Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Cry Wolf ❯ The Kill of a Kiss ( Chapter 4 )

Title: Cry Wolf Chapter 4: The Kill of a Kiss

The characters are not mine I am just borrowing

The poetry is mine.

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Watching from a distance Kozue was unclear if the image was a dream or a memory. Stepping in closer, her bare feet tickled by the softness of the grass and her paling skin warmed by the heat of a summer sun, she realized that the image was a mixture of both. It was a little of the reality sugar coated by the haze of a dreamy delight. She doubted as she moved closer, blue eyes sharply focused on the scene that things actually worked so flawlessly and exotically. But there she was watching herself in the soft embrace of Akio Ohtori's sister.

She grinned at the sight of sweat beading on both bodies so rapturously captured by a moment that she knew was so much darker than what her mind was laying before her. The sky was never so clear, the grass not as soft or green, and the sex was defiantly less gentle and more hurried. She moved around the scene, an intruder in a false paradise, and she wondered why she was thinking and dreaming it. She wondered why it had any meaning for her as things between the entangled pair grew to a climax and died slowly like a warm fire. With a sniff she walked over to the tree that was slightly shading the couple and climbed up it, she stretched out on her stomach, clinging loosely to the thick branch, and spied down on the couple beneath her to hear the words that were about to be spoken.

Kozue could not remember if Akio's sister was actually so flawless in form, the olive tone skin so perfectly smooth, the eyes so brilliantly green, and her unmanageably long hair so shiny and…well she assumed it was soft. But there the young woman was, Anthy Himamiya, Akio Ohtori's little sister, the princess in a world of false knights and ravaging disappointments. Or was it that Anthy was really a witch in a world of false princes and toads.

"Or is it," Anthy whispered to the Kozue lying next to her, "that I am a little of both for the way I act?"

"Why bother trying to find a label that fits?"

"We are infinitely defined by our labels and looking back people only remember you as what you were labeled as, no matter if it was a false label or not."

"So you'll always be a witch?"

"To Akio," Anthy laughed as she asked. "Oh to my brother I will always be something he can never really understand, so yes I guess I'm stuck as a witch. And you will always be his wild little plaything."

"Why did he get caught?"

"Because he wanted to, because he's plotting something that no one will be able to see into until it is far too late."

Anthy rolled over on her side and closed her eyes, and the Kozue in her arms followed suit. Then the green eyed princess (or was she always a witch) smiled and looked up into the tree, she smiled at the intruder watching and spoke again, "He would have preferred a prince for this task but princes don't exist anymore, so you'll do. Wolves and wild things are more like what princes really are anyway… the other is just a fairytale because the true prince is always… murdered…"

Master of masks

The Janus god is kind

The Janus god is cruel

Guarding the gates of his house

Guarding the gates of his home

And he sees both ways

And he takes both ways

His voice slips from both mouths at once

His voice is elegant both ways

Don't lie to him

Don't try and spy on him

'Cos he sees you coming in

'Cos he knows of your sins

And knowing he will answer you twice

And knowing it's up to you to decide which answer is right

She would never want to admit it was the dream, but… it was the dream that made her leave a days work at the building's construction and drive four hours out of her way to the state penitentiary. She did not wish her dreams to drive her so but there were questions she had that only one person could answer, and he was locked tightly away behind prison walls.

Akio Ohtori had been tried and convicted for the misappropriation of funds at Ohtori Limited, and while such a petty crime would normally go unpunished and over looked at Ohtori, for whatever reasons, Akio was not let off so easily as most had hoped he would be. It always bothered Kozue. From the moment the uproar had started over three years ago, to even the present as she signed her name on the visitor's roster and watched the bars buzz open and pull back to allow her entry to the visitation room. It made her stomach churn the thought of him being there, because he was not a man who could be caught. He was not a man who was stupid enough to leave the type of evidence lying around that had been the source of his downfall. Deep down in the pit of her senses Kozue knew he was plotting, but what could only be plotted inside a prison cell? What could he do within captivity that could not be done in freedom?

"I had hoped you would come sooner Kozue," he said as he lounged expectantly in what must have been an uncomfortable chair, "After all I have been hearing reports that your latest assignment from Mrs. Ohtori has been…What would you say?" He grinned, and she knew the grin was a mocking laugh at her expense, "I suppose difficult is a fair enough word to use."

She leaned back into her chair and propped her feet up onto the table that was between them, she eyed the guard standing near by briefly and then relaxed enough to say coolly, "Tell me about Fenris the Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood."

"Fairy tales and mythology," he asked not surprised at the topic of conversation," they never were your strong points were they?"

"Putting a gun in someone's mouth," she began purposefully checking the reaction from the guard (he remained as still as a statue) before continuing, "is my strong point. Sex is a strong point; in fact anything in the real world that's dirty is my strong point. Everything else is false."

"That's why you are failing. You can not see the truth of the myth and really that is the only truth there is. Fenris is the wolf god that is meant to devour creation but there was another god born for the same purpose-"

"Dios?"

"But he will devour the world in light to change it forever. Little red riding hood is just a girl who was not careful of strangers. Gods, Kozue, and little girls, they are things that can be stopped or aided only by heroes. You come to me in this place and seek answers to things I can not answer, at least…not in present company," he eyed the guard, "Finish the building, restore it and everything will be fine. If you are having trouble with your garden however, the best thing is always to uproot the problem."

She hated playing word games, hated solving riddles, but it was obviously all she was going to get. She sniffed and asked, "My garden is full of roses, but the black ones-"

"Black," there was a hidden touch of anger in his reply, "Black roses grow rapidly and are best dealt with in flames."

Kozue nodded and got up from her seat. There wasn't anything left to say and she had the right idea of what to do. Before she could exit his strong and graceful voice stopped her. She turned and stared at him, looked him deep in the eyes and behind the emerald green color she could see the speech he was giving her, the command. She glanced away when she had had enough.

"Kozue another thing before you leave… insects… The black roses like them. The insect never knows it is being used, but it is. The venom of the insect becomes infected and it makes a sting much more deadly than can be imagined. If there are insects in your garden, you had best take care of them."

Mistress Mary

Are you contrary?

And does your garden grow?

Do wild beasts stalk low in the shade?

Are the hedges over grown?

Will a panther dare to seek answers there?

Or will she bleed and have to go?

Juri padded along on what was slowly becoming the reconstructed top floor of the Black Rose building, critically eyeing all the new work done by the crew. As the architect she made it her business to make sure that everything in the building was done to perfection. Anything even minutely astray from the original design she had redone immediately, and while she was no favorite among the construction crew for being such an "anal retentive bitch" (and that was phrasing it politely) Kozue and the other members of the Ohtori family appreciated her eye for detail (and always had). She narrowed her eyes as she stepped into what was going to be the executive office.

Hazel eyes regarded the intruder with the same critical eye she gave everything else in the building. The young man did not even try to pretend that he did not belong there, and as she waited for him to speak she noted, with some curiosity building in her mind, that the tall, slender young man with the rose tinted glasses and salmon colored hair did not seem particularly out of place. He grinned at her, a small almost inhuman and mechanical kind of smile. And finding that there was no way he was going to speak first Juri changed her plan of attack smirking in a queer way as she closed the unfinished door to the office and then leaning against it as if it need her for support.

"You're lucky I'm at least partially civilized," she said flippantly, remarking, "Anyone else would have found a nasty way of killing you on sight."

What appeared to be a chuckle left his throat and he shrugged, taking up a similar stance to that of the woman across from him, leaning against a wall, near an unfinished window.

"Why are you keeping this building from being complete?"

He looked at the floor in response.

"What is that seal in the basement?"

At that he looked up at her and sighed, "It is… a grave."

His voice was so steady and collected it sent a shiver up Juri's spine. There was something ghostly about it, something too calm and peaceful in its tone.

"Who's grave?"

"His…mine…theirs…hers…" He sighed again and slid to the floor blue eyes closing behind the rose colored glasses. "If it is not built I will never be free…I want freedom."

"Then why," she stood straight and took a step forward.

He jumped up and shouted, "I won't let him win! If I stay he stays! We all stay and there is no change!" He slumped against the wall more relaxed, the calm in his voice returning, "Will you bleed for her?"

"I-"

The sound of glass breaking in the distance interrupted her answer. She turned in the direction of the noise and when she turned back to face the intruder she was met with empty space. For a moment and perhaps longer she stood in shock, blinking back her surprise and then with herself collected she shrugged.

"Maybe Kozue's craziness is contagious," she muttered in a private joking manner.

"Who are you talking to," the question came from beside her, small and in a way almost achingly innocent.

Juri looked over her shoulder at the violet eyed young woman and said with a soft sigh, "No one, I was just thinking out loud. What do you want Shiori?"

"I was wondering if you knew-"

"I am not Kozue's keeper," was the swift and irritated answer.

She could never say for certain what it was about Shiori that she did not like or trust. She never wanted to make an attempt, so Juri chalked it up to some distant past life experience. Innocent looking girls with petite voices and sad longing eyes were things she found almost irresistible in a woman. It was because those types of women looked like they needed protecting, and she had an inherent urge to protect, and in protecting, in keeping someone safe, control. But innocent looking girls were never what they appeared to be, and deep down the women who really needed protecting were the ones who looked the most capable of taking care of them selves.

"What do you need Shiori," Juri found herself asking against all better judgment, but there was something…something that began to stir in her since she had started to work on the building. Something that was all lust and no apologies as if the building breathed want, and hunger, and was made of desire not brick and mortar.

The young woman grinned, "Nothing I was just a little bored is all."

Want…lust…desire…need like the tickle in a throat or itch that could not be reached, it coursed through the building and into the words of everyone working in it. It was amazing that any work was being done at all, but then… the symptoms only seemed to claim a select few. The architect had been watching it happen had experienced the pull of it from its affect on Kozue. And so Juri fought it because she did not wish to be claimed, but it was a losing battle.

"Tell me Shiori… Do you believe that dreams can come true?"

The petite young woman stepped in closer and whispered," Yes."

"And in your dreams… do you bleed for her?"

Tell me what it is you see

In my eyes

I'll tell you what I see

It's in your cries when I hold you tight

You want and you want

And you'll die to let go

You'll deny it so

But you want and you want

I'll give it to you

I'll let you have it

But remember the price

There is always a price

And the cost is high

The Ohtori Limited office building was dark and eerily quiet down in the dark of its pristine dungeon like basement. The cleanliness was a stark contrast to that of the Black Rose Building but there was one common thing the two shared and that was the rose seal. It took Kozue a few hours to find, as she descended step by step into the darkness of the buildings lower regions, losing her way here and there trying to find the correct path to take.

The basement or rather subbasement of a subbasement (for it was lower than the official basement that Ohtori Limited had listed on the employee map of the building), was completely empty and pitch black. She groped in the darkness along the walls until she came to what felt like an electrical box. After a minute or two of experimenting she came to the correct switch and the room was awash in an almost unearthly light. Blinded by the sudden radiance she fell back against the electrical box cutting her left hand as it scratched against the sharp edge. She slid down onto the ground and waited for a beat, blinking her surrounds into being. She squinted against the still tremendously bright light, and then quickly closed her mouth over her cut hand before standing up.

Barren…desolate… deserted… lonely…Those were the words that sprang to mind as she walked the room. The light that came from above (it was too bright to see exactly where the light fixture was), reflected off the polished silver rose seal that took up most of the floor. And Kozue could only guess what the seals were for, but she assumed that Dios and the myth that surround that god of light had something to do with it.

Unlike the basement of the Black Rose building there was no sense of life to the room. It did not pulse with an emotion, she could not feel the same kind of breath that the other room had. This room was completely dead, and it felt like a tomb.

She paced the edge of the seal and as she did a few drops of blood hit it. She watched in awe as the red of her blood soaked into the silver of the seal leaving no stain or trace of it ever having fallen. And as she stared deeper she saw that were the blood hit, words made of light appeared along the seal. It was brief, momentary but it lasted long enough for her to see the seriousness of the problem she faced.

"Strange isn't it Kozue?"

She whipped around at the sound, blue eyes narrowing at the site of the young woman approaching.

"Long time no see," the young woman said softly, brushing back her long hair out of her face allowing her deep green eyes to be seen. "I was wondering what was taking you so long to come down here. I thought for certain you'd come after Juri told you the history of both buildings…but as usual it took a visit with him to make you do anything."

Kozue made an attempt at looking cool and calm, but she failed looking instead angry and on the verge of attack. Everything in her told her that something was wrong and her instincts were pushing her to run and escape. But something… something kept her from lashing out. Something kept her from trying to leave and give into her animalistic sensibilities.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything to me?" A violet eyebrow arched followed by a queer smirk.

"Yes," Kozue began, "I fear I must tell you… I'm not a prince."

"No, you certainly are not," her voice was expectantly calm. "Princes are easily murdered."

She gritted her teeth and asked, "What the hell do you want with me Anthy?"

"Stop building."

"Why?"

"He mustn't be freed Kozue, surely you must know that? Fenris even warned you. Why do you want to free him?"

"I don't believe in any of this crap-"

Anthy narrowed her eyes and interrupted but did not shout, "You can't tell me you don't believe. You saw what happened when blood hit the seal. You can not free that kind of power."

"I'm just trying to do my job."

"You're trying to deny what you know to be true. Haven't your dreams taught you anything?"

Kozue stepped forward and the movement seemed to startle Anthy as she stepped backward.

"I see…," Anthy whispered, "Dios has chosen you."

"What?"

"He has chosen you to stop his other side from being reborn, but first…"

A brilliant light engulfed Kozue then, blinding her, it was an unnatural light that covered the room and when at last the light rescinded she found herself on the floor of the basement, petite voice whispering in her ear.

"I really do believe in this," it was Shiori, "And I know you think it's stupid but you'll understand once I'm done."

She never would have believed it possible if not for the actual feel of the blade rushing into her. And her mind grew dark as she tried to comprehend if it were really Shiori yielding the weapon or if it was some trick of her mind. The pain grew deeper and the blindly light that did not allow her to properly view her assailant as she vanished in the blackness that she recognized as…death.

The things that are real

They slip away to the darkness

The things that are dream

They burst forth from the light

And one will devour in darkness

And one will devour in light

Either way, which ever side should win

There's really only one way such a thing can ever hope to end