Author's Note: Double ugh! This is the second posting of this chapter. This dumb thing was delaying the next chapter because I just couldn't stand the way this one came out. So, I tweaked it here and there and chopped off the very last scene because it ruined my storyline. Hopefully chapter 27 will be out shortly now that I've fixed it. I'm such a horrible person.

Kagayaku Means to Shine
Anime: Shoujo Kakumei Utena
Rating: PG-13
Written: 16 August 2007 – 18 September 2007
Re-written: 12 January 2008
Chapter Twenty-Six

Nishiko grunted with pain as her back slammed against the stone floor of the dueling arena, but otherwise ignored it. She was much more occupied with rolling out of the way of the rapidly decending sword tip, aimed square at her throat.

Takeda was screaming at her as his sword fell again and again, striking sparks from the stone as he cried out for her to die, to stay away from his Keiji, just to give up and go away.

"You don't understand what's at stake," he growled as he held her pinned to the ground, his blade against the flat of hers as she held him off. Her arms were trembling, though, and slowly his sword began to move downwards.

"No, I don't," she gasped and then, as she hooked her foot around his ankle and pulled, she snarled "And I don't care!"

"Takeda," said Keiji in what was very nearly a moan, "I would be angry with you, if it weren't for how beautifully she fights..."

And as the red rose fell to the stones, he set aside the completed drawing and began another, and another, and another.

Nishiko was walking home after the duel, wound tight by nervous energy and lost in her own thoughts. Footsteps sounded behind her, and it suddenly occurred to her that perhaps, just perhaps, she shouldn't have been walking through campus alone, so late in the evening. Tensing, she was prepared to run away until a familiar voice rang out of the darkness.

"Hello there, pretty girl. How are you?"

"Mika!" Nishiko's relief was clearly audible, even as she proceeded to chasten the other girl, "You scared the life out of me! I thought you were a killer or a rapist or something!"

"No, just a completely normal guy. I mean girl."

Mika's grin was infectious, and Nishiko found herself smiling as she answered.

"I'm fairly certain that you're a girl, though I suppose a more detailed examination would be necessary to be absolutely sure."

Blonde eyebrows rose inquiringly.

"Really?"

"Really. Come on, walk with me and I'll explain how it works."

"Now that," Mika said cheerfully, as she held out her arm for Nishiko to hold on to, "Is the best offer I've had all day."

"I doubt that," Nishiko responded as she hugged Mika's arm to her chest, "But you're cute so I'll let it slide."

How they ended up in her dorm, Nishiko knew. The invitation was slyly offered and cheerily accepted.

How they ended up in her bedroom, Nishiko had a pretty good idea. It probably involved giggling and flirting.

How they ended up in her bed, Nishiko wasn't really clear on. It may or may not have involved kisses and whispered temptations.

And as to what happened after they landed on the soft surface, she really had no idea how that happened, only vague impressions of smooth skin, her own gasping voice calling Mika's name, and the pebbled surface of the ceiling. It was all very graceful, and the thought kept running through her head that perhaps the stories were right, from time to time.

Nishiki was deep in thought as he opened the door of the dorm building he shared with his sister, having had a long and rather insightful conversation with Maki on his way back from campus. He heard the faint sound of humming from the kitchen and continued on, correctly presuming that it was only Satoru, cooking something strange again.

He dropped his school things on his bed and, struck by a sudden urge to talk to his twin, made for the door joining their bedrooms. Without thought, he turned the knob and pushed, then froze.

With a small strangled gasp, he turned away, yanking the door shut behind him. Dropping into a defensive, almost fetal crouch, he clapped his hands over his ears, but it was too late. The sights, the sounds, had worked their way into his head and a thin, high scream escaped from between his gritted teeth.

The girl with Maki's face hovering over his sister, one hand between their bodies.

Nishiko, her head thrown back and her body, her stomach and breasts, arching upwards, her hands grasping at her sheets.

Neither one had noticed him.

Closing the door behind him, he began to run.

He ran for as long as his legs would support him, then collapsed to his knees at the edge of the large fountain, gasping for breath. Leaning over the rim of the fountain, he draped his arm over the cool stone and dipped his fingers into the water.

He knelt there for several minutes as his breathing slowly returned to normal, trying to find something to take his mind off of the images still dancing through his skull, growing from his brief glimpse into a full, fevered fantasy that made the bile rise in his throat.

A soft rumbling sound started in the distance. He ignored it.

"Why? What is she doing?" Over and over in his head, the image of her arching back, her gasping mouth. With a strangled cry, he clapped his hands over his ears, pressing his forehead to the marble and beginning to sob.

The sudden screech of tires shocked him into full awareness, just in time to see headlights coming right at him, far too close for comfort. In a moment of clarity – or perhaps insanity – he decided that what would be, would be. He gazed at the car, face slack.

The car did not hit him as it raced by, a shining red streak. Somehow, he wasn't terribly surprised. What did surprise him was the low chuckle that hit his ears a moment later.

"You look comfortable."

"Very," was the dry response.

"Not very talkative, are you?"

Utter silence in response brought another soft chuckle. The voice, when it came again, very nearly dripped condescension.

"I see. Your young world is ending then, is it?"

"Yes."

"I very much doubt that."

Nishiki didn't move as he heard and felt the figure squatting down beside him, the voice coming soft and breathy against the side of his face. The smell of roses wafted to his nose, and he fought not to take a deep breath of the heady scent.

"You heard the car, didn't you? If your heart has not truly given up, then you can hear the sound that races through the end of the world. Come, journey with me, to the world you desire!"

The fervent voice in his ear and the gentle hands on his back clouded his mind and all he could do was sigh.

By the time he'd regained self-awareness, he found himself in the back seat of a red car, feeling an intense sort of dejavu as they traveled down a dark, empty road, with neatly spaced street lights flashing by on both sides. He counted them for a while, wondering vaguely why he was where he was.

He could see the back of a man's head in the driver's seat. He had the feeling that this man was somehow intensely familiar but strange all at once, reeking of roses in a way that made Nishiki realize this must be the man who'd spoken to him. He felt weak.

He slowly turned his head, and although it moved when he told it to, it felt almost as if it wasn't under his control. Sitting in the passenger seat was Maki, staring intently at the road in front of them. Nishiki felt his eyes widen, though somehow his shock and surprise felt distant, much in the way that his slow-moving thoughts felt like someone else's.

"...where...?"

It took most of his energy to get even that one word out, but the man in the driver's seat just laughed. The radio changed, and suddenly the driver's seat was empty and the driver was sitting on the hood, his immaculately white shirt falling open.

Nishiki went back to counting the street lamps.

The white couches shone intensely under the faint light of the stars that danced on the ceiling.

"The evening star, she dims."

"Venus?"

"Indeed. My name comes from the word for Venus, who is the first planet to appear at night and the last to dim in the morning, but..."

"But?"

"But the morning star can also refer to Lucifer, the lord of darkness."

"Lucifer..."

"Yes. You know what you must do, don't you?"

"Do..."

"Challenge her. Bring her to her knees, break her."

"Break her..."

"Exactly."

Later, Nishiki would reflect that his back arched the same way as his twin's.

END CH.26