Damnation
Chapter 3
Cool droplets trickled down her temples, slipping onto her cheeks. Tears? No...they lacked the warmth of emotion tears possessed. Then what was...?
Oh yes. Water.
A soft, soothing weight pressed against her forehead as well. Her brow furrowed beneath it, causing a small shift in the fabric. A cloth. So, she was alive then. That must be so...for death couldn't possibly hurt this much.
"Coming around finally, dear Prince?"
She blinked, wincing a little as her eyes adjusted to the light. The voice was rich and warm, and oh so very familiar. Who was it again? There had been so many places...so many faces. But this one...she had wanted this one again, hadn't she? Had longed for it, at one point?
The overpowering light began to recede, and she scanned her surroundings. Beautifully finished oak paneling lined the walls, and thick, plush velvet curtains of royal purple hung casually. Finely crafted furniture adorned the room, each and every piece done in a romantically gothic style only an extremely skilled artisan could accomplish. She'd never seen the likes of it anywhere. Scented candles flickered at her bedside, and one hung from the jaw of a gargoyle, who resided on top of a cathedral-style dresser. A fire burned healthily in a tarnished silver hearth a few paces in front of her, and a small kettle hummed atop the heat. The Prince was very sure that this was not the sole source of the incredible warmth of the room.
There was a wealth about this place, of that there was no doubt. But more importantly, there was a power about it as well.
The figure who'd spoken was given form as a rustle of curtain revealed her. She was an exotic beauty, both in figure and feature. Long waves of purple cascaded down across her shoulders and back, and fell over emerald green eyes. Her utterly flawless dark skin was covered only by a short red tunic and band of gold around one arm, and three golden hoops around one ankle, leaving very little to the imagination. Years had passed, more than the Prince had even realized, for the girl had matured in stature as much as body - but she recognized her instantly.
"W...what are you doing here?" the Prince asked, her voice laced with a quiet sort of awe.
The exotic woman smiled softly then, and sat at the edge of the bed the Prince lay in, gently taking the cloth from her forehead and wringing it out into a small basin. "I live here, of course," she said, dipping the cloth into cooler water. "This is my home," she looked over her shoulder and her voice took on an almost dream-like quality, "and you're in my bed."
Something about the way the woman spoke those words to the Prince caused her cheeks to burn a slight crimson. "I...I'm sorry," the words stumbled out after a moment. "I mean no disrespect. I remember you..." she whispered softly. "I had always wanted to come back and see you..."
The dark girl's eyes softened. "I know you tried," she gently brushed pink bangs aside and dabbed at a cut on the Prince's brow. "Sometimes I'd see you, pulling the reigns and veering your horse off of its path to turn back to me."
"How did you know that?" There was a power to this place...had she been pulled into a den of the magicks? Was the captivating woman whose memory she'd kept with her throughout all her travels, through every battle...did she practice a dark art?
A soft sigh. "I know many things. At this time, knowledge is the burden I must bear."
Slowly, the Prince sat up. "I...I don't want you to be alone," she placed a strong hand on the smaller woman's shoulder, feeling recognition flow through her at last. "Himemiya."
Himemiya smiled then, but it was a sad sort of smile. "Is it you who is speaking now, or the Prince inside you? Do you even know how to tell the difference between the two?"
The Prince looked stunned for a moment. "I...suppose I don't know," she said finally. "Is there a difference between the two? I am the Prince."
"Yes. But once, only a few years ago, you were also Tenjou Utena. Is it that she...doesn't exist within you anymore? Has she been swallowed up by the Prince as well?"
"No, I believe she is still there...waiting. She has her own battles to fight."
There was silence between the two. Then, Himemiya Anthy rose to her feet. "Do you remember what happened?" her tone spoke of important matters - of business.
"No." The Prince's head fell back onto the pillow. "The last I remember was hearing a horrible cry. When it hit my ears, I nearly fell off of my horse, it was so strong. I headed towards it, and then..."
"And then...?"
The Prince's eyes widened in realization. "The dragon!" Ignoring the pain that had kept her chained to the bed, she threw herself off of the mattress. "I have to go, now!"
Himemiya raised an eyebrow. "Just like that, hmm?"
The Prince looked down at herself, understanding for the first time that she had been very naked under those warm blankets. "H...Himemiya!" she stammered, a blush rising to the tips of her ears as she violently pulled a sheet around herself.
Anthy laughed quietly. It was a beautiful sound really, and, under different circumstances the Prince would have cherished hearing it. "I see now, why you have so much trouble defining where the Prince ends and Utena begins. Even before...everything...you shared so many traits." She motioned with her hand. "Lay back down - you're in no position to go anywhere quite yet."
As if to affirm Himemiya's declaration, a few spots of red dotted the pristine sheet the Prince was now wearing. In her haste, she had torn stitches she hadn't even realized existed across her torso. Modesty temporarily forgotten, the Prince's brow hardened in determination. "Where did you put my clothing and armor? And where is my sword?"
Anthy stepped in toward the Prince, refusing to be intimidated. "I said you are not going anywhere yet. Now," she spoke each word harshly, as if disobedience would result in dire consequences, "lay...back...down!"
The Prince scowled and sat at the edge of the bed, looking far more like a disgruntled child than a noble at that moment. "I have to go. I know I did not kill that beast...if I do not rectify that error quickly, he will return and ravage all that lays in his path."
"The dragon sleeps," Himemiya stood before the Prince, and pushed her back down onto the bed. "and if you go to fight him now, you will fall."
The Prince snorted. "Have you forgotten? I am immortal now - I cannot die. Sometimes...I wish I could." Her voice softened. "But I can't...so what does it matter if my wounds heal? I can bleed enough for ten men and my heart will still beat. At least if I am out there...doing something for the people - perhaps, in time, when I have repaired enough of this land, the cries will stop. They will no longer plead for me to save them."
"There are far worse fates than death, my Prince. And giving that dragon - that beast, a chance to taint your mind and soul as he wants to...is certainly one of them." Himemiya looked contemplative. "Do you hear that?"
The Prince sighed. "...I hear nothing."
"Mmm. Exactly."
Cobalt eyes gazed to emerald green ones in disbelief. "So...it has...ended, then?"
Himemiya spoke on as if she'd never heard the question. "The people believe their Prince is dead right now...when you fought, the dragon wounded you badly." She brushed her fingertips over the blood that stained the Prince's sheet. "Do you remember that now?"
The Prince looked down, fragments of memory piecing back together in her mind. "I...yes I do. I was about to run him through, when one of his claws stuck in me. He...tore through me to get it free again, I think."
"And that's when you fell. The dragon, and all the people who bore witness to your battle, left you for dead. Hence, the beast slumbers, believing once it has healed it will be able to rule over this world again at leisure, without you to stand in his way."
A pained whisper. "That's why the cries have stopped. They all believe I am dead..."
"They all mourn now, in silence for their Prince. But you know this won't last long. Once the world has grieved, its sadness will transform once again into anger and hate."
"And the swords?"
"They will revive within you once more, demanding retribution. That is why this time, you must rest and recover." The exotic girl made her way over to the hearth, and took the whistling kettle away from the flames. Gracefully, she poured the hot water into a ceramic white cup sprinkled with herbs, and stirred it. She brought the tea back to the Prince. "Drink this, and then try to sleep."
The Prince took the cup warily, still not convinced that this was the best thing she could do. "Are you sure about this, Himemiya? I...feel a little better now. I could fight. And maybe if the people see I am alive now, before the grief becomes too much -''
"I wish it could be so, Prince. But this isn't just about you. You yourself said that Tenjou Utena still had battles of her own to fight. The dragon must be slain by not only your hand, but hers as well."
The Prince looked up at Himemiya, studying her features as if she were looking for something. An answer. "But my hand...is it not hers too?" She lifted her hand and looked up at it, as if seeing it for the first time. "Even though I can't differentiate between us - isn't she still here with me?"
Himemiya took the Prince's hand, and softly kissed her palm. "Now is not the time to think about these things. Just sleep...and I promise, your answers will come as you need them."
"Just the same...I wish, I understood better." The Prince's eyes began to drift shut, as a warmth blossomed from her chest and trickled into her limbs. Of course Himemiya would have put something in the tea. "You speak as if there's some sort of line between Utena and me that I can't see...and I've always thought we were the same. But there must be something more to all of this, because you miss her - that much I can see. Whichever part of her I'm missing, you want back..."
Himemiya just let the Prince whisper her confusions until her breathing deepened, and her voice trailed off into sleep. Brushing her fingertips over the Prince's jawline, she leaned in and lightly pressed her lips against hers. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "You musn't think that I don't love you, because I do. But you, dear Prince - you belong to the world. And Tenjou Utena...she has always been mine."
When Utena awoke, the first thing she felt was a throbbing on her cheek, and a grin tug at her lips. The more painful of the two reminded her of what had happened with the girl on her way home the night before; and the happier of the two - caused by nothing more than the site of a neatly arranged bookshelf - distracted her before she could remember everything.
The sun was bright that day, and its rays cut through the glass of Utena's dorm room window to illuminate the gold stamped spines of the elaborate collection of fairy tales she possessed. All beautiful hardbound limited edition copies, the collection that was one of the few things that brought her genuine happiness was probably worth a small fortune. But there was no amount of money that would persuade her to part with any of them.
1001 Arabian Nights. Grimm's Fairy Tales. The Complete Works of Hans Christian Anderson. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Tolkien's tales of rings and hobbits. Aesop's Fables. Tales from every corner of the globe; lives born of minds from every walk of life. Utena loved them all.
Or, more to be more precise, she loved the Princesses in them all.
It had all started not long after she'd been sent to the orphanage. She'd been unpacking when she found a dusty book tucked away in her bottom drawer, with nothing but a small note inside the jacket that simply said 'I found bliss in ignorance'. She'd never quite understood what whoever had written those five words was trying to say, yet found herself drawn to the book regardless. Before she knew it, she'd fallen in love with Lady Guinevere, and, as she began to read more, the Princess Aurora captured her heart as well.
When she read, she lived another life. She understood the hero's motivation, and cringed whenever he failed his lady love. How could he let her down? Didn't he understand how much she needed him? How she was depending on him? At times like those, she wished she could have a chance to re-write those pages herself.
A knocking on her door broke her out of her musings.
Grumbling, Utena got out of bed and did her best to smooth her wrinkled uniform. She hadn't bothered to change when she'd finally gotten home, and as the rapping got more insistent, she knew she wouldn't have time to do so now. "Yeah yeah!" she yelled, sounding a little more agitated than she'd meant to. "I'm coming!"
She opened the door to reveal a nearly petrified blue haired boy on the other side. "S...sorry if I woke you up Tenjou-kun," the boy Utena recognized immediately as little Miki nearly stammerd. "I just wanted to let you know that it looks as if someone's parked their car in your space on the lot. I was hoping, maybe, you'd come down with me and see if you can recognize whose it is, so I can take care of the matter."
Utena grinned and scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "I'm sorry Miki, I didn't mean to come off as a grouch. I just didn't sleep very well last night." She noticed that Miki was trying not to be obvious about staring at her cheek. He was failing miserably, but at least he was polite enough not to ask about it. "Here," she slipped on her sneakers, "I'll go down with you now."
Miki nodded and gave one of his trademark shy smiles. "Thank-you, Tenjou." Utena locked her door and they made their way down the stairs and toward the student parking lot. "Usually I'd write it off as a drunk student just parking in the wrong space, coming home from a weekend bender, you know? That happens a lot, and I know since you don't even have a car you usually don't mind when it does. But this car, I haven't ever seen any like it. It must have cost a fortune, and I really don't think it belongs to anyone who attends this school. I mean, look at that!" Miki pointed towards a small group of girls who'd crowded at Utena's parking space.
Utena nodded slowly in answer as they neared the car, a piece of it being flashed to her every so often between the moving bodies of the audience it'd gathered. Red. Chrome. Leather. Her brow furrowed as she remembered what happened after the girl had left her the night before. She had been so dazed, surely it couldn't have been real.
But there it was, right in front of her. That car. The car.
The crowd parted as Utena sidled up to it, running her hand over the frame in disbelief.
Last night, you made sense to me...last night, you made me remember things...
She felt a jolt run through her arm.
I wanted to forget him. I hate him. And you - you were his. A part of him...
"Neh, Utena, do you know whose car this is by any chance?" Miki.
He made me a victim. He tried to make me the opposite of everything I wanted to be...
"I'm sorry Miki, I...don't know why I forgot. This..." she pulled a key out of her pocket, "this is my car."
I did destroy him in the end though, didn't I? He fucked with me, and in the end, it was me who undid him...
There were a few startled gasps as Utena lept over the driver's side door and into the seat, slipping the key into the ignition in one smooth motion.
Maybe that's why you're mine now. Perhaps no one else could control you.
The engine revved just ever so slightly.
Miki stepped away, looking confused. "Well, I guess," he motioned to the purring engine, "that it really is yours. Umm...thanks, Tenjou-kun..." blinking as if in disbelief, he turned and walked away, leaving the crowd to move in and look upon Utena in complete female adoration.
Utena's eyes darkened a little as she gazed over the crowd.
Yes. That is what you do.
No need to question a voice in your head that isn't your own.
One girl, a pretty blonde with violet shaded eyes caught her attention.
Her. She's the one you want.
She grinned a charming lopsided grin at the girl, and motioned for her to come over. "Would you like to go for a ride?" she asked.
So easy, isn't it? You're a natural...
The girl's eyes widened in amazement and she nodded. "Yes! If...you wouldn't mind, that is." She blushed a little under Utena's gaze.
Utena leaned over and opened the passenger door for the girl. "Not at all...jump in."
The girl's eyes grew hazy as she did as she was told, closing the door behind her while telling the rest of her friends to wait for her, she'd be back later.
Utena just laughed at this and turned around to face the rest of the girls. "I'm sorry ladies, as much as I'd love to give you all a ride-" she shifted gears and started to pull out of the lot.
Accept it now. Say it.
"A date is for two people alone."
And now we cruise along the sunset strip...
Chapter 3
Cool droplets trickled down her temples, slipping onto her cheeks. Tears? No...they lacked the warmth of emotion tears possessed. Then what was...?
Oh yes. Water.
A soft, soothing weight pressed against her forehead as well. Her brow furrowed beneath it, causing a small shift in the fabric. A cloth. So, she was alive then. That must be so...for death couldn't possibly hurt this much.
"Coming around finally, dear Prince?"
She blinked, wincing a little as her eyes adjusted to the light. The voice was rich and warm, and oh so very familiar. Who was it again? There had been so many places...so many faces. But this one...she had wanted this one again, hadn't she? Had longed for it, at one point?
The overpowering light began to recede, and she scanned her surroundings. Beautifully finished oak paneling lined the walls, and thick, plush velvet curtains of royal purple hung casually. Finely crafted furniture adorned the room, each and every piece done in a romantically gothic style only an extremely skilled artisan could accomplish. She'd never seen the likes of it anywhere. Scented candles flickered at her bedside, and one hung from the jaw of a gargoyle, who resided on top of a cathedral-style dresser. A fire burned healthily in a tarnished silver hearth a few paces in front of her, and a small kettle hummed atop the heat. The Prince was very sure that this was not the sole source of the incredible warmth of the room.
There was a wealth about this place, of that there was no doubt. But more importantly, there was a power about it as well.
The figure who'd spoken was given form as a rustle of curtain revealed her. She was an exotic beauty, both in figure and feature. Long waves of purple cascaded down across her shoulders and back, and fell over emerald green eyes. Her utterly flawless dark skin was covered only by a short red tunic and band of gold around one arm, and three golden hoops around one ankle, leaving very little to the imagination. Years had passed, more than the Prince had even realized, for the girl had matured in stature as much as body - but she recognized her instantly.
"W...what are you doing here?" the Prince asked, her voice laced with a quiet sort of awe.
The exotic woman smiled softly then, and sat at the edge of the bed the Prince lay in, gently taking the cloth from her forehead and wringing it out into a small basin. "I live here, of course," she said, dipping the cloth into cooler water. "This is my home," she looked over her shoulder and her voice took on an almost dream-like quality, "and you're in my bed."
Something about the way the woman spoke those words to the Prince caused her cheeks to burn a slight crimson. "I...I'm sorry," the words stumbled out after a moment. "I mean no disrespect. I remember you..." she whispered softly. "I had always wanted to come back and see you..."
The dark girl's eyes softened. "I know you tried," she gently brushed pink bangs aside and dabbed at a cut on the Prince's brow. "Sometimes I'd see you, pulling the reigns and veering your horse off of its path to turn back to me."
"How did you know that?" There was a power to this place...had she been pulled into a den of the magicks? Was the captivating woman whose memory she'd kept with her throughout all her travels, through every battle...did she practice a dark art?
A soft sigh. "I know many things. At this time, knowledge is the burden I must bear."
Slowly, the Prince sat up. "I...I don't want you to be alone," she placed a strong hand on the smaller woman's shoulder, feeling recognition flow through her at last. "Himemiya."
Himemiya smiled then, but it was a sad sort of smile. "Is it you who is speaking now, or the Prince inside you? Do you even know how to tell the difference between the two?"
The Prince looked stunned for a moment. "I...suppose I don't know," she said finally. "Is there a difference between the two? I am the Prince."
"Yes. But once, only a few years ago, you were also Tenjou Utena. Is it that she...doesn't exist within you anymore? Has she been swallowed up by the Prince as well?"
"No, I believe she is still there...waiting. She has her own battles to fight."
There was silence between the two. Then, Himemiya Anthy rose to her feet. "Do you remember what happened?" her tone spoke of important matters - of business.
"No." The Prince's head fell back onto the pillow. "The last I remember was hearing a horrible cry. When it hit my ears, I nearly fell off of my horse, it was so strong. I headed towards it, and then..."
"And then...?"
The Prince's eyes widened in realization. "The dragon!" Ignoring the pain that had kept her chained to the bed, she threw herself off of the mattress. "I have to go, now!"
Himemiya raised an eyebrow. "Just like that, hmm?"
The Prince looked down at herself, understanding for the first time that she had been very naked under those warm blankets. "H...Himemiya!" she stammered, a blush rising to the tips of her ears as she violently pulled a sheet around herself.
Anthy laughed quietly. It was a beautiful sound really, and, under different circumstances the Prince would have cherished hearing it. "I see now, why you have so much trouble defining where the Prince ends and Utena begins. Even before...everything...you shared so many traits." She motioned with her hand. "Lay back down - you're in no position to go anywhere quite yet."
As if to affirm Himemiya's declaration, a few spots of red dotted the pristine sheet the Prince was now wearing. In her haste, she had torn stitches she hadn't even realized existed across her torso. Modesty temporarily forgotten, the Prince's brow hardened in determination. "Where did you put my clothing and armor? And where is my sword?"
Anthy stepped in toward the Prince, refusing to be intimidated. "I said you are not going anywhere yet. Now," she spoke each word harshly, as if disobedience would result in dire consequences, "lay...back...down!"
The Prince scowled and sat at the edge of the bed, looking far more like a disgruntled child than a noble at that moment. "I have to go. I know I did not kill that beast...if I do not rectify that error quickly, he will return and ravage all that lays in his path."
"The dragon sleeps," Himemiya stood before the Prince, and pushed her back down onto the bed. "and if you go to fight him now, you will fall."
The Prince snorted. "Have you forgotten? I am immortal now - I cannot die. Sometimes...I wish I could." Her voice softened. "But I can't...so what does it matter if my wounds heal? I can bleed enough for ten men and my heart will still beat. At least if I am out there...doing something for the people - perhaps, in time, when I have repaired enough of this land, the cries will stop. They will no longer plead for me to save them."
"There are far worse fates than death, my Prince. And giving that dragon - that beast, a chance to taint your mind and soul as he wants to...is certainly one of them." Himemiya looked contemplative. "Do you hear that?"
The Prince sighed. "...I hear nothing."
"Mmm. Exactly."
Cobalt eyes gazed to emerald green ones in disbelief. "So...it has...ended, then?"
Himemiya spoke on as if she'd never heard the question. "The people believe their Prince is dead right now...when you fought, the dragon wounded you badly." She brushed her fingertips over the blood that stained the Prince's sheet. "Do you remember that now?"
The Prince looked down, fragments of memory piecing back together in her mind. "I...yes I do. I was about to run him through, when one of his claws stuck in me. He...tore through me to get it free again, I think."
"And that's when you fell. The dragon, and all the people who bore witness to your battle, left you for dead. Hence, the beast slumbers, believing once it has healed it will be able to rule over this world again at leisure, without you to stand in his way."
A pained whisper. "That's why the cries have stopped. They all believe I am dead..."
"They all mourn now, in silence for their Prince. But you know this won't last long. Once the world has grieved, its sadness will transform once again into anger and hate."
"And the swords?"
"They will revive within you once more, demanding retribution. That is why this time, you must rest and recover." The exotic girl made her way over to the hearth, and took the whistling kettle away from the flames. Gracefully, she poured the hot water into a ceramic white cup sprinkled with herbs, and stirred it. She brought the tea back to the Prince. "Drink this, and then try to sleep."
The Prince took the cup warily, still not convinced that this was the best thing she could do. "Are you sure about this, Himemiya? I...feel a little better now. I could fight. And maybe if the people see I am alive now, before the grief becomes too much -''
"I wish it could be so, Prince. But this isn't just about you. You yourself said that Tenjou Utena still had battles of her own to fight. The dragon must be slain by not only your hand, but hers as well."
The Prince looked up at Himemiya, studying her features as if she were looking for something. An answer. "But my hand...is it not hers too?" She lifted her hand and looked up at it, as if seeing it for the first time. "Even though I can't differentiate between us - isn't she still here with me?"
Himemiya took the Prince's hand, and softly kissed her palm. "Now is not the time to think about these things. Just sleep...and I promise, your answers will come as you need them."
"Just the same...I wish, I understood better." The Prince's eyes began to drift shut, as a warmth blossomed from her chest and trickled into her limbs. Of course Himemiya would have put something in the tea. "You speak as if there's some sort of line between Utena and me that I can't see...and I've always thought we were the same. But there must be something more to all of this, because you miss her - that much I can see. Whichever part of her I'm missing, you want back..."
Himemiya just let the Prince whisper her confusions until her breathing deepened, and her voice trailed off into sleep. Brushing her fingertips over the Prince's jawline, she leaned in and lightly pressed her lips against hers. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "You musn't think that I don't love you, because I do. But you, dear Prince - you belong to the world. And Tenjou Utena...she has always been mine."
When Utena awoke, the first thing she felt was a throbbing on her cheek, and a grin tug at her lips. The more painful of the two reminded her of what had happened with the girl on her way home the night before; and the happier of the two - caused by nothing more than the site of a neatly arranged bookshelf - distracted her before she could remember everything.
The sun was bright that day, and its rays cut through the glass of Utena's dorm room window to illuminate the gold stamped spines of the elaborate collection of fairy tales she possessed. All beautiful hardbound limited edition copies, the collection that was one of the few things that brought her genuine happiness was probably worth a small fortune. But there was no amount of money that would persuade her to part with any of them.
1001 Arabian Nights. Grimm's Fairy Tales. The Complete Works of Hans Christian Anderson. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Tolkien's tales of rings and hobbits. Aesop's Fables. Tales from every corner of the globe; lives born of minds from every walk of life. Utena loved them all.
Or, more to be more precise, she loved the Princesses in them all.
It had all started not long after she'd been sent to the orphanage. She'd been unpacking when she found a dusty book tucked away in her bottom drawer, with nothing but a small note inside the jacket that simply said 'I found bliss in ignorance'. She'd never quite understood what whoever had written those five words was trying to say, yet found herself drawn to the book regardless. Before she knew it, she'd fallen in love with Lady Guinevere, and, as she began to read more, the Princess Aurora captured her heart as well.
When she read, she lived another life. She understood the hero's motivation, and cringed whenever he failed his lady love. How could he let her down? Didn't he understand how much she needed him? How she was depending on him? At times like those, she wished she could have a chance to re-write those pages herself.
A knocking on her door broke her out of her musings.
Grumbling, Utena got out of bed and did her best to smooth her wrinkled uniform. She hadn't bothered to change when she'd finally gotten home, and as the rapping got more insistent, she knew she wouldn't have time to do so now. "Yeah yeah!" she yelled, sounding a little more agitated than she'd meant to. "I'm coming!"
She opened the door to reveal a nearly petrified blue haired boy on the other side. "S...sorry if I woke you up Tenjou-kun," the boy Utena recognized immediately as little Miki nearly stammerd. "I just wanted to let you know that it looks as if someone's parked their car in your space on the lot. I was hoping, maybe, you'd come down with me and see if you can recognize whose it is, so I can take care of the matter."
Utena grinned and scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "I'm sorry Miki, I didn't mean to come off as a grouch. I just didn't sleep very well last night." She noticed that Miki was trying not to be obvious about staring at her cheek. He was failing miserably, but at least he was polite enough not to ask about it. "Here," she slipped on her sneakers, "I'll go down with you now."
Miki nodded and gave one of his trademark shy smiles. "Thank-you, Tenjou." Utena locked her door and they made their way down the stairs and toward the student parking lot. "Usually I'd write it off as a drunk student just parking in the wrong space, coming home from a weekend bender, you know? That happens a lot, and I know since you don't even have a car you usually don't mind when it does. But this car, I haven't ever seen any like it. It must have cost a fortune, and I really don't think it belongs to anyone who attends this school. I mean, look at that!" Miki pointed towards a small group of girls who'd crowded at Utena's parking space.
Utena nodded slowly in answer as they neared the car, a piece of it being flashed to her every so often between the moving bodies of the audience it'd gathered. Red. Chrome. Leather. Her brow furrowed as she remembered what happened after the girl had left her the night before. She had been so dazed, surely it couldn't have been real.
But there it was, right in front of her. That car. The car.
The crowd parted as Utena sidled up to it, running her hand over the frame in disbelief.
Last night, you made sense to me...last night, you made me remember things...
She felt a jolt run through her arm.
I wanted to forget him. I hate him. And you - you were his. A part of him...
"Neh, Utena, do you know whose car this is by any chance?" Miki.
He made me a victim. He tried to make me the opposite of everything I wanted to be...
"I'm sorry Miki, I...don't know why I forgot. This..." she pulled a key out of her pocket, "this is my car."
I did destroy him in the end though, didn't I? He fucked with me, and in the end, it was me who undid him...
There were a few startled gasps as Utena lept over the driver's side door and into the seat, slipping the key into the ignition in one smooth motion.
Maybe that's why you're mine now. Perhaps no one else could control you.
The engine revved just ever so slightly.
Miki stepped away, looking confused. "Well, I guess," he motioned to the purring engine, "that it really is yours. Umm...thanks, Tenjou-kun..." blinking as if in disbelief, he turned and walked away, leaving the crowd to move in and look upon Utena in complete female adoration.
Utena's eyes darkened a little as she gazed over the crowd.
Yes. That is what you do.
No need to question a voice in your head that isn't your own.
One girl, a pretty blonde with violet shaded eyes caught her attention.
Her. She's the one you want.
She grinned a charming lopsided grin at the girl, and motioned for her to come over. "Would you like to go for a ride?" she asked.
So easy, isn't it? You're a natural...
The girl's eyes widened in amazement and she nodded. "Yes! If...you wouldn't mind, that is." She blushed a little under Utena's gaze.
Utena leaned over and opened the passenger door for the girl. "Not at all...jump in."
The girl's eyes grew hazy as she did as she was told, closing the door behind her while telling the rest of her friends to wait for her, she'd be back later.
Utena just laughed at this and turned around to face the rest of the girls. "I'm sorry ladies, as much as I'd love to give you all a ride-" she shifted gears and started to pull out of the lot.
Accept it now. Say it.
"A date is for two people alone."
And now we cruise along the sunset strip...