Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Two Princes ❯ Waking and Wondering ( Chapter 12 )

Title: A Tale of Two Princes

Chapter 12: Waking and Wondering

Rating: PG-13

Poetry is mine

Shoujo-ai Content

Utena and its characters do not belong to me. I am just borrowing.

 

Juri dreamt...

 

There was a prince and a light that washed away the anger she had been fighting. There was the prince's voice and the soft promises that they would all meet again.

 

Touga dreamt....

 

He heard voices calling for him. He felt his body being moved from the rubble of the old hall. His sister was crying. He was such a bad brother and that made her cry even more.

 

Juri dreamt...

 

Of trees and darkness and her body felt like a lead weight sinking into the sea. She heard a voice call her name and chide her. There were sirens in the distance, and she could see the flashing lights and then there was darkness again all around her.

 

Touga dreamt...

 

The doctors were amazed but he did not seem to be as badly hurt as they first imagined. There was a bright light in the distance and it warmed him. A voice young and familiar sounding in his ear that she was okay too and what had happened? He tried to get up. He had nearly forgotten her, and then he was settled back...Back into a wave of light.

 

Juri dreamt...

 

The voice was petite and curious, overly chatty in her opinion. And there was another voice, one she had not heard in a long time, it was similar to her own, masking its concern by politely talking to the other. Someone mentioned him and that he was in the same state. She called his name. She tried to get up. He needed her help. And then she felt the darkness again, mixed with light...mixed with another voice that was shaken with concern it did not wish to reveal.

 

Touga dreamt....

 

And Juri dreamt...

 

And then one day...

 

They woke....

 

Strange as it seems but when I'm lost in my dreams

They feel more and more like memory of time gone by

They feel like history lost and found again

Under the weight of the visions

Under the spell of this light

There is a longing for freedom

Of doing what is right

And all through the trying

As I reach to wake and swim to shore

All the while I am drowning from this feeling I can not ignore

Juri's eyes flit open and caught the pull of her surroundings. She felt like she had been hit by a train, but then she recalled that a bloody duel to the death would probably do that. She shut her eyes again as the fragments of dreams filtered up towards the surface and she considered that they probably weren't really dreams at all, but pieces of delirious memory.

 

She sighed and the noise seemed to catch the attentions of the person sitting in the chair next to her bed. She tried to sit up but felt too exhausted to do so. Before the person could reach out to help her she fumbled for a button and the bed slowly began to rise. She looked over into the face of her elder sister and then looked quickly away from the questioning emerald gaze.

 

"Mother and father sent you the giant bouquet." Her sister's voice was cool and sharp, very much like her own, but it was gentle with concern and regret. "And you seem to have quite the fan club."

 

Juri quirked an eyebrow and looked around the room. There were many different cards and flowers. Her parents' bouquet had been the biggest and most obnoxious looking. Almost hidden from view was a single orange rose, the color of her hair, in a small vase. She shook her head and tried not to think too much about who it might have come from.

 

"How long," she asked quickly, looking back towards her sister.

 

"Three weeks."

 

She wanted to be shocked but she wasn't.

 

A knock at the door turned the sisters' attentions and when the red headed young man poked his head into the doorway to look in, Juri's sister decided to excuse herself. Juri tried not to notice the glance that her sister was giving to Touga that was a bit like a summing up and consideration to flirt at a later date.

 

Touga limped in trailing his I.V. drip next to him. After a moment of sorting out he took a seat in the chair next to Juri's bed and smiled when she pulled her blankets up a little more. Then it died away and left them with nothing more than the quiet of the hospital room.

 

It was Juri who decided to break the silence first.

 

"I'm sorry."

 

"Me too."

 

"I left a mark I'm afraid," Juri said, sadly noting a small thin scar across his cheek.

 

"Consider it pay back for the one you have."

 

She raised her hands to her face and there it was just under her left eye. It was defiantly something noticeable. She shut her eyes and sighed.

 

"She saved us," he said.

 

"Did she? I suppose she did."

 

"Your sister-"

 

Juri gave him sharp look, "Do yourself a favor and consider whatever it is you might say, before you actually say it."

 

"She's quite nice," he said with a grin.

 

"She'd break your heart in two and then do it again just because."

 

"Sounds dreadfully exciting. I might enjoy that, but... she's too old for me."

 

"Oh good." She let the sarcasm settle out of her voice and then said, "At least it was real."

 

"I don't think Utena would ever have it in her to try and toy with our memories. She knows how important they are...even if...in some sense they are rather surreal."

 

Juri nodded in agreement.

 

Silence took them again and then died away when familiar faces filtered into the room, followed by doctors who decided to come back just a little later, after Touga and Juri gave them a look (the one that most adults in and around Ohtori seemed to fear the most). They were not so sure they deserved the care and concern especially from some of the visitors, but they felt better about it once Miki and Nanami attempted to give them a scolding. Juri's sister watched the commotion from the doorway and there was a sense that eventually everything would be as it was...and yet completely different as well.

 

One cold and quiet day you'll see me

And memory will make you turn your head twice

As you try to recall the name that matches my face

You will find it sitting there

Ready for your lips to call out

Take no fear for when I hearit

I shall answer with a polite nod

One day soon we shall find each other

We shall all be bright and shining stars

Ourhearts that changed will do the same

For all the giant world

In fairytales and dreams we'll go

We'll touch each heartwe meet

We are but things of myth and time

But remember we are capable of defeat

Life will test us one by one

We will all go down that road

And then one day we'll reach a path

That has no more journeying

The end of the world will call us home

And for thatyou must be prepared

To face the final question

What kind of person have you become

At the end of your revolution

 

Things at the school settled back into a neat routine. Juri Arisugawa found herself walking back from the fencing hall lost in her thoughts of the events that had occurred. No one really asked what had happened to her. No one really tried to look for an explanation, and that, to some end, troubled her. Her sister would not ask, but her sister probably did not have to. She had a way of listening to the crowds around her and getting all the information she needed from there. But, aside from her, there was hardly a muttering of it. She and Touga had explained it to Nanami and Miki. It was quite possible that Touga would write Saionji regarding it. Kozue and Shiori would never ask, but somewhere inside Juri was sure they would know.

 

The path divided before her and she turned down towards the left, moving towards the big pond. Her feet were doing the thinking, since she was otherwise occupied.

 

She had had some trouble getting back into fencing. She would go to the practices and she would coach; helping out the novices, but she couldn't spar. She didn't feel comfortable fighting anyone, because somewhere inside was the fear that, perhaps, she'd carry things too far. Eventually though, Miki had called her out, and she was thankful for the encouraging nudge back into life, back into a sport she actually did have a love for.

 

Her feet made another decision as the path once again jutted of into various directions. A light breeze picked up and carried a few scattered rose petals along with it. The scent carried through the air but she hardly noticed it any longer.

 

Kozue came to mind, and Juri let out a small sigh. That was one thing she was still unsure about. Things weren't exactly broken so much as they felt cracked. She was afraid, even if the young woman had already accepted her apologies. Things had sort of turned back to the way they had been before Shiori left. They slept together in the same bed without a notion of how to correct their situation. On a surface level it was an easy fix, but deeper, inside, all around, it was a difficult task. There in one stroke was everything Juri never wanted to do to anyone she cared for. And whether the hurt was felt or not, she carried with her the feeling she had betrayed someone she loved. The memory stung at her, but memories, she knew, she could work passed.

 

The pond was quiet, which was slightly odd for the time of year, but one lone visitor sat on one of the benches watching the water. Juri moved towards him making light quick strides. When she sat down he turned to smile at her and then they let the silence of the place (which was not really silence at all; it was the low buzz of insects in the grass, the occasional splash from a fish, the wind in the trees...it was the sound of the quiet) speak from them, but only for a while.

 

"Your sister left finally," Touga asked casually, making conversation for the sake of conversation.

 

"Yes. She said I have no excuses for staying at school during the breaks all the time." Juri paused and then smiling slightly added, "Do you remember when we all gathered together for that final duel?"

 

He nodded, and then shifted in his seat so he could see her face better.

 

"I told a story about how my sister nearly drowned... I asked her about it."

 

"Oh?"

 

"I always thought it was cruel that she never remembered the name of that boy who had tried to save her. She still doesn't, but do you know what she told me?"

 

He shook his head slightly and then brushed his red hair out of his eyes.

 

"She said that even though she doesn't remember his name, she remembers his face. She remembers that look on his face as he tried so desperately to do whatever he could to save her. The adults may get to take the credit for the actual rescue, but he was her hero. She forgot his name but...she never really forgot him. She didn't forget the act, or the sacrifice."

 

The quiet crept up around them. Leaving them to ponder what had just been said. After a while Touga stood up a walked over to the edge of the pond. He put his hand in his pocket and then pulled something out of it. He held it in his hand for a long time and then tossed it out into the water. It hit with a polite, plunk...And then the quiet filled the space around them again.

 

Before he could turn to go and sit back down he felt a hand on his shoulder. He shut his eyes and sighed thoughtfully.

 

"She made us a promise. Was it her test or ours? Was it worth anything or not? I'd love to have those answers Touga. I'd love to be certain about what it all means, but all I have is what I remember. And I suppose that will have to do," Juri stated calmly, and she wondered if one day she might be able to fully convince herself of what she had just said. She hoped so.

 

"Are we princes, Juri, or are we just students?"

 

She shrugged. "What do you want to be Touga?"

 

He grinned and then returned the shrug. "One day," he started to say.

 

"One day, yes...One day."

 

Juri pat him on his shoulder and walked off. As she did she noticed someone waiting for her further down the path. She grimaced and then as she approached the young woman it grew into a grin. It was time to start living again. It was time to be a student, and fencing captain. It was time to be her self, to be a panther...and it was time move on passed fairytale endings. It was simply time...and there was time enough.

 

The End.