Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Blood Soaked and Honor Bound ❯ Chapter 18

Part Seventeen: Tokyo Six

The phone rang loudly, startling everyone in the room. It was bad enough waiting around there for Utena to come home, then you added that Anthy and Juri did not get along at all, and things were getting a little tense in there.

"Yes?" Anthy answered the phone.

"Miss Anthy?" the doorman recognized her voice almost instantly. He sounded rather stressed as he said, "There's an injured young woman down here, asking for Utena."

"We'll send someone right down," she quickly reassured him. Anthy hung up and looked at the people in the room, "There's someone downstairs, asking for Utena."

"I'll go downstairs," Juri volunteered, jumping to her feet.

"No, I will," Anthy corrected her calmly.

Juri narrowed her eyes in anger, "Why?"

"You've been a vampire for longer than I have, and are probably stronger as well," Anthy pointed out reasonably, "if this is a trap, you need to be up here watching over the humans." A bit of anger seeped into her voice, "And since you made me into a vampire, you should be able to sense if something goes wrong."

Juri really looked like she wanted to argue with all that, but finally she nodded with a sigh, "All right, you go."

Anthy didn't let herself actually sigh with relief until she was safely standing in the elevator going down. She didn't know why Juri bothered her so much, but just being around her set Anthy's teeth on edge. In her most private thoughts, she wondered if it might simply be Juri's honest enjoyment of her vampire state.

'Keep your mind on business,' Anthy firmly reminded herself as the elevator came to a stop on the ground floor. As soon as she stepped out the scent of a vampire reached her, then Anthy saw who leaned weakly against the wall. "Shiori?!" she cried, running to her side.

Shiori smiled up at her weakly, her face and upper body covered with welts and bruises. "What took you?" she managed weakly.

Anthy got her wits about her and reached out with her new senses, trying to find any trace of another vampire nearby. But there was nothing. She looked down into Shiori's dazed eyes and asked, "Is Mrs. Ohtori here, too?"

Shiori shook her head weakly, "I got away from her, barely."

"But how..." Anthy started.

The elevator doors opened up again and Juri ran out, looking around her wildly as she cried out, "Shiori?!" She ran over and pushed Anthy aside forcefully, gently cradling Shiori in her arms. She saw the injuries that the girl carried with her and Juri's expression grew murderous as she hissed, "What did that bitch do to you?"

"She wanted me to help her find you all," Shiori said softly, "but I wouldn't do it. When the power of her will didn't work, she fell back on her fists."

"She'll pay for that," Juri vowed softly, "I promise you."

"Who will pay for what?" Utena asked, stepping into the lobby.

"Shiori's back," Anthy said, an odd look on her face.

Utena narrowed her eyes, "We'd better get her upstairs." Juri easily picked up Shiori in her arms, and in a few short minutes they were back in Utena's suite.

The girl groupies and Wakaba kept their distance, but Ruka looked at the purple haired girl with concern. "Will she be all right?" he asked.

Ignoring the question, they lay Shiori down on the couch, Juri hovering about nervously. "So hungry," Shiori moaned out softly. Anthy brought a bottle of animal blood out of the refrigerator and Shiori looked she was going to be ill, muttering, "I'm sorry..."

Ruka brought a packet of the medical whole blood over, tearing it open cautiously and holding it to Shiori's lips, "Here you go."

Shiori sucked it back ravenously, her body looking to fuel it's own repairs. "I'm sorry," she said softly, "but she wouldn't let me feed off animal blood, just on people that she caught." Shiori looked away, "I got so hungry, I just... gave in."

"It wasn't your fault," Utena murmured, but there was an odd look on her face.

Anthy looked over at the pink haired woman and came to a sudden realization. In Shiori's shoes, Utena would have just starved herself, rather than give in. 'Every time I think I understand what Utena's capable of, she surprises me,' Anthy thought.

"You survived," Juri agreed, "and made it back to me." There were actually a few tears in her eyes as she added, "That's enough for me."

"What happened to you?" Anthy asked Shiori softly.

"After Mrs. Ohtori took me away from Juri," Shiori smiled up at her sadly, "she seemed to know that you were going to Tokyo almost at once. She followed you out here, and has been watching what you've been doing ever since."

"Do you know what Mrs. Ohtori wants?" Utena asked.

Shiori shook her head, "No. She seemed to simply want to destroy you for killing Kanae at first, but after a while she seemed to become interested in you. Mrs. Ohtori asked about when you first came to school, the confrontation with Akio, all that stuff."

"Is she afraid of Utena?" Juri asked softly.

Shiori seemed surprised at that question, "Not at all. She never seemed to be anything but sure and confident when I spoke with her."

Utena patted her gently on the shoulder, "You should rest now." She looked Juri and Anthy in the eye, "I'm sure we'll have more questions for you later."

Shiori was going to protest that when Juri gently pressed her down onto the couch, "You need to regain your strength, love."

Shiori sighed softly, "Yes, Juri."

Utena led them out of the living room to the closed off kitchen to talk.

"What was that about?" Anthy asked, curious why Utena had stopped them from debriefing Shiori about what had happened to her.

"She's lying," Utena said softly.

"Of course she is," Juri surprised them both by agreeing.

"What do you mean?" Anthy blinked.

"She was in that... woman's hands for weeks," Juri said to them quietly, obviously not calling Mrs. Ohtori what she really wanted to call her. "I felt the awesome power of her will, and I can guess what she might have made Shiori do. Of course there are things that she doesn't want to talk about yet," Juri finished with a growl.

"And yet," a thoughtful Utena said softly, "she didn't seem too terribly upset over being held by Mrs. Ohtori, did she?"

"What are you implying?" Juri asked challengingly.

Utena met her eyes calmly, "Nothing." A pause, then she added, "Yet."

"How dare you," Juri's eyes flashed, and she took a half step towards the cool Utena.

Anthy stepped between them, feeling the air charged with electricity between the two of them. "Simmer down," she said forcefully, "this isn't the time or the place."

Both women glared at each other for a few moments, but finally they backed off.

Anthy puffed out a relieved breath, when a thought occurred to her. "How did you know it was Shiori down there?" she asked Juri softly.

"I made you into a vampire," Juri answered softly, "there's still a powerful link between us. I could sense who it was through you, I guess."

Anthy didn't look particularly happy about that idea. Not happy at all.

"I didn't get much help from my little visit with Miyu," Utena decided to try and change the subject for now.

Juri nodded grimly, "Did she have anything to say about Mrs. Ohtori?"

Utena shrugged wearily, "Just that she's strong, devious, and quite vindictive."

"We already knew that," Anthy smiled at them wryly. Both women actually laughed a bit of that. She looked at Utena, "Did she have anything to say about your powers?"

"Powers?" Juri raised an eyebrow.

"Remember when she faced Kanae?" Anthy reminded Juri quite pointedly of how Utena had, single handily, saved both of them.

"Hmph," Juri frowned. looking downward.

Utena shook her head, "Just that I seem to be unusual for my age, that's all."

Juri shook her head, "I'm going to go check on Shiori."

Anthy and Utena stood there a moment, walking her walk away. Quietly, Anthy asked Utena, "You were the one who made Shiori a vampire, right?"

Utena nodded slightly, but kept quiet.

"Could you make Shiori tell you the truth?" Anthy asked.

The expression on Utena's face was almost unreadable as she softly said, "I probably could." A short pause, "But I won't."

"Why?" Anthy demanded.

A grim little smile, "Because I would never let someone do it to me, Anthy. I have no right to do that to anyone else."

Out in the living room, Shiori and Juri stood at the window, looking out into the night. "You have no idea how happy I am to have you back," Juri murmured to her softly.

"Mm-hmm," Shiori said to her quite agreeably, but it wasn't Juri that she saw in the reflection of the mirrored glass.

It was Mrs. Ohtori.

Shiori remembered the last words Mrs. Ohtori had said to her. Her mistress had gently pushed bloody hair from Shiori's face, "Get close to them, learn all of their secrets. And when they least expect it, call on me."

To be continued...