Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Blood Soaked and Honor Bound: Reloaded ❯ Chapter 6

Blood Soaked and Honor Bound: Reloaded Six

 

The shower pounded down on the slim young woman, her blonde hair soaked as she scrubbed frantically on her body. Nanami Kiryuu was tired, almost exhausted after the hectic events of the evening but she simply refused to leave the shower until she was clean.

 

'I still can't believe it,' Nanami thought dully.

 

She closed her eyes, a flash of memory appearing in Nanami's mind. Poor Tsuwabuki, the brown haired boy she had once known, now reshaped into a shambling parody of himself. The vampire boy had tried to stalk her, pinning her into a corner to attack her.

 

"Then she came," Nanami rested her head against the clean tile of the shower, the powerful streams of hot water soothing her aches and pains.

 

Looking like some unearthly warrior Tenjou Utena had simply skewered Tsuwabuki, hammering the struggling creature to the ground even as she delivered the killing stroke. Looking up, her blue eyes were gently compassionate even as she harshly instructed her.

 

With a shaking hand Nanami reached out to turn off the driving water, pushing the curtain aside and stepping out to grab a fluffy tower to dry herself off. Pulling a warm wool robe on she made her way into her bedroom, eyes dark as she seriously considered things that she had heard and seen over the past few weeks.

 

'Vampires in Ohtori,' Nanami thought bleakly. It would have sounded like a bad novel only a short time ago, but with the evidence of her own eyes she had to believe it. Besides which, it explained allot... the disappearance of her brother and most of the student council, Akio's odd behavior, and many more events.

 

Firmly Nanami kept her thoughts away from her older brother, Touga, who had disappeared along with all the others. She had only seen him once since then, late at night standing out on the balcony of her room. His long red hair had blown in the breeze, her expression strangely haunted as he looked out at the stars.

 

"Nanami," he had turned to look at her, an odd expression of longing on Touga's face.

 

"Big brother," she looked at him in surprise, hesitantly stepping forward.

 

"Stay there," Touga ordered her harshly, his red eyes flashing. Gentling his voice he continued, "Forget about me, Nanami. The daylight is your only protection."

 

With those mysterious words he was gone, disappearing into the night and leaving a very confused Nanami in his wake. Now, of course, she had a very good idea what was going on, but what do about it remained a mystery.

 

With a weary sigh she climbed into bed, Nanami pulling the covers up around her. 'I need to see Miki,' she thought wearily even as she could feel herself dozing off, 'he's the last councilor around and might know more about this than he's telling.'

 

The sun rose over Ohtori and Nanami found herself out and about, feeling not much the worse for wear for her night's adventures. Dressed in her school uniform she leisurely made her way to classes only to be drawn to a crowd gathered near the gardens.

 

Sprawled out in one of the gardens the girl's nude body was pale, seemingly drained of all it's blood, and many wounds that looked like they were made by a blade marked her arms. Most of them seemed long healed, but one still oozed a bit of pink.

 

Kneeling beside the body and examining a note that had been left nearby was Himemiya Anthy, the strange young woman who had helped her get home in the aftermath of the vampire attack last night. Nanami met her gaze calmly, then she turned away, knowing that there was nothing more that she could do there.

 

'Is that how I could have turned out?' Nanami wondered, entering into the administration buildings at Ohtori academy.

 

The student council at Ohtori, sometime before Akio came, had met out on a well lit, sunny balcony overlooking the grounds of the academy. Almost as soon as he arrived their new acting dean had abolished that practice and set up a council room inside, a more standard meeting room with a long straight table and chairs. It was here that, in the mornings, Miki attended to the remaining duties of the much reduced student council.

 

"Nanami-san," Miki looked up with a tired smile as she entered, the blue haired boy's eyes shadowed with tiredness.

 

"You need to recruit some temporary council members," Nanami pointed out as she walked over to where he was sitting, "you can't keep handling this yourself, Miki-kun."

 

Miki shook his head tiredly, "There's another election coming soon enough, I just don't want the replacement council to have a mess to deal with when I'm gone."

 

"There's enough of a mess right now," Nanami answered. He looked up from the paperwork as she quietly said, "I saw Tsuwabuki last night, and Tenjou Utena."

 

Miki froze at the mention of the name. "That's impossible," he lied badly, "Utena disappeared from the school a while ago."

 

"I saw them," Nanami repeated, "along with my brother, Touga."

 

"You know, then," Miki's voice was harsh, painful.

 

"Not everything," Nanami answered.

 

Miki sighed, putting his face into his hands. "It'll almost be a relief to ask about it," he murmured. He got up, stiffly, then walked over to look out one of the windows, sunlight streaming inside to warm the two of them.

 

"It started shortly after Akio Ohtori arrived here, after marrying Kanae Ohtori. One by one he had private conferences with the Student council members," Miki said grimly, "and afterward they shared his nocturnal habits. I think the only reason I was spared is because he needed someone who could function in the daylight."

 

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Nanami looked at him with a mixture of pity and anger, "Why didn't you try to stop them?"

 

"I tried," Miki's shoulders shook, "but I couldn't resist Ohtori. A look and you found yourself obeying him, if you wanted to or not."

 

"I'm sorry," Nanami sighed, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. They stood there silently a moment, "Is Akio gone?"

 

"Dead, yes," Miki sounded relieved as he turned to meet her eyes, his own glistening with tears. "Somehow Utena resisted him, killed him with one of the wooden practice swords."

 

"And the other council members?" Nanami quietly asked.

 

"Touga, Saionji and Juri are still out there," Miki said grimly, "along with any of the others that Akio changed." He sighed, "Juri isn't killing anyone, as far as I know, but Touga....."

 

Nanami wanted to speak up, defend her brother, but there had been something she saw in Touga's eyes that prevented that. "And Saionji?" she asked.

 

"His mind is broken," Miki revealed, "something that happened to him when he was changed." His expression went grim, "Akio liked to.... play with people, male or female, and that may have contributed."

 

"He raped them?" Nanami sounded ill.

 

Miki just nodded, and there was something in his expression that told Nanami not to pursue that line of questions any more. In all honesty, Nanami wasn't sure she really wanted to know. "With him gone the vampires are leaderless," he added.

 

"But still dangerous," Nanami sighed. She looked over at him curiously to ask, "And who is this Himemiya Anthy? She looks like Akio...."

 

"She says she's his sister," Miki responded, "come here to try and stop him."

 

"Must have been a shock to find him already dead," Nanami mused.

 

"Considering I had to be the one to tell her," Miki agreed. He brightened a bit, "She seems intent on cleaning up the mess that Akio left behind."

 

"All alone?" Nanami raised her eyebrows.

 

"She does have Utena's help," Miki pointed out.

 

Nanami felt an odd emotion, one that she couldn't name rising to the surface of her soul. "Miki," she leaned forward intently, "tell me about Tenjou Utena."

 

To be continued....