Part One
...The Androgynous Angel...

The clash of metal resonated throughout the room, undiminished by the shouts of cheering students and the gasping breaths of tired duelists. In a room where the shadows swallowed the walls and cast a brilliant spectrum of blacks and grays over the floor, young men and women struggled to get a good glimpse of the Prince, the fencing club captain, Juri Aresugewa. She sped like lightening toward her opponent, slashing her sword through the air, feeling it cut through the emptiness with the whooshing sound of a howling wind. Every slash, every thrust, was a calculated maneuver, the sword appearing to radiate with silver luminance with its every stunning movement. Her opponent struggled backward in a futile attempt to salvage the match, but he had already lost. Juri had found her final rhythm, and her sword dealt blow after blow against his, propelled by a vehement, thundering goddess, her arms flailing and her heart a sonorous drum beating in her ears. Then it was over. She stood with the prick of her sword on his chest, right above his heart. She pulled the mask from her face. Her long orange hair fell over her shoulders in voluminous, curvaceous curls. She had a stern countenance that was flushed of emotion. Like a merciless monolith infused with color and life, she turned to her audience and in a sharp, loud voice shouted, �Next!�

�Juri has so much power and influence in this school.� Wakaba remarked over the crowd�s tumultuous roars. Utena cast a long gaze toward her upperclassman, the woman that she, not long ago, had defeated in the dueling arena. Utena was looking for something, staring at Juri long and hard until it finally became clear to her. There was a trace of a locket on Juri�s chest, hidden beneath her fencing clothes. �I wondered where it was�� Utena thought to herself. I figured it would still be there. Despite the knowledge that Utena wasn�t listening, Wakaba carried on, �I heard that once she got a teacher fired just �cause he gave her a bad look. She�s so� umm� Utena� Hello?� But the next fight had begun, and the room had grown silent in eerie unison.

Juri struggled against her new contender. He was tall and slender with a certain ability and marked stealth. She rushed toward him with her sword lashing out ahead of her. His sword swiftly struck against hers and he leaned in with all his strength, making her back away. He was too strong to over-power, too fast to out-speed, and Juri felt a desperation sweep her mind and body. Lose. She shuddered, the thought streaming through her, cold and hollowing. Lose. �I mustn�t lose!� she silently cried. The duel went on for minutes, a tidal wave sweeping from one end of the room to the other. Then, the force of a blow that Juri had blocked made her fall back against the left wall. The pain that filled her made her sink down slightly. She grasped her sides and stared upward, the prick of a sword smiling before her. How long had it been? There was a bitter taste of loss. Then her adversary removed his mask.

His dark blue hair fell forward, framing his smiling face. A single, sky-blue streak fluttered over his right eye. �You haven�t changed. Not in all this time.� Juri was shocked. �Captain?� she asked in disbelief. She pulled her mask from her face and stared up at him incredulously. �I can�t believe it.� The audience was stirred back into life. Who was this man that could defeat the Academy�s prince? Amid the noise, Ruka and Juri shared a long silence.

The afternoon sun simmered in the sky, peeking through the rolling clouds. Ohtori was bustling with activity, everyone talking about the man who had bested Juri. Far from the chatter, Shiori walked quietly through an empty hallway covered by lockers on either side. Then she stopped, pivoted to her left, and rested her side against the cold metal doors. She ran her hand over the locker that was closest to her face, closing her eyes, breathing in deeply. �Ruka�s locker.� She thought to herself. �I wonder what he keeps� inside�� Suddenly, the door swung open, and Shiori gasped as the long fencing sword within fell to the floor with a loud clang. Immediately she grasped it in her hands and held it against her chest. She caressed the long shaft with her hand as though it were Ruka himself. �So it was you.� A voice murmured from behind her. Shiori turned around. Who had discovered her here? Then her eyes lit up in surprise and, like watercolor cascading over paper, the red of embarrassment flowered upon her cheeks. Ruka just stood there and smiled. He reached out to her, gently taking the sword from her hands. �While I was gone, someone polished my sword everyday. Every day� it was you.� Shiori nodded, her eyes fixed upon Ruka adoringly. �Yes.� She said. �Every day.�

Word reached Juri quickly that Ruka and Shiori were going out. She wasn�t particularly moved by the rumors; new, often ridiculous rumors of every imaginable kind swarmed through the student body everyday. But she immediately checked into things and, much to her distress, the rumors were true. They seemed so happy too; a picture-perfect couple. Ruka was incomparably handsome, tall and slender with sly, blue eyes, and Shiori was, in her own right, very beautiful, her short purple hair framing her lovely, innocent-looking face. Juri couldn�t help but feel sickened by their pairing. Each time she saw them together, walking hand in hand, she felt herself grow more and more angered, more and more jealous. She had to do something about it. It would drive her mad.

After practice one day, Ruka opened his locker and found, inside, taped to the back, a small note card of a blushing pink color. It bore the crest of the rose. The Student Council�Juri� �What could she be up to?� he wondered, pulling it free of its weak bindings. The words, �We need to talk. Meet me at our place.� were scrawled on its surface in bold black ink. �Ha.� He thought to himself, most pleased. All just as I�d hoped�even better.

�Their place� was a large open space over-looking the huge lake at the edge of Ohtori. From there, it seemed, everything was visible. The entire campus, with its students rushing back and forth from building to building over the sloping grass hills, over the fancy stone archways, was a feast for their eyes. But the campus was nothing compared to the lake, for it was an endless sea of blue. Here they used to fence. Here he had passed down all his techniques to her. Here they used to rest on a little white bench over-looking the lake. And it had always been crystal to them; azure, paler than the sky.

�I�m surprised you remembered this place.� Ruka said almost coarsely. Still, there was something hidden behind that tone of his, something contented with the very thought, she remembered. �How could I forget?� Juri replied, so hushed that he wasn�t sure whether he was meant to hear her; whether the words were meandering thoughts that somehow escaped her without knowledge or truly intended for his ears. She walked to and fro, pausing at intervals, dwelling upon some thought, but hesitating to speak of it. Then she stood still for a while, staring out into the distance. �I am leaving the administration of the fencing club in your hands. Whatever schemes you have as a duelist are not of my concern. I am glad you�ve returned. Do as you please. But�� �But..?� Abruptly, she turned to face him, and with a most austere visage she said, �Keep your hands off Shiori.� Ruka smirked sardonically. �Why does it matter to you?� �Because�� Juri replied, ��we�re old friends. Please�just leave her alone.� That said, Ruka rose from the bench and began to walk away. �Who I choose to have a romance with�� He stated, ��is really none of your business.�

It grew dark. A thick black curtain of night veiled the empty campus, obscuring the esoteric on goings of its students from naked view. The hallways, the stairwells, the classrooms, the student�s quarters; every place, everywhere, revealed its silent story to the dispassionate night, the darkness belying how alive everything was; everything it hid. The campus was always awake; there was always something for it to watch.

Juri had just gotten out of the shower. She toweled off the dewy wetness all over her body, wiped her water-trodden curls, and reached into her drawer for her favorite robe, one of pearl colored silk with long ruffled sleeves, the bottom of which trailed ever so slightly over the floor. She wrapped it around her body which was entirely naked but for the locket still hanging from her neck, the one she never parted with. Then she left her room for her nightly walk.

In the center of the campus there stood a huge, magnificent fountain. It was by this fountain that Shiori met with Ruka that night. She was breathless, hardly able to speak, having collapsed into the arms of her lover who held her tightly in his arms. �You didn�t need to run, you know, I would have waited.� He whispered calmly. Shiori trembled. It was freezing out, insufferable, and she was exhausted, bewildered, and terrified. But there held against him, in the warmth she felt against him, she found her voice. �I made up my mind and I want to�� she said, �I really want to... that which you asked me� tonight.�

The moon lent its luminance where they stood. Looking into Ruka�s face, Shiori could sense that he was waiting for something. He hadn�t kissed her yet. Was he waiting for the perfect moment? Something seemed strange, but she didn�t dare dig deep into the awkwardness. She was too afraid of what she might find there. She just waited and tried to put it from her mind.

Meanwhile, Juri made her way down a set of small stairs very close to where the couple was standing. Lost in thought, she barely noticed Ruka and Shiori out of the corner of her eye. There they were, right there in front of her, as real and alive as she was, as happy and fulfilled as she wasn�t. They were kissing now. Kissing� those lips� Her heart strings snapped as the words formed in her mind. Why not me? Why not ever� Then her train of thought was shattered.

Ruka was staring at her! Now, even now, as he held and kissed Shiori! As he drew his lips away he smiled, as if to say, �I know all your secrets. I know how jealous you must be. And you can do nothing. Nothing.� Then the two took off, made their way quickly over the campus; wherever they where headed, Juri didn�t know. She just pulled at her locket, letting the chain carve its light, reddish mark upon her neck. He knows. Oh God. He knows everything.

�So this is your place huh, Ruka?� Shiori asked. He had taken her to his room at the edge of the campus, and was now simply watching her as she meandered about the empty space. Slowly she approached the bed. �There�s hardly any furniture.� And there wasn�t. Simply a long lamp with a plain beige shade, a cardboard box in the far corner of the room, and a large, wide bed with a silky white blanket and a few fluffy pillows scattered upon it. �Yes I know.� Ruka murmured. �But it�s home.� He walked over to where she was standing and ran a hand through her short purple hair. �I want to make you feel at home.� He said, gripping her by the waist and pulling her against him. She tugged at the rim of his pants. �Really?� she asked. �And how do you plan to do that?� His hands moved up under her shirt, under her lacy bra. He played at her nipples until they hardened like little pebbles. �Mmmm�� she murmured. Her lips trembled as he leaned in to kiss them, and her whole body quivered as he slowly undressed her, not so much from the cold as from her own exhilaration. She quickly undressed him, in turn, until they were both stripped down to nothing. Then Ruka snatched her up in his arms and tossed her down upon the bed. He brought his body over hers, his kisses traveling from her face, down her neck, over her breasts and stomach, and finally to her sweet nether lips themselves. Then he sat up and looked down upon her, her body completely open to him. He spread her legs even wider, and she tentatively gave way.

The furrow between her thighs seemed to ache with anticipation, the tiny mouth salivating cum with its vicious hunger. Ruka rubbed two fingers against it, the milky white fluid sticking to his skin like thread from a spider-web. He began to push his fingers in and out of her, and she urged him on with her heavy breaths and quiet moans. Shiori looked so lovely then, there beneath him, writhing beneath him, her eyes little pools of melted amethyst, a violet, crystalline color, staring up at him, amazed, arrested. But still, she wasn�t anything to him. She could never be anything to him. �If only it were Juri.� Ruka thought to himself. God�if only it were her!

Without warning, he pumped himself into her. He filled her completely with each violent thrust, her screams muffled by his mouth over hers. He kept his eyes closed, trying to forget where he was, or more correctly, who he was with. Lost within his imaginings, he could barely perceive Shiori�s efforts to slow him down. She loved him, would endure anything for him, if only he loved her back. �He said he loved me back.� She thought to herself. But then why won�t he look at me? Why won�t he look at me? Then, as though he had heard her thoughts, he was staring down at her, smiling. Reassured, she clung to him lovingly. But he didn�t see her. He didn�t want to.

Juri flashed before his eyes, taking the place of Shiori�s body. Her skin had a lustrous guise to it, the fluids and sweat of their love-making causing her to shine with a vague resplendence and her long orange hair to cling to her breasts. Her eyes were closed and she shook her head from side to side, seeming bereft and all the more beautiful. He was driving himself in and out of her, covering her little mouth with his kisses, then letting her moan as her orgasm mounted. Then her sweet voice cried, �Ruka! Come with me. Oh Ruka�I love you�� and she arched her back as she said it, tightening her pussy around him. She stared up at him that same instant, watched him close his eyes and shudder in sheer rapture as his fluids shot into her in a sudden spasmodic jolt. �I love you�� she repeated, feeling, again, the hot sticky spurt of his semen inside her. �I love you�� she entreated, but he would not respond, only groan, as she had, while his cum continued to pour. I love you.

He opened his eyes again at the feel of her hand upon his cheek, but it was Shiori staring back at him. It was Shiori who had said those words. Sensing that something was wrong she asked, �Are you okay?� Ruka stared back at her for a moment, then got up and laid down beside her. �I�m fine, everything�s fine. I just need to get some sleep, you know, you really tired me out.� Shiori smiled. �Well�I�m glad.� But Ruka wasn�t. He assured Shiori that he loved her incomparably and that she had been wonderful, that he wanted to meet like this again. Then she left just as worthlessly as she came, in both respects.