On Unions Civil and Otherwise

by Kita-Ysabell

Ten years have passed- ten years to the day- and when Utena and Anthy's engagement party goes somewhat awry, Saionji finds that some things are not so easily forgotten, and faces the bitter possibility that to make good his escape from Ohtori, he must rescue his oldest and closest friend- whether that friend wants to be rescued or not.

40. Against the Inevitable

But the truth is...

The truth is...

Had you been waiting to find this? Had he been waiting for you to find this? Both of your lives, in suspension until your inevitable discovery of this cut the strings?

Whether or not it's true. Because it might not be true. Kanae might have been lying. She might have lit upon anything she could think of to throw at someone who had slighted her, someone who had come between her and the man whose love she so deeply desired.

But you know, of course, you know, that isn't the truth. You wouldn't be so worried if that was the truth. How would sweet, sheltered Kanae know the very lie that would strike truest? Her current desperation would not have been the teacher she needed to have learned that.

It wasn't her you would've struck at. It was the possibility that what she said was true.

You're angry, of course. Horrified, even. You have a fairly clear idea of the monstrosity of the act that he has committed. Clearer, having seen the way having been subjected to that act has consumed him. To condemn yet another person to the future he now endures is almost unspeakable.

But that's the thing.

All this anger, all this pain, it's for his sake. Your sympathy, and your allegiance, lie with him, no matter what. There's nothing he could do, could have done, that would change that. No matter what, you will try to help him, to protect him, to do what's best for him. Whether or not it's what's best for you. Whether or not he wants you to. Whether or not it hurts someone else.

You didn't choose this, exactly. It was wound into you, bone-deep. Perhaps that's a part of the pain and anger that you feel. You knew, all along, that in the end, even knowing what Kanae revealed to you, you would do this. You knew that you would stand by him.

And so you take a moment to rage against knowing. To rage once again over something inevitable in your life. So you will struggle, for a time. And then you will give in.

Nothing is eternal. Nothing escapes inevitability. No ammount of running from the truth will change it. You have learned this.

But, for a little while, you just want to yell and hit something with a stick.