned away from her, and silent. It was pretty obvious to Juri that Himeko was trying her absolute damndest to keep her tears hidden from Juri's view, but that only served to tie her stomach up into even tighter knots. For a while, a long while, Juri just held onto Himeko, unsure of what to do, and wondering why something as beautiful as an honest act of love and desire could bring such acute anguish to the other woman, but, of course, there was no way she could ask Himeko that.
After a while, Himeko stopped trembling, and took a long, deep breath. Then, she rubbed her eyes, and then rolled over to give Juri a hug. Juri could still feel slight shivering coming from Himeko, but at least it wasn't as bad as before.
"No, you didn't hurt me, Juri-chan." Himeko said softly. Her voice sounded so confused. "It... it... didn't hurt at all."
Juri frowned. Himeko was horrible at lying, absolutely dismal at it. That Juri could not detect even a hint of a falsehood in the tawny haired woman's words told her that Himeko was not lying, that Juri hadn't hurt her, but it was also clearly obvious that, for whatever reason, Himeko had also been convinced that it should have.
They laid against each other for a long while after that. Still. It was clear that Himeko had a lot on her mind.
And then, unexpected, Himeko gave Juri a shy smile (after wiping away the last of her tears), and again, Juri could not detect any dishonesty in that expression – just confusion, and maybe a little bit of wonderment, and awe.
"It was... it was good." Himeko said softly, as though she wouldn't have thought that possible. "It was really... good."
Pushing down that perturbed sensation in the back of her mind, Juri hid her own discomfort a bit more successfully than her girl friend had been able to accomplish with a sardonic smile. But she still bit back the quip on her tongue 'should I be feeling happy with the compliment? Or insulted that you were so doubtful?' because, frankly, she didn't know if she wanted the answer.
It was the farthest thing away from an elegant repair job, but somehow Juri managed to get the dress to stay on the hanger (by forcibly stapling the damn thing to it), and shoved the dress back in the garment bag. Hopefully Tomoyo or someone else at Miracles could salvage it or something. She went to put the garment bag back in the box when she spied something she had completely not been expecting to find.
Himeko's photo album.
Juri blinked at the item, flabbergasted. She was quite certain she hadn't seen the photo album in the box earlier, and she'd done the packing personally.
'... when did this end up in here?' Juri wondered, even as she put the dress back down to pull the worn book out of the box. She stared at it in wonder, and gently ran her fingers down the cover, tracing over the groves long left there by Himeko's own fingers.
Dimly, she was aware that the music – piano – was still playing in the background, moody and melancholic.
She'd been content to just hold Himeko. She really had been. After Himeko's... reaction, she was quite certain that her girlfriend wouldn't be ready for any more (and, really, Juri wasn't sure if *she* was either), so she really hadn't been expecting it at all when Himeko removed her head from where she'd tucked it under her own chin. Propped up on her own elbows as the tawny haired woman was, Juri had to look up at Himeko and found her vision filled with soft, amethyst eyes, looking at her with a sense of curious appraisal and hooded eye wonder she hadn't seen in those lilac depths before.
It sent a shiver down her spine.
"It's okay, Himeko," Juri lied with a smile. "You don't have to..."
Himeko blushed. "But I... I want to." She said, cheeks still blushing, even as she hesitantly reached out and rested her fingers on one of the sensitive tips of Juri's breasts, and then nudged her finger *just* *so*, sending fireworks of need shooting down between Juri's legs.
Juri almost flinched.
It had been so *long*.
Himeko's eyes widened a little, and then the corners of her lips turned shyly upward, transforming the look of surprise on her mouth into one of shy delight.
Now Juri couldn't help but feel the heat rise in her own cheeks.
"O-Oi," she said, starting to feel so aroused she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. "Himeko, wait, I-" Her lover silenced her with a kiss.
Juri sat down heavily in the chair again. She kept caressing the photo album, suddenly nervous to open it, though she couldn't understand why. The music kept playing in the background, and Juri couldn't help but wonder why it sounded so damn familiar.
Summoning up her courage, Juri opened the cover of the photo album.
"Uuungh!" Juri cried, clutching her lover's head to her chest as she climaxed, the force of it sending her back arching off the bed, even with the added body weight on top of her. She stayed there for a while, before collapsing back down into the sheets, gasping for breath.
Himeko rested her head on Juri's chest silently, also breathing deeply. Eventually, she craned her head up so that their eyes could meet each other's once more, and Himeko was blushing again.
"... thank you, Juri-chan," Himeko said softly.
Juri smiled weakly. "Why are you thanking me? I feel like I should be the one thanking you."
The tawny haired woman only smiled shyly back, and rested her head on her flame haired lover's chest once more.
"I think I just... really needed to see... to see you... like that," Himeko finally said, hugging Juri tightly. "I don't know... I don't know what I was so... so apprehensive about."
The tawny haired woman's confession brought a frown to Juri's face, but tucked under her chin as she was, Himeko couldn't see it.
Juri thought back to Himeko's babbling, and the creepy, unsettled feeling of unease it had prompted in the back of her mind. She kissed the top of Himeko's head and decided not to tell her about it.
She suspected her lover didn't even know what she'd been saying.
Juri's eyes went wide as she stared at the photos. She had seen these pictures before – Himeko had shown them to her before, of course. Her memory told her they had been pictures of nothing – slightly out of focus pictures with no one in them.
Those pictures were no longer of no one now; they were fully occupied.
With a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach, Juri flipped through the album, and found pages and pages full of pictures of Himemiya Chikane, looking happier than she'd ever seen the girl before.
Here the girl was, sitting under a tree, reading a book.
There she was again, wearing a froofy apron and whisking something white and fluffy while looking over her shoulder at the camera.
How is this possible?! Juri thought to herself, her mind blown, and completely bewildered.
The pictures were old – obviously old. They weren't even taken with a digital camera. The blue-black haired girl was wearing a maroon school uniform in most of the pictures, though in some of them, she wore normal clothes – like the one where she was playing the violin, an expression of serenity on her face.
Juri's hands froze as her eyes fell onto one of the last pictures.
It was a picture of a teenaged Himeko smiling joyously at the camera, wearing that same maroon school uniform of Ototachibana Acadamy. Holding Himeko in her arms, her chin resting on top of Himeko's head, was Himemiya Chikane, also smiling happily, eyes sparkling with fondness and contentment and looking exactly the same age as Himeko was.
The book fell out of Juri's hands and clattered noisily to the floor. She looked up at the ceiling in complete incomprehension, eyes wide but not really seeing anything.
She stayed that way for a very long time, until several things suddenly clicked into her mind at the same time.
The first fact was that she finally recognized the music she'd been listening to for the last little while. She had heard it during that Board of Director's meeting; it was Himemiya Chikane's music.
The second fact was that Himemiya Chikane was *not* the other woman.
Juri buried her head in her hands.
*She* was.
Juri stayed that way a very long time, with her head in her hands. She didn't know what to do, or how it was possible, or why it felt so...
"Himeko, why do you travel so much? What are you looking for in all these places?"
"... someone special. Just for me."
... so inevitable.
'She's the one.' Himeko's note had read.
Her phone rang. She let it go to voicemail.
It rang again. And again.
Finally, Juri picked up the phone. "What?!" She snarled.
"J-Juri-san?" Came a soft, male voice she hadn't heard in a while.
Juri blinked. "Miki?"
"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" Asked the former child prodigy (now out and out genius) she's gone to school with.
Juri was very silent as she warred with herself. Finally, she let out a deep breath through her nostrils. "No, you're not." She finally said. "I'm just... I'm just having a rough day. What's going on, Miki? It's not every day you call."
"Yes, well, my apologies, Juri-san," Miki said. "I should call more often but, I got a call from Touga-sempai. Do you remember him?"
Juri frowned. "Touga?" Of course she remembered him. She hadn't spoken to the man who had been student council president while she had been treasurer in high school since she'd graduated. "What about him?"
"I think he would have called you directly but he didn't have your number. He's Headmaster at Ohtori Academy and, well, something's happened that's made national news; they found a body on campus recently. A body that's been there for 16 years."
Juri's eyes widened. "16 years?" She echoed. Her heart stopped. "Miki, is it...?"
"It's looking more and more like it is, yes." Miki replied, pain evident in his voice.
Neither of them were able to say the girl's name, though they were both thinking of her.
Juri's heart squeezed. The image of a pink haired girl with eyes as clear as the ocean meeting the sky came to her mind's eye.
She couldn't remember the girl's name.
Why couldn't she remember the girl's name?
Breathing.
There was a lot of heavy breathing, and panting, signs of great exertion, in the desolate, middle-of-nowhere landscape with eight torii gates.
Presently, two girls were sitting, back to back, upon the sixth gate. Both their eyes were closed.
Chikane was resting with her knees pulled up almost to her chest, her arms wrapped around her stomach. Beads of sweat dripped down her face, and she was gasping for breath. Her Fuuka school uniform (just the necktie, shirt and skirt, actually; she hadn't worn the jacket) was ripped and torn in several places, and there were numerous bruises and cuts and scrapes all over her long, formerly porcelain legs. Ominous, dark redness was pooling out under her arms where she held her midsection, staining the sleeves of her shirt.
Shizuru leaned her back against Chikane's back. One of her legs were also up, the other one (the foot missing a shoe) dangling over the side of the torii gate, with a glowing blue-green arrow embedded in her thigh, just above her knee. The blade of her dark red naginata-like weapon was embedded several inches into the top of the torii gate, the handle sticking up in the air at a slight angle. Perspiration also dripped from her face as she breathed deeply, and her clothing was also ripped and revealing in many places. She rolled her head backwards, resting it on Chikane's shoulder, exposing her throat. As her head fell back, a trickle of blood crept down out of her hair line, down her temple, and dripped past her ear.
In the background, their bottom halves obscured by the fog, Take no Yamikazuchi was completely caught in the coils of Kiyohime's necks, though his monstrous fists had crushed one, and was tightly holding onto two others. They didn't move, locked in this deadly embrace.
The blue-green arrow in Shizuru's thigh flickered once, twice, and then disappeared, leaving a burn mark where it had pierced her skin. When this happened, Shizuru gave a grunt of pain, and then opened her crimson eyes, faintly glowing in the moonlight, and looked out the corner of them.
At the same time, Chikane opened her own brightly glowing and dully mat yellow ones, also swivelling them to the side to regard the tawny haired head resting on her shoulder.
Shizuru spoke first, her voice hoarse. "... Are you doing alright back there?"
It took Chikane a while to respond. "Yes." She finally managed, even as the red from her tummy continued to stain the sleeves of her shirt. And then, she added, "Shizuru-sempai, you are insane."
Through her hard breathing, Shizuru managed a smile. "Coming from you, Chikane-san, that's pretty bad." Somehow, she managed a chuckle.
Now Chikane managed a wry smile.
They were interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.
Shizuru raised an eyebrow, but none the less, she sat upright, allowing Chikane to sit up a little with a grimace, and reach into the pocket of her skirt to bring out her phone. Chikane held the phone to her ear. "Yes?"
Shizuru frowned, and moved her head closer to Chikane's to try to hear the conversation.
A man's voice could be heard on the line. He sounded a little amused. "Fascinating. And just what is going through your mind right now, hmm? Besides Obsidian's ranting and raving, I'm sure."
Chikane grimaced, as she expended some energy to heal the cut on her abdomen. "Isn't that for me to know and for you to find out?"
The man on the line chuckled. "Well, I suppose it remains to be seen whether I care enough to." He paused. "Give my regards to Fujino-san."
And then, he hung up.
Shizuru frowned when Chikane slid the phone back into her pocket. "Who was that?"
Chikane was silent, as she gathered her concentration to heal her wounds. "... my father." She said darkly. "He wanted to say hello."
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
*sigh* I really wrestled with whether to address the KnM assault in this fic from Himeko's sort-of-not-quite-remembered-point-of-view. I didn't know if I could pull it off. And then I watched Utena's, "The Prince that Runs Through the Night" again, and thought that, even if I couldn't, I had to try (and that scene ended up being heavily influenced by that episode, as those of you who are familiar with Utena may be acutely aware). So hopefully that was, um, creepy, but, okay. Mrrphg. -_-
I really don't know if Yukihito is gay or not, in canon, but, he feels a lot like a nice gay boy to guubear and I, so, there we go. And apparently, Canada legalized gay marriage in 2005, so Yukihoto really could have gotten married if this fic took place a few months after Mai Hime first aired. XD! Wow! Why does it still feel like that happened yesterday, rather than 8 years ago?
Next chapter should be out between April 16-April 20 (really unlikely to be early this time).
Cheers,
jen-chan
jen-chan-shaw. livejournal. com
OMAKE I: Yay, Transformers!
[NATSUKI and SHIZURU are running, hand in hand, desperately trying to get away from some UNSEEN ASSAILANT. NATSUKI is a little further ahead than SHIZURU. Suddenly, out of nowhere, GIANT CARWASH OF DESTINY pops out from the earth and swallows NATSUKI whole.]
NATSUKI: AAAH!
SHIZURU: Natsuki!
[SHIZURU desperately tries to pull NATSUKI out of GIANT CARWASH OF DESTINY, but fails. Totally awesome but kinda weird choral rock music starts playing in the background that somewhat resembles GREGORIAN CHANTING. GIANT CARWASH OF DESTINY pops back into the ground, and where NATSUKI was, instead is a navy-blue, sparkly DUCATI MOTORCYCLE]
SHIZURU: ... Natsuki?
NATSU-CYCLE: Beep! Beep! [Motor revs, and headlights blink off and on.]
SHIZURU: ...? Natsuki, is that you?
NATSU-CYCLE: Beep! [Headlight blinks again]
SHIZURU: ... ?[Hesitantly walks over to NATSU-CYCLE and puts a hand on one of the handlebars.]
NATSU-CYCLE: Beep! [Engine revs again.]
SHIZURU: Well, um, okay. [Slides a leg over NATSU-CYCLE's seat and straddles her.] Oh! You're warm!
NATSU-CYCLE: ...! [Headlights turn pink]
SHIZURU: [Practically lying down on top of NATSU-CYCLE.] Reeeally warm.
NATSU-CYCLE: ... ... ... [Headlights are still pink. Weakly.] Bu-bu-beep...?
[Suddenly, MOVIE!UTENA (totally naked but important bits are covered by waves upon waves of cascading pink hair) walks onto the scene and jams a HELMET on top of SHIZURU's head.]
SHIZURU / NATSU-CYCLE: ?
MOVIE!UTENA: Practice safe sex, kids!
OMAKE II: Roger Doger Rabbit.
[CHIKANE is sitting in a chair wearing a sparkling red dress with her waist cinched so ridiculously tiny, her neck is wider around. She also wears purple gloves pulled up passed her elbows, as well as a super heavy, purple eye shadow and red lipstick. Her hair covers one eye, and she's got a long cigarette holder in between two fingers. SHIZURU is standing beside her, wearing a suit, and acting as her attorney. There are a whole slew of microphones set up in front of her with reporters and photographers snapping pictures.]
REPORTER1 : Miss Himemiya! Miss Himemiya! Dave Jones with the Daily Star! As readers have pointed out, you're evil quite often! Why is that?
CHIKANE: [Looks up at SHIZURU, who nods. Turns to look dispassionately at the reporter] I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way.
OMAKE III: Can't forget the Mai-Hime Style Preview Of Next Episode
[MIDORI's voice can be heard doing the voice over for a series of fast paced clips edited together very confusingly and with deliberate misrepresentation so brazen the producers should be ashamed of themselves.]
MIDORI: Next time, on Revolutions, a Kannazuki no Miko, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Mai Hime X-over, I get screen time! Woohoo!
MAKOTO: [Pops up beside MIDORI holding two beers and gives one to MIDORI] Hey, don't forget me! I get screen time too! Yay! I'm so glad I'm not the only straight woman in this fic! I was totally starting to feel outnumbered!
MIDORI: Cheers! [Clinks glasses with MAKOTO] Hey, wait, should you be having that? Aren't you expecting?
MAKOTO: What? No! [Checks the script again] Aww, what the crap?! This is so totally unfair!
MIDORI: It's alright! I'll drink enough for the both of us! So please, stay tuned for the next chapter of Revolutions, Chapter 15 – 'Oogami Shrine'!