Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Arisugawa's Locket ❯ Upcoming Anniversary ( Chapter 45 )

Arisugawa's Locket: Upcoming Anniversary

Setsuna smiled slightly to herself as she walked up to the familiar front of Arisugawa's Locket. Over the past few months it had become a comforting constant in her life, and since she began dating Juri herself it was almost a second home to her. The dark haired woman nodded to Bones and asked, "How are you doing this evening?"

The black haired bouncer smiled slightly. "It's been pretty quiet so far," Bones reported, "a couple underage attempts to sneak in, a few drag artists, that sort of thing."

"Do you have anything planed for Saturday night?" Setsuna asked.

Bones raised an eyebrow, "Other than being here, no."

"It's coming up to the anniversary of the grand opening of the Locket," Setsuna explained, "and I'd like to see if we can get a celebration going."

"Count me in," Bones nodded crisply, "I owe Arisugawa big time."

"Good," Setsuna smiled, "just don't tell Juri. I want it to be a surprise."

With that Setsuna stepped inside, making her way down the dark hallway to the inside of the converted warehouse. She paused there in the entrance, taking in the dance floor, dining tables, bar, library and the stairways up to the second floor and the row of private rooms there.

"Good evening, Setsuna," Hitomi smiled up at her. The brown haired greeter persisted in wearing her school girl's uniform, despite having graduated years ago.

"How's university going?" Setsuna asked curiously.

Hitomi smiled, "I aced the last few tests, luckily." She hesitated, "Thanks for referring me to Ami for tutoring. I think I might have flunked, otherwise."

"No problem," Setsuna smiled. "I'm going to try to give Juri a surprise party on Saturday," she said softly, "to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Locket."

Hitomi beamed, "I'll help however I can."

Cutting through the crowded dance floor Setsuna nodded her greetings to several regulars before breaking through the mob to the bar itself. A nice bar it was, too, with old fashioned 'L' shaped bar top, lined by round stools and with a large space behind where Ryouko and Minagi worked. The twin space pirates were a sight to see, flamboyantly dandling the bottles and mixes to ready drinks for the appreciative audience.

"Hey Setsuna," Ryouko's teeth flashed, "you want us to let Juri know you're here?"

"Not just yet," Setsuna smiled back. "Minagi, come over here too." Once both sisters were in front of her she said, "We're coming up to the anniversary of the grand opening of the Locket, and knowing Juri like I do, she hasn't got anything planned."

"So you wanna hold a party," Minagi grinned. At Setsuna's mildly surprised look she added, "We were already thinking of doing something for her. You got a day in mind?"

"Saturday?" Setsuna offered.

"We'll be there," Ryouko nodded, "I'll let Ayeka and a few others know."

Minagi smiled impishly, "And I'll pass the word on to Sasami, maybe she can cook us up something, too."

"Cook what?" Arisugawa Juri asked as she came down from her office upstairs.

"Something special for us," Setsuna smiled, taking her orange haired girlfriend's arm.

Sitting at one of the back tables the brown haired woman in the cream colored woman's suit tried to relax, her short skirt showing off long shapely legs as she scanned the crowd cautiously. Her redheaded companion looked around her with a cheerful smile, almost little girl like.

"Lila," the brown haired woman remarked, "I'm not quite certain that's the correct expression for this situation."

Lila met her gaze, "Would you prefer one of my other smiles, Najica?"

Najica's own lips tugged upwards, "I suppose not." She frowned slightly, "I'm beginning to think that fool sent us on a wild goose chase."

"Goose chase?" Lila echoed, the artificial girl sounding confused.

"A futile pursuit," Najica explained, "or pointless chase."

"Ah," Lila nodded thoughtfully. She tilted her head, "How do we go about examining the bottoms of our targets, Najica?"

"I'm exactly not sure," Najica sighed softly. 'What sort of creator puts the only identifying mark a humaritte has on it's bottom, anyway?' she thought to herself irritably before quickly answering her own question, 'A pervert, that's who.'

"Hi there," Cyberdoll May beamed at them, looking cutely eager in her crisp maid's uniform, "how can I help you?"

Lila smiled innocently, "Could I take a look at your panties?"

There was a long moment of dead silence as Najica sweatdropped. 'I can't believe she asked that!' she thought.

May blinked, "Well, normally I'd only allow my girlfriend, but..." She looked over at Najica, "Could you block, please?"

"Ah, right," Najica managed while thinking dazedly, 'She may not be one of our targets, but I'm pretty sure she's not human!'

May bent over and her skirt went up, revealing white cotton panties. Covertly Lila scanned for the markings that would show her to be a humanlite, but nothing appeared. "Thank you," Lila beamed, "they're very nice panties."

Once May took their order Najica whispered, "I can't believe you did that!"

Lila looked at her innocently, "It was effective."

"That may be true," Najica admitted, "but you'd best hope that her girlfriend doesn't find out you did that."

"Why?" Lila blinked.

"You'll find out," Najica smiled slightly. She shook her head, "Now we just have to go check out this Mahoro, too."

Lila looked around them curiously as some of the patrons got up from the tables to dance. She looked over at Najica, "Should we try to blend in?"

"Not a bad idea," Najica offered Lila her hand.

The two women moved hand in hand onto the dance floor together, and Najica gently lead Lila through the dance. Looking down, Najica saw an unfamiliar smile on her companion's pretty face. She knew Lila had to practice all of her expressions, having been awakened only a short time ago, and she wondered how she had created this one.

"What?" Lila looked up to ask.

"What number are you going to give that smile?" Najica asked gently.

"I'm not," Lila shook her head with that same gentle smile, "I think I'm going to call this my Najica smile. I only seem to have it when I'm around you."

Najica blushed a bit, "Thanks."

In another part of the Locket, Keiko was looking at May in shock. "She asked you to do what?" the boy's uniform clad woman asked.

"What?" May blinked. "I didn't think you'd mind."

Keiko's eyes narrowed angrily, her brown braid swinging down her back, "When I get my hands on her, I'll..."

"Hold off on the vengeance for a bit," Tendo Nabiki said as she walked up to them. The dark haired woman asked, "You two hear about the surprise party?"

"Hitomi told me," May said, still puzzling over what made Keiko so upset, "right after she told Excel and Hyatt."

"If I don't see her, pass it on to Setsuna that if there's any additional costs for this party, I'll cover them," Nabiki said crisply.

"That's uncharacteristic of you," Keiko looked at her in surprise.

Nabiki grinned back at her, "I'm just building up some credit if another one of my schemes goes bad on me."

To be continued...

The Staff: The bar's owner is Arisugawa Juri, from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Minagi, Ryouko and Sasami are from the series Tenchi Muyo. Keiko is also from Utena. Cyberdoll May is from Hand Maid May. Excel and Hyatt are from Excel Saga. Hitomi is from Escaflowne, the movie. Bones is from www.coolcatstudios.com. And finally, Tendo Nabiki is from Ranma 1/2.

Our Cast This Episode: Ami and Setsuna are both from Sailor Moon. And Lila and Najica are from Najica: Blitz Tactics.

Author's Notes: Najica Blitz Tactics is an enjoyable shoujo-ai series with only one glaring flaw: all the panty shots. There is an obsessive focus on panty shots, much like it's sister series, Agent Aika. But if you can get past all the panties, it's a pretty good anime.