Author's Note: Kerri let me have my way. NOW YOU KNOW WHY I NEEDED TO KNOW HOW TO SPELL YOUR NAME. XDDDD Steve, this chapter is all for you. On another note: papers, Animal Crossing, Wii, and Kigo fanfiction have stolen my life. Also the Shadow Girls are hard to write. This is all the apology I can come up with at the moment.

You're all going to hate me. I want you to know that I find this funny. I am a bad, bad person.

Kagayaku Means to Shine
Anime: Shoujo Kakumei Utena
Primary Pairing: Utena x Anshii
Rating: PG-13
Written: 15 April 2007
Chapter Twenty-Three

The forest was still and quiet, fog hanging heavy over the scarred marble of the dueling arena, its vast surface occupied only by a small cluster of quiet figures.

"Tenjou-kun. I trust you are ready for our duel?"

A silent nod.

"Very well. Satoru, prepare the duel."

At Ohtori Academy, that sanctified bastion of peace, serenity, and sanity, a battle was taking place.

"Duck and cover!"

"Get in the classroom, get in the classroom!"

"Are you crazy? Get out of the stairwell!"

A battle that, for once, had not a single blessed thing to do with a certain pair of twins.

"Somebody catch that kangaroo!"

"No way!"

"I got it!"

"Taiki, don't!"

A thump echoed through the hallways as a teenaged boy was flung against the wall, where he stayed, unmoving. He was swiftly forgotten as others battled the oncoming tide.

"Kasajima-senpai, the kangaroo!"

"I see it!"

"On three! One, two, thr-"

"Senpai!"

A second thump followed the first, but this time the victim was significantly less unconscious. As the kangaroo turned to attack a third person, a small blonde blur in an abbreviated boys' uniform flew at the animal's back, knocking it down. Two faceless students swiftly approached and carted it off, leaving Kasajima Mika standing alone in the hallway, barely breathing hard.

A young girl approached the blonde, holding a water bottle out.

"Are you alright, Kasajima-senpai?"

"I'm just great, Mari-chan," boasted the highschooler, flashing a sparkling white grin that turned into a bemused smile as the elementary school girl fainted dead away. Somebody quickly appeared to cart her off, much like the kangaroo, and the blonde simply shrugged.

"Alright everybody, gather round!"

A brief stampede later, Mika was surrounded by a large group of students, stars in their eyes.

"Taiki, you have to learn to dodge punches better."

The young man in question, propped up on a friend's shoulder, blushed.

"Everyone else, good work. Our time is getting better and better, so hopefully we'll be ready by the time the spring competition rolls around. And on that note, I'm calling an end to this meeting of the Animal Wranglers club. See you all next week!"

Mika smiled that same dazzling smile once more, and there were mass faintings of boys and girls both, followed by mass cartings-off by faceless students. The blonde just laughed nervously and addressed a question to a nearby squirrel, charming smile still in place.

"Was it something I said?"

The squirrel fainted and was carted off.

Keiji nearly fell flat on his face as he spun to dodge a savage strike that would have laid his chest open if it had connected. Sparks flew from the point where the swords met, and he grimaced.

Liquid blue eyes caught his and narrowed, and he raised his sword once again. This duel would not be easily won.

"Who's that?"

"Who's who?"

"That blonde boy over there."

"What blonde boy- oh wow. You're stupid, aren't you?"

"What did I say?"

"That's no boy! That's Kasajima Mika, the Prince of Ohtori!"

"The...prince?"

"Yes! Oh, she's so dreamy! Kasajima-senpai, I love you!"

"Um, isn't that...a girl?"

"And? It's Kasajima-senpai!"

"I don't get it."

"Kasajima Mika, high school class 1-A! Age sixteen, height one hundred sixty-three centimeters, weight forty-seven point five kilos, measurements eighty-five, seventy, eighty-five(1), a perfect figure! She plays the flute and is the President of the Animal Wranglers club, the chess club, the debate team, and the football team!"

A moment of dead silence.

"We have a football team?"

"This...this isn't possible!"

"No, it was actually probable."

Dark blue rose petals fell free from their stem and floated away on the breeze, and Keiji watched as Satoru moved slowly to her new master, knelt down, and kissed the girl's hand.

"Nishiko-sama," she murmured, "I am yours."

Nishiki walked away.

Shadows on a rose-marked wall gestured together, talking cheerfully.

"Did you know, did you know, have you heard the news?"

"The bells have rung," she waved around a little hand bell, "And the princes won!"

"Or at least, one of them did," responded the other girl.

"One soul," the first girl held up one finger, "In two bodies," two more fingers, "Is still two people..."

She held up five fingers to her companion, who ignored her.

"And one person's victory is not the other's!"

"Of all the things you have, little princes..."

"Only the Rose Bride can't be shared!"

"Did you know, did you know, have you heard the news?"

That night, Nishiki covered his ears and Nishiko covered her Bride.

END CH.23

(1): Bust-waist-hips measurement. In centimeters, of course. I want you to know that I have no idea. If somebody knows what they're doing with this stuff, let me know. I just kinda guessed here.