Chapter Five

Written: 12 July 2005

Re-written: 22 August 2006

Re-re-written: 14 June 2007

(Last time, I swear) Edited: 18 July 2012

(Why is this so hard) Edited: 07 October 2012

The next day dawned bright and clear, and as usual Anshii was awake before Utena. The pink-haired girl sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes slowly, vowing to herself that one day, she was going to wake up before Anshii. Not that she really thought she could do it, but she wanted to remind herself that she had to try.

Just as Utena was contemplating getting out of bed to do something about the mess she'd made of her hair during the night, the door opened and Anshii's cheerful face poked in. Utena thought she looked far too cheerful for the ungodly hour of seven AM.

"Good morning, Utena! You should hurry and take care of the twins, breakfast is almost ready!" She ducked out of the room, then almost immediately back in, "And I promise it won't switch our bodies." And of course, at that precise moment the twins began fussing. Utena laughed tiredly and climbed out of bed, yawning one last time for good measure. Anshii smiled fondly at her champion, then some timer went off in the kitchen, prompting her to retreat hurriedly.

Utena made her way to the bassinet, scooping up the nearest twin and soothing her gently as she unbuttoned the little fleece pajamas, blue ones that marked this twin as Nishiki. She lay the baby down on the changing table, then made a face as she opened the diaper.

"Wow, Ki-chan. This is what you get for drinking so much last night!" Laughing, she changed the baby's diaper with minimal fuss and almost no mess – a personal best – then set her back in the bassinet and retrieved her twin in the pale purple pajamas and changed her as well. Nishiko was fussing a bit more than her sister, so Utena was quick about unbuttoning her own pajama top and letting the baby nurse.

As she finished feeding Nishiko, Anshii came and poked her head into the room again, smiling at the gentle look on Utena's face as she coaxed the now-sleepy infant to let go so her sister could have breakfast. Stepping into the room, Anshii took the contented infant and casually planted a kiss on a stunned Utena's lips before sauntering out of the room, inwardly congratulating herself. Her hands had barely shaken.

Back in the living area, Anshii set the happily gurgling baby in a little swing-chair and pushed her slowly as she began to serve up breakfast for her and Utena, laughing to herself all the while. The look on Utena's face! Perhaps, just perhaps, it would be possible to get her point across without needing to resort to pure bluntness. Touching her fist to her forehead, she reminded herself that nothing serious was supposed to happen until Utena had healed. The doctor, with much patience and a little uncomfortable pantomime, had made that clear to the green-eyed girl.

'Still, I'd love to see the look on her face as I tell her "Utena, I would like very much to have sex with you." She'd die!'

She was wearing a white linen button-up blouse with the sleeves rolled halfway up, and after setting the rice bowls on the table, she reached up and undid the top three buttons and folded the collar back so that the a small sliver of her green silk bra was visible. Then she finished setting the table and gave Nishiko a little kiss on the head before carrying herself and her cleavage back to the bedroom, gratified to see blue eyes riveted on the revealed flesh. She smiled sweetly.

"Breakfast is ready, Utena. Come and eat before it gets cold, alright?" And then she ducked back out of the room, shutting the door behind her. She wondered if Utena might be getting the point. She had almost been looking forward to describing – in great detail – what she'd like to do to and with her Prince.

'I think I might be a pervert,' she thought sadly.

Utena sat very still for several minutes, trying to explain to her suddenly raging hormones why it was, exactly, that she was most certainly not going to ravish Anshii. The reasons were legion! First and foremost, she couldn't be absolutely certain that Anshii wasn't still bound in some way to her role of Rose Bride, and she couldn't bring herself to take advantage of that, even in the slightest. She already felt bad about having Anshii cooking breakfast – in more ways than one. She would never, ever eat Anshii's curry again. Ever. She had hopes for breakfast, but hadn't ruled out going out for American food, although she'd discovered it wasn't often to her tastes.

Picking up Nishiki with a shake of her head, she kissed the girl on the forehead and carried her out into the living room, setting her in the swing-chair with her sister before sitting down to breakfast herself. Picking up her chopsticks, she concentrated on not blushing every single time she so much as glanced at Anshii and all that exposed cleavage.

Breakfast was a little tense, as Utena strove to act normal and Anshii strove to make her blush. Still, they got through it without any major problems, and after the meal was over, things broke up quickly. Anshii stacked up the plates and bowls and carried them into the kitchen to wash, and Utena pushed the twins in their swing, singing softly to them, though they were already half-asleep.

In the kitchen, Anshii was up to her elbows in warm, soapy water, scrubbing the breakfast dishes and plotting at the same time. Picking up the big frying pan she used to cook the dried fish, she was washing and plotting how best to go about the next phase of her plans. So absorbed was she in her plotting, she didn't notice when Utena left the sleeping twins and entered the kitchen. Well, not until the pink-haired girl spoke.

"Anshii," Utena began, and Anshii jumped. She dropped the pan right back into the full sink with a yelp, and then gasped as the action sent a wave of soapy water over her. Her cream-coloured blouse was soaked through and instantly turned translucent, and her light bra didn't fare much better. Within an instant of Utena speaking, Anshii was standing there, all but topless and dripping wet. Had she noticed Utena's eyes riveted to her chest, she might have lingered for a moment, but instead she fled for the bedroom with a blush burning hotly on her cheeks.

Still in the kitchen, Utena blinked stupidly. She'd been intending to compliment Anshii on her outfit, but as soon as she had spoken the other girl's name chaos had erupted, and now she was standing alone in the kitchen, water seeping into her socks, wondering what exactly had happened.

It took her a moment to gather her wits about her, and then she headed for the bedroom, hoping that Anshii hadn't been burned by the hot water splashing on her. Without thinking, she opened the door and stepped into the room, to find Anshii standing in front of the dresser wearing nothing but a blue bra and panty set. She nearly swallowed her tongue, though Anshii wasn't even paying attention to her.

Leaning against the door frame, she unconsciously decided to cover her embarrassment with a joke. "You couldn't stand to have a set that didn't match, huh?" she asked, laughing. Unfortunately, Anshii took her a bit too seriously.

"No, I couldn't," she replied, looking annoyed, "I like to wear the sets. Besides, it's your fault that I had to change. You were the one who startled me!" Utena looked taken aback, but Anshii refused to feel bad. Not only was her plan failing and her newly-discovered competitive spirit taking a beating, but Utena was standing there, looking at her in her underwear, and didn't seem affected at all. She felt like throwing things and like crying all at once, and decided to take it out on Utena. "You startle me and made me drop the pan, then walk in on me changing and decide to tease me for what I like to wear? Just leave me alone!"

She turned her back on Utena, feeling tears welling up, and opened and closed drawers angrily, trying to find something else to wear. The first frustrated tears had just slipped out from the corners of her eyes when she felt a warm, intimately familiar presence just behind her, then gentle touches on her hands. Drawers were opened for her and an outfit taken out, while she stood there and cried.

Setting the clothes on top of the dresser, Utena gently turned Anshii around, noting, somewhat guiltily, the tears tracking down her cheeks. Enveloping the slim figure in a comforting hug, she spoke softly.

"I'm sorry, Anshii. I wasn't trying to be mean, I was just teasing, honest."

For a moment, Anshii stood very still, then she just gave up and leaned into her champion, throwing her arms around the taller girl's neck, and cried into her shoulder, talking between sobs. "You don't think I'm pretty, do you? You love me, but you don't want to be with me!"

Once again, Utena was startled. Gently lifting Anshii's chin, she looked down into those teary green eyes before lowering her head and gently kissing her tears away. "I do think you're pretty. I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and I do want to be with you. I really do. I just-"

"Don't!"

"I- don't what?" Utena looked startled at Anshii's vehement interruption.

"Don't say that you're afraid I only want you because I still think I'm the Rose Bride. I'm not! I'm not any of that anymore, I'm not him, I'm not his, I'm just a girl who loves another girl and wants so much to be with that girl that it hurts." A new flood of tears spilled down her cheeks, leaving Utena feeling guilty.

"I...well, I...Maybe I did think that. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed things. You're right. We're out of that place and those old roles don't fit anymore. I'm not anyone's Prince, anymore. I'm just...well, I'm just a girl who loves another girl too. And I do want to be with you."

Green eyes looked back up into hers searchingly, as if trying to be sure that Utena was telling the truth. After a few moments, Anshii's lips curled up in a watery smile. "Really?" she asked, almost as if she expected to be rejected.

"Really." Answered Utena, and lowered her head again, her lips finding the soft ones below her. Anshii's lips tasted like salted grapefruit, evidence of her tears. Utena had intended it to be a brief kiss of reassurance, but the dusky-skinned girl was having none of that. One hand went to the back of her head, and Anshii hung on, her mouth moving against Utena's, desperate for this kind of confirmation.

Utena was willing enough. They stood that way for several moment, alternating between kisses and simply standing close, their foreheads together and their breath mingling lightly as they soaked in each other. At some point, their kisses escalated from simple comfort and assurance to demanding, almost bruising, passion. They began to inch back towards the bed, eventually tumbling back onto the soft mattress together.

It was a rewarding morning for all those involved.

"Waaaaah!"

"It's your turn."

"But- ow! Okay, okay, I'm going!"

Well, mostly.

END CH. 5