Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Being a Princess Doesn't Mean You are Helpless ❯ The ghosts of the black rose ( Chapter 4 )

Being a Princess Doesn't Mean You Are Helpless IV

Disclaimer: Shoujo Kakumei Utena and Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon do not belong to me in any way, shape or fashion and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

At the bottom of an endless elevator, was a room of sucking darkness. No joy had ever been in that room, no joy would ever come there. No light could exist, save that coming from a glass tank, filled with glowing liquid.

A lithe young man, pink haired with narrow ruby eyes smiled at the person across the tank from him. In it was a single, perfect black rose.

"Amazing, that it can grow so far from the light," Souji Mikage, once known as Nemuro. He stared down at it. His companion didn't look up at him.

"It absorbs the darkness itself," Mamiya whispered softly, lightly brushing his delicate fingertips over the velvet black of the petals. "After Kanae's failure, we need to choose a new duelist. One whose heart is as strong and as pure as Tenjou Utena. Someone we can corrupt utterly."

"You sound oddly bitter about Kanae, Mamiya," Mikage said softly, raising a thin eyebrow. "More than just from her loosing... why?"

"I am bitter at not being the Rose Groom yet," was his only answer, as Mamiya was again tending his rose. Mikage frowned at his... companion in concern.

"Another candidate will find their way to us," Mikage finally said briskly, trying to cheer his... companion up. He needed to do this, to save him. He needed to grasp eternity for this boy he had centered his life around...

~*~*~*~*~

Utena panted, sweat dripping into her eyes and moaned, wondering if the pain would stop. She couldn't believe it. She damned well COULDN'T BELIEVE it.

Tenjou Utena, the Victor of the Ohtori Duels had lost... To Wakaba.

"That's not fair!" Utena whined playfully, pulling her mesh mask from her face. "You've been practicing! I know I've seen that move before."

"Where would that have been?" Wakaba grinned, pulling off her own mask and walking over to shake Utena's hand. Usagi, in her match with Miki and loosing horribly, paused, felt his blade go past her, lost her balance and knocked BOTH of them over. In a clatter of equipment.

Utena shuddered as she remembered her last Duel with Saionji. "Oh, no where important."

"That was a kendo move," Juri remarked, recognizing the style. "Where did you learn it?"

"Uh," Wakaba was suddenly nervous and fidgeting. "I learned it from watching one of those old Samurai movies. It was really cool."

Usagi and Miki helped each other up, laughing, and went over to see what Wakaba was doing.

"How'd you get so fast? And so forceful? You were really nervous and tentative last time you were practicing with me," Juri said. Wakaba backed away. "No- don't be frightened- I was complimenting you. You'd held the foil like it was going to bite you last time."

Wakaba smiled shyly back.

"Yeah, I was really impressed," Utena answered and hugged her. "I would NOT like to cross swords with you!"

Wakaba was now glowing. "Don't worry Utena, I'd never hurt YOU!"

"I would love to know how you got so good!" Usagi mumbled, doubled over, exhausted. Miki and Juri were slave drivers! They had to be! They just kept after and after her... Yet she was having fun too. That was the crux of the matter.

"I practice in my room," the genki girl replied.

There was a creaking of the gym floor as the rest of the fencing club started to pack things up and leave. Then a particularly loud creak...

Juri, Usagi, Utena and Wakaba looked up to the balcony and saw someone most of them didn't know. She was around the height of Wakaba, with short, soft purple hair and vulnerable eyes. She looked down hopefully at Juri, trying to catch her attention. The graceful panther's emerald gaze met hers- and deliberately she turned away. The girl looked stricken.

"What was that about?" Utena asked in surprise. She shrugged. "We'll have to ask Juri later, I guess..."

Anthy had been watching the whole event... with slightly narrowed eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Usagi was nearly skipping from her last class back to her dorm, she wanted a bath and some TV and snacks- Juri had worn her out in fencing. She smiled, remembering how she had gotten the other girl to laugh. It had been the first time she had seen the golden bud the other girl carried around her neck. She had inquired, but Juri had gotten stony eyed before laughing it off.

Then there was the other girl. She'd seen Utena and Anthy talking to her when-

OOMPH!- Sailor Moon's musings were stopped as she ran face first into someone. Considering her record thus far, she figured it was Juri-

"Oh! I'm sorry Anthy!" Usagi exclaimed, scrambling to pick up her books and Anthy's as well. "Are you okay?"

Anthy, who was sprawled opposite of her, not being as solid as Juri and not able to absorb being walked into. Usagi picked her up, trying to understand this strange quiet girl.

"How've you been Anthy?" she asked, brushing the other girl of and handing her the dropped books.

"I am fine, Usagi-san," the other girl answered. Her expression had not changed since the conversation began.

"Are you sure? You aren't mad? I mean, you aren't doing anything at all, I walked into you kinda hard, you sure you're all right?" Usagi said anxiously.

"I am fine, Usagi-san," Anthy answered, with the exact same inflection. Usagi paused, noticing this, and saw nothing reflecting in her glassy green eyes. No emotion, no feeling. Nothing but placid acceptance. It was unnerving.

"Are you okay?" she asked again.

"I am fine, Usagi-san."

"So, how'd you meet Utena?" Usagi said desperately, trying to keep the creeping flesh of her back and arms from showing.

"We met through mutual acquaintances," the other girl answered, still calm. Usagi felt herself becoming more and more agitated around her. It was like she could feel wrongness coming off her in waves- no one was home in those leaf green eyes. Or rather... no one she wanted to meet. Thou sick rose...

"Are you going to be here long?" Anthy asked, completely surprising Usagi out of her reverie.

"Uh... I don't know. I somehow got a scholarship to this high school, and the classes are hard. I don't know if I could keep up my grades enough to stay. I've made some good friends so far, I'd like to stick around for them..."

"Oh," was her only reply. She didn't see the speculative look she received from the formerly blank eyes.

~*~*~*~*~

Juri sat under her favorite thinking spot, the tree by the shore, and looked at the picture in her golden bud locket. Shiori...

She'd thought she was over her, thought she was stronger, but the sight of her looking so beautiful and hopeful as their eyes met had stabbed her to the heart. Her feelings for her childhood friend had not dimmed, only festered like a wound. She had wanted so badly to scoop her into a hug and kiss away the fears clouding her eyes- but she couldn't stand the disgust she knew she would find there. Clicking the locket shut, she tucked the thorn in her heart back into her uniform and rebuttoned it.

Loneliness stabbed at her. She wanted, needed to tell someone, because the poison of memory was starting to eat her alive.

Juri wondered vaguely what Usagi would think of this mess… she was trying to get two girls set up, after all.

"You would always come here to think," said a soft voice, and Juri's head snapped around to stare at the small form in an Ohtori girl's uniform.

"Shiori," Juri said in surprise, getting to her feet.

"I know you must still be mad at me for taking him from you-" Shiori tried to say, but Juri interrupted her.

"To be honest, I don't even remember that boys name," the panther said baldy, before turning around to leave.

"Then who is in your locket…?" the smaller girl trailed off, seeing Juri walk into the distance.

~*~*~*~*~

Usagi stared in shock, having accidentally heard the entire conversation. She was hidden in a clump of bushes, having gone to find Juri to ask her what she knew about Utena and Anthy's relationship. She had paused, looking over Juri's shoulder-

And had seen a picture of the new girl.

Oh, Juri…

She followed the other woman back to her sanctuary, the gym. Usagi wasn't as stupid as she acted- she knew the look that Juri was giving that locket. It was the same one she had given her own star locket after Tuxedo Mask had been taken from her. Suffering. Depression- love unanswered.

Oh, Juri…

What had happened? What had caused this warrior to become so pained? She would have to ask, and damn the consequences.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Wakaba gripped her shinai, doing overhead swings, under her sensei's watchful eye. Saionji was smiling to himself as he saw her work her heart out. She had been doing some basic forms, having finished her limbering and strength exercises.

"For a beginner, you are progressing admirably," he told her in his calm, teaching voice. As Kendo Team captain, he had been annoyed often with the younger boys that had ignored him, being cocky and brash. They wouldn't give it their all when they trained. They where there for glory or to impress someone, not for the love of kendo itself. Wakaba however…

She WAS trying to impress someone- but that had changed to love of the sport she was immersing herself in. Her boundless energy, now channeled and focused, was helping her rapidly gain skill and strength. His teaching had gotten her over her initial nervousness, and he could correct her style. Miki and Juri, while both good (he grudgingly admitted), they were busy teaching and helping others on the fencing team. Her small size might have made the foil easier for her to use- but it also gave her a speed advantage. It had been to his chagrin that he had learned that because someone was small, they didn't have the delays others did in their reflexes. It had something to do with nerves and the distance impulses had to follow…

Well, anyways, she was spoiling him for average team members.

Picking up his own shinai, he walked across from her, and took the opposite position, and they started to spar.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey, Wakaba!" Usagi called, seeing her friend as she entered the girls' bath. One of the oddities of Ohtori was that it not only had showers but a full 'furo for students in the locker rooms.

"Usagi!" she squealed, quickly stripping and scrubbing in a nearby shower before joining her in hot water.

"You did really good today, Usagi," Wakaba said, soaking in the steaming water.

Usagi smiled faintly, before closing her eyes and leaning her head against the back of the tub.

"How are you getting so much better, so fast?" Usagi started to ask, but they were interrupted by the door opening, and Juri prowling in.

Wakaba didn't say anything- she had been rapidly learning that her opinions of the 'special people' didn't have much to do with them personally. She did, however, notice that Usagi was blushing as she watched their new friend. It could easily be put off to the heat of the water, but considering that Usagi's eyes were still riveted to the beautiful woman before them she didn't think so.

Juri seemed oblivious to the affection in Usagi's eyes as she joined them in the hot water, but she sat closer to Usagi than was strictly necessary. She was lost in thought, drawing close to Usagi for comfort as she battled her inner demons, and Usagi placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, calling her name.

Her companion jerked, before calming down, and sighed, settling into the steam. They started chatting, and Wakaba for once was quiet, watching the interplay between her two new friends. It was so sweet! Usually she would be running to the gossipmongers with the latest, but these were her friends… Someone who had finally understood her love for Utena-sama.

Then the princely girl that had occupied her thoughts entered as well, and Wakaba was off in sugar dreamland herself…

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Who was the girl that was watching practice again?" asked Usagi, trying desperately to work her way up to finding out about Juri and the to other person's relationship.

"She's… and old friend," Juri answered softly, her hand unconsciously covering her breast where the locket rested.

"Really? How'd you meet?" Usagi inquired, trying to keep her talking.

Juri kept her eyes on her lunch as they sat on the wall of the mysteriously odd garden Usagi had found. They had started coming there, as Juri had put it, to get away from the roses.

"We've been friends our entire lives, our families were close, and…" Juri paused. She wondered when was the HAD met Shiori. When had she started to school- when had Shiori left, who had that boy been- what was going on?

For a moment of furious thought, she realized she couldn't remember coming to Ohtori, she couldn't remember first meeting her beautiful, poisonous love. She couldn't remember-

Then the worry faded away, and a foggy memory of how they met came forward, one that, while lacking details, gave her the placidity of purpose, the fogging of mind that characterized Ohtori.

Usagi watched her friend's beautiful face flash with emotion, and then become strangely empty. This frightened her-

And turning and looking, she saw a pair of leaf green eyes, staring at her with no emotion at all. Somehow, Usagi knew, she KNEW that that girl had something to do with it.

"Anthy," she whispered. "What are you hiding?"

To be continued!