Two Little Girls
A Shoujo Kakumei Utena fanfic.
Written by Juri-chan (aka cigam - [email protected])
Disclaimer : Don't own it. Though.. wouldn't mind owning Juri (or Ikuhara-ouji *.*) Ahem ^_^ Just borrowing the characters and a little of the world from Utena.. and bastardizing it beyond belief. Also thanks to Ms.DiFranco for her lyric genius.
Summary : Juri escapes the world of Ootori and four years later Shiori joins her in the real world. They meet and begin a life together free from the school - but not from their troubled past. Pretty much based entirely on Ani DiFranco's song 'Two Little Girls'.
Author's Note : Music and writing I feel are two forms of the very same thing; storytelling. I get most of my inspiration from music. I took some liberties with the characters and had little to no creative juices flowing - since it's just Juri and Shiori set into this song. But, still, I like it as my first real fanfic attempt in a long time.
Update : This fanfic was first written years ago. I am now finally submitting it to a wide reading audience. I don't know how many Utena fanfic readers are still out there, but if you exist please read and review to let me know if I should continue my quest to finally finish this thing. I promise to try and be prompt, while working hard for the original feel of the story. Thanks everyone!
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Prelude : The Escape
It's been four years since Ootori Gakuen; the phantom school. Some of us remember it clearly, constantly. Others can barely recall the European buildings and the rose scent that surrounded the grounds and our senses. I fade in and out of my memories of that place. Sometimes it's tangible, sometimes it's a mirage. But in my dreams, every night, I am surrounded by shadows and roses and the sharp slap of blade against blade. Being a seitokai, I am made to remember.
Let me start at the beginning. At least, the beginning of my reality. After Himemiya disappeared from the campus the Dean fell into a state of acute depression. Ootori Akio was no longer the tyrant running the Ends of the Earth, nor was he the cunning Prince charming running the school. He was nothing. The seitokai received no letters, which seemed a moot point since there wasn't a Bara no Hime to duel for anymore anyway. The school was placed under the care of the Dean's father-in-law once more, until a suitable replacement could be found or Akio emerged from his death in life existence. Whichever came first.
The Dean's fiancée, who was also prone to become detached from the world as it was, ended up the prime topic for rumors. In Ootori she was known to have fits of madness, causing violent attacks upon herself and others. It was said she often tried to commit suicide. Most likely she was jealous that the whereabouts of his sister affected her husband-to-be more than the whereabouts of her hands. So, she just wasn't getting laid any anymore and that proved it to her that she was meaningless. But it had always been that way, and always would be.
That was something the seitokai began to remember. Actually, I doubt Kiryuu-san ever forgot. But the rest of us slowly began to remember. It was like coming to the end of a fog and seeing substance once more. How funny that it's the opposite now. Ootori is the fog, the haze we can't escape from. The substance is now the real world, the reality we're trying so desperately to survive in.
Anyways, I was saying we were beginning to remember. We remembered how everything had always been the same. Everything had always repeated itself. No wonder we always looked so bored. We had lived our lives a thousand times over. Nothing for us had ever changed. The duels, the Bride, the Dean, the Victor.. they may vary, but always resulted in the same end. The beginning of another end. The start of another Revolution. Until she came.
Ten'jou Utena was an innocent and naive young girl. Now that we look back on all the Victors before her we realize that's exactly what they were missing. They had been tainted so deeply before even coming here, they were like us. The Seitokai were reflections of all the Duelists before us who never made it to the Revolution. Those poor souls who couldn't take it. Couldn't give themselves completely because they had nothing left to give. Ten'jou-san had everything to give, everything to lose. That's what made her strong. We are not jealous of that. We've spent too many years there to be petty. We're actually very proud of her. She awakened the sleeping Princess living in a Witch's body and set her free. Resulting in our own release.
After Himemiya the school began to fall apart with the Dean. In a sense I suppose he was the school. Cracks formed in the foundation and everything lost its luster and brilliance until it was all quite dull. But that's the way it had always looked to us, the shining Seitokai.
Saionji left first. Tired and worn the boy left with only one good-bye. His love journal between him and Himemiya was sitting on the table when we met one day. (By force of habit the meetings were continued - though they mostly resulted in silence at least it was something to do) None of us read it, that was not the point. And none of us said a word, though we were all thinking the same thing, 'Who's next?'
The students on campus hardly realized a thing the first few months. The loss of Saionji was practically ignored, just like Utena and Himemiya. And the rumors of the Dean and his fiancée were hardly mentioned. It was if life was going to return to..normal. But we had never known normal and we knew too much to let things simply go on this way. We had to escape. Miki-kun and I collaborated to leave. It felt so much better to have someone to plan it with. It made the idea that much more real.
But, and could it really be a surprise, Kozue would not stand for it. She saw Miki-kun packing one evening and went into a psychotic fit. I heard she pulled a knife, though of course Miki would never admit this for the sake of his sister's "good name". He was amazed that his Kozue actually cared since they'd spent so many years apart, but I had seen the invisible hold she'd had upon him the entire time, so I knowingly accepted his explanation for why he could not leave. "Kozue is comfortable here." "Kozue needs me here." Kozue was a curse of that place and I knew it. Just like...
Soon after this Shiori approached me. With dark eyes and dark hair and a dark smile she asked me if the rumors were true. Had I really been secretly planning on leaving Ootori? And without even saying good-bye to her? I was skeptical at first.. as to why she would be so.. familiar with me. It had been months since my last duel over her and my locket had been shattered. We saw each other in the halls and around campus and casually spoke, but we never resumed a friendship. Now, of course, she wanted to be close to me again. Maybe she assumed I had gotten over her and could be a friend. But no, the school is too clever for such a simple and innocent answer.
They were holding us back. Kozue, Shiori. They were like the newly installed Witches. A new Ends of the Earth to keep us in line. All they had to do now was appoint one of themselves as Bara no Hime and demand duels. I didn't usually see things this clearly, and I thought I was having some kind of divine inspiration. I thought.. the school can't control me anymore. It's grown old and lost its power while I am only growing up and growing wiser. All teenagers think that, don't they? That they're much wiser than their parents. That maybe that can outsmart their elders because it's been so long since they were their age. But.. a mother never forgets what it's like to be young and foolish. Her experience in the matter helps her keep her children close.
So when I left my bowling ball at Nanami's door, I thought myself wiser. When I left my rapier in Miki's locker, I thought myself stronger. And when I left the familiar tattered and wrinkled oval shaped picture stuffed in an envelope in Shiori's door, I thought myself free. At the time I didn't realize how horribly wrong I was.
I left. I simply..walked out the gates of Ootori and kept walking. Everything seemed like a normal city surrounding the school. Until days and weeks went by and I realized it wasn't changing. The scenery was going in one great circle. I may pass the ocean, the mountains, and the plains - only to pass them all again. Houses and people might have been in different places, but they were all the same. I could feel the sameness of it all. Once I made that observation.. several things changed. As if the world was trying to protect itself. But it only got darker and I felt myself going deeper into nothing. Then the days began to blur together and my thoughts wandered.
I wondered oddly about Himemiya. Did she go through this same process? And Saionji, how did he do against this trial? Where was Utena-kun? Had she died? Was Miki free, yet? Was Touga ever going to leave that place? Did Shiori miss me? I shook the last thought from my head and made the excuse that heat stroke caused me to even have it. I think I passed out after that. Actually, I think I died. Or..was I born?
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A Shoujo Kakumei Utena fanfic.
Written by Juri-chan (aka cigam - [email protected])
Disclaimer : Don't own it. Though.. wouldn't mind owning Juri (or Ikuhara-ouji *.*) Ahem ^_^ Just borrowing the characters and a little of the world from Utena.. and bastardizing it beyond belief. Also thanks to Ms.DiFranco for her lyric genius.
Summary : Juri escapes the world of Ootori and four years later Shiori joins her in the real world. They meet and begin a life together free from the school - but not from their troubled past. Pretty much based entirely on Ani DiFranco's song 'Two Little Girls'.
Author's Note : Music and writing I feel are two forms of the very same thing; storytelling. I get most of my inspiration from music. I took some liberties with the characters and had little to no creative juices flowing - since it's just Juri and Shiori set into this song. But, still, I like it as my first real fanfic attempt in a long time.
Update : This fanfic was first written years ago. I am now finally submitting it to a wide reading audience. I don't know how many Utena fanfic readers are still out there, but if you exist please read and review to let me know if I should continue my quest to finally finish this thing. I promise to try and be prompt, while working hard for the original feel of the story. Thanks everyone!
----------
Prelude : The Escape
It's been four years since Ootori Gakuen; the phantom school. Some of us remember it clearly, constantly. Others can barely recall the European buildings and the rose scent that surrounded the grounds and our senses. I fade in and out of my memories of that place. Sometimes it's tangible, sometimes it's a mirage. But in my dreams, every night, I am surrounded by shadows and roses and the sharp slap of blade against blade. Being a seitokai, I am made to remember.
Let me start at the beginning. At least, the beginning of my reality. After Himemiya disappeared from the campus the Dean fell into a state of acute depression. Ootori Akio was no longer the tyrant running the Ends of the Earth, nor was he the cunning Prince charming running the school. He was nothing. The seitokai received no letters, which seemed a moot point since there wasn't a Bara no Hime to duel for anymore anyway. The school was placed under the care of the Dean's father-in-law once more, until a suitable replacement could be found or Akio emerged from his death in life existence. Whichever came first.
The Dean's fiancée, who was also prone to become detached from the world as it was, ended up the prime topic for rumors. In Ootori she was known to have fits of madness, causing violent attacks upon herself and others. It was said she often tried to commit suicide. Most likely she was jealous that the whereabouts of his sister affected her husband-to-be more than the whereabouts of her hands. So, she just wasn't getting laid any anymore and that proved it to her that she was meaningless. But it had always been that way, and always would be.
That was something the seitokai began to remember. Actually, I doubt Kiryuu-san ever forgot. But the rest of us slowly began to remember. It was like coming to the end of a fog and seeing substance once more. How funny that it's the opposite now. Ootori is the fog, the haze we can't escape from. The substance is now the real world, the reality we're trying so desperately to survive in.
Anyways, I was saying we were beginning to remember. We remembered how everything had always been the same. Everything had always repeated itself. No wonder we always looked so bored. We had lived our lives a thousand times over. Nothing for us had ever changed. The duels, the Bride, the Dean, the Victor.. they may vary, but always resulted in the same end. The beginning of another end. The start of another Revolution. Until she came.
Ten'jou Utena was an innocent and naive young girl. Now that we look back on all the Victors before her we realize that's exactly what they were missing. They had been tainted so deeply before even coming here, they were like us. The Seitokai were reflections of all the Duelists before us who never made it to the Revolution. Those poor souls who couldn't take it. Couldn't give themselves completely because they had nothing left to give. Ten'jou-san had everything to give, everything to lose. That's what made her strong. We are not jealous of that. We've spent too many years there to be petty. We're actually very proud of her. She awakened the sleeping Princess living in a Witch's body and set her free. Resulting in our own release.
After Himemiya the school began to fall apart with the Dean. In a sense I suppose he was the school. Cracks formed in the foundation and everything lost its luster and brilliance until it was all quite dull. But that's the way it had always looked to us, the shining Seitokai.
Saionji left first. Tired and worn the boy left with only one good-bye. His love journal between him and Himemiya was sitting on the table when we met one day. (By force of habit the meetings were continued - though they mostly resulted in silence at least it was something to do) None of us read it, that was not the point. And none of us said a word, though we were all thinking the same thing, 'Who's next?'
The students on campus hardly realized a thing the first few months. The loss of Saionji was practically ignored, just like Utena and Himemiya. And the rumors of the Dean and his fiancée were hardly mentioned. It was if life was going to return to..normal. But we had never known normal and we knew too much to let things simply go on this way. We had to escape. Miki-kun and I collaborated to leave. It felt so much better to have someone to plan it with. It made the idea that much more real.
But, and could it really be a surprise, Kozue would not stand for it. She saw Miki-kun packing one evening and went into a psychotic fit. I heard she pulled a knife, though of course Miki would never admit this for the sake of his sister's "good name". He was amazed that his Kozue actually cared since they'd spent so many years apart, but I had seen the invisible hold she'd had upon him the entire time, so I knowingly accepted his explanation for why he could not leave. "Kozue is comfortable here." "Kozue needs me here." Kozue was a curse of that place and I knew it. Just like...
Soon after this Shiori approached me. With dark eyes and dark hair and a dark smile she asked me if the rumors were true. Had I really been secretly planning on leaving Ootori? And without even saying good-bye to her? I was skeptical at first.. as to why she would be so.. familiar with me. It had been months since my last duel over her and my locket had been shattered. We saw each other in the halls and around campus and casually spoke, but we never resumed a friendship. Now, of course, she wanted to be close to me again. Maybe she assumed I had gotten over her and could be a friend. But no, the school is too clever for such a simple and innocent answer.
They were holding us back. Kozue, Shiori. They were like the newly installed Witches. A new Ends of the Earth to keep us in line. All they had to do now was appoint one of themselves as Bara no Hime and demand duels. I didn't usually see things this clearly, and I thought I was having some kind of divine inspiration. I thought.. the school can't control me anymore. It's grown old and lost its power while I am only growing up and growing wiser. All teenagers think that, don't they? That they're much wiser than their parents. That maybe that can outsmart their elders because it's been so long since they were their age. But.. a mother never forgets what it's like to be young and foolish. Her experience in the matter helps her keep her children close.
So when I left my bowling ball at Nanami's door, I thought myself wiser. When I left my rapier in Miki's locker, I thought myself stronger. And when I left the familiar tattered and wrinkled oval shaped picture stuffed in an envelope in Shiori's door, I thought myself free. At the time I didn't realize how horribly wrong I was.
I left. I simply..walked out the gates of Ootori and kept walking. Everything seemed like a normal city surrounding the school. Until days and weeks went by and I realized it wasn't changing. The scenery was going in one great circle. I may pass the ocean, the mountains, and the plains - only to pass them all again. Houses and people might have been in different places, but they were all the same. I could feel the sameness of it all. Once I made that observation.. several things changed. As if the world was trying to protect itself. But it only got darker and I felt myself going deeper into nothing. Then the days began to blur together and my thoughts wandered.
I wondered oddly about Himemiya. Did she go through this same process? And Saionji, how did he do against this trial? Where was Utena-kun? Had she died? Was Miki free, yet? Was Touga ever going to leave that place? Did Shiori miss me? I shook the last thought from my head and made the excuse that heat stroke caused me to even have it. I think I passed out after that. Actually, I think I died. Or..was I born?
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