School Building Rooftop A roof. What did you expect? The planet Mars? Then again, this school is so bizarre that you wouldn't be surprised to find yourself in another dimesion, right? From up here you can see your house, too! The school might have only two floors, but it looks like you're a hundred feet above the city! Is this some sort of spatial anomaly? Optical illusion? Special "deep canvas" visual animation effect? Background matte artist's oversight? Who can say? The roof itself looks like a bizarre mosaic of cement, ceramic, asphalt and even wood boards. Pretty bizzare. If you had a portable TV, you could probably get the European channels. It's really high! [Exits : (D)ownstairs ] [Players : Touga ] A light rain falls towards the earth, soaking wandering travellers unfortunate enough to be caught in the rain. Puddles of varying shape and size begin to form in the streets and ground, making the ground sloppy and muddy. The sky is dark grey, giving off a gloomy feel for most, and no sign of the sun is in sight. During the night, the rain continues to fall, beating the rooftops and windows as a continuous reminder of the weather's condition. Well, this is just -typical-, muses Utena, the words lightly penned in that fine strong script on that small elegant notecard scrolling across the inside of her eyes. So, she asks herself, as she climbs toward the roof of this school building, If I know that... why am I bothering to play along? The drizzle that seems to have settled over Tokyo in the last week is reflected once more in silver drops that pepper her thick pink hair with fragments of light, adding a fine sheen to her face and a mistyness to her eyes. But believe me, it's hardly out of excitement about such a reunion. No, she knows she's walking into the lion's den here. She's just about kicking herself for it, and at the same time... well... she shoves anything like -those- thoughts down, finally mounts the roof, and stands looking about a moment, a small wet girl framed by a gray and listless sky. The light rain that covers the city certainly makes no exception for this rooftop, even though it does appear to be many feet higher than its two simple stories. Thus it should be with some surprise to Utena as the rain in her general area suddenly slackens off for a moment, and then stops altogether to leave a circle of calm about six feet wide around her. A strange, mystic occurance? Not quite, for a moment before a tall, red haired young man steps out from behind the doorway, a large umbrella that gives the impression of being an opened rose in one hand. Moving quietly, he stops less than a foot behind Utena before leaning over and whispering into her ear. "A pleasure to see you again, Tenjou-kun..." Touga whispers, a small satisfed smile on his face that she responded to his letter so promptly. Don't blush, for god's sake, don't hold your breath, don't even -breathe-... Utena stiffens faintly, for a moment, as that slick-as-silk voice casually purrs right at her ear. Biting back her immediate two responses that come to mind, she closes her eyes and straightens up, like a soldier standing at attention- or maybe a slightly better analogy would be the condemned man waiting for the firing squad's first bullet. A single droplet of rain slips from a wet bang and plips against the tip of her nose; you can almost hear it, thanks to the absence of rain from the large umbrella overhead. "I don't exactly want you to think I'm at your beck and call, Seitokaichou," she responds, a faint hint of ire in her tone. "But I'm here... I suppose it's better to meet this way than to have you show up on my doorstep or something." The walls are up, yes, they are. Have to be. It wasn't that long ago in her memories that a certain someone was breathing in her ear at a certain party. The small smirk that crosses Touga's face is almost priceless... after all, this is exactly how he expected her to respond. Ah, Utena Tenjou... still as proud and defiant as ever. Wonderful... "Of course... but that would mean that I know where your doorstep is, Tenjou-kun," Touga purred in response, standing slightly to look down on the fall of her startling pink hair for a moment. The red haired duelist looks for all the world to be a large red haired cat, slowly stalking its intended prey. "It has been too long a time since we last spoke... shortly after you met Juri in the arena, was it not?" With his free hand, he reaches out and teasingly catches a stray strand of her hair, running it between his fingers for a moment as his blue eyes continue to regard her intently. Utena murmurs, faintly, "I wouldn't put it past you to have found out before you ever wrote a line of that note." in a thick, bitter tone. Rather than smack his hand away, she simply draws in a sharp breath and steps forward quickly, slipping out from under the shelter of the umbrella. Her hair, damp from the rain, just glides smoothly out of his hands, slipping between his fingers and falling back to join the other locks. She walks forward until she's at the roof's edge, her slim white/black coatedbackto you, and pressesher hands against the edging that keeps the roof safe enough to stand on, looking over the city. Faint pain shows in her next words. "I didn't come here to be seduced by you, Seitokaichou. If you have something you really want to say to me, say it... if you just wanted to announce that you were here, tell me that too, so I can get out of the rain and get back to Himemiya. You said you knew something about the true prince-or was that just the bait on the hook?" "Still so innured against the world, Utena? So willing to believe that the world is against you, and out to capture the Rose Bride?" Touga's smile is slightly mocking, although Utena can not see that from where she stands on the roof. "That nobility that I sensed in your is still strong, even after all that has happened... it is good to see that you can survive with your heart intact through all of this." Touga swings his umbrella around and closes it with a loud *snap*, letting the faint drizzle of rain touch him upon his shoulders. Utena lets out a soft sigh, and spins around, leaning against the stones, her hands shifting back and forth along the wet surface, from her arms fanned out at her sides. She looks weary and slightly vulnerable, though the caution remains locked in her dark gaze. "... Only you can make a compliment sound something like an insult, Seitokaichou." she says, shaking her head, looking at you as the rain starts to soak into your shoulders and that flame-colored mane. "As far as I'm concerned, the Duels are over. That was another time and another place, wasn't it? I want to get on with a normal life, and I'm sure Himemiya does too." "The Duels are over?" Touga repeated, twisting her words into a question. A moment later he threw his head back, letting a long laugh echo out over the rooftop in response to Utena's claims of a 'normal life'. "And what of your Prince, Tenjou-kun? Do you intend to leave him as well, and lead a 'normal' life? Do you not want to be a prince as well, and protect the Princess?" The red haired duelist shook his head, letting his dampened mane swirl about him slightly before he continued. "I recognized long ago what it would take to make you happy, and you will never settle for an 'ordinary' life, Tenjou-kun. You won't give up your noble heart, or your dreams." "No one said that being a prince meant fighting those stupid duels!" Utena exclaims passionately, before shaking her head and leveling her gaze back at you. "Of course, I'd protect Himemiya no matter what... but if there's no duels there's nothing to protect her -from-, is there?" She hops up and now actually sits on the stone, crossing her legs demurely as they dangle. The rain continues, but seems to be unfelt by the girl now, or just ignored. "The truth is since I've gotten here I haven't been sure what to do," she admits. "... I know I should go to school, and start picking up where I left off- the way things would have been if I hadn't gone to Ootori. But it doesn't feel -right-, either." She clasps her hands in her lap, and glances for long moments at the ring she wears. Why's she /saying/ all this? It can't be because the look in those eyes is so .. knowing, and what he says is true on some level... Touga smiles in response, walking over to stand by her and looking out over the edge of the roof and into the rainy afternoon air. Closing his eyes for a moment, he smiles slightly at the pink haired girl. "No matter what you think of the Duels, you continue to fight in them. You feel the same as the rest of us do... called by something that we don't quite understand. You still feel Ohtori around you, even though we are no longer on the same world... you feel echoes of your past in a place where they have no right to be." Touga leaned forward, resting his elbows on the rain slickened bar that ran around the outside of the roof to keep everyone where they should be. "And against all logic, you can't give it up. No matter what the price, you feel called to stay on till the end..." Touga's voice is slightly haunted at those words, as if he were speaking to himself for a moment. Shaking his head, he turned around to smile at Utena. "Is that not right, Tenjou-kun?" Utena watches you as you draw near, turning her head and watching the movements of your body, the subtle defeat in the broad shoulders. She finds that she has no argument, no defense... nothing she can say to counter that. It's true. It .. -hurts- to admit that... like a kick in the chest. But he's just given voice to all of the unspoken, half-formed feelings wandering through her awareness. As you continue to speak, she feels it, almost sees it.. faintly.. the lines of the campus tower in the summer sun, hovering over us in the air.. casting an inescapable shadow. After too many seconds of heavy silence, she rallies, but only weakly, "... I don't have to do anything someone else tells me to do..." It's too late, and too weak of an argument to hold. Utena adds, after a moment, "... and are you talking to me.. or to yourself?" The smile that Touga turns on Utena is dazzling, to say the least. "When did you need instructions from someone to tell you what to do, Utena?" he asks after a moment, shrugging over her second question like a puff of smoke. "The noble rose does not look to the other flowers and ask where it should grow. It grows as it pleases, following its own path. Your heart should be the same." The duelist turns for a moment, admiring the line of her jaw and the fall of her hair before his speaks again, his blue eyes glittering. "But your heart is also telling you what to do, Utena. Perhaps you should listen to it, as you did in your duels with Saionji, and allow yourself to be guided to the proper place." The sultry grin on his face speaks a small volume about where he thinks her proper place should be, but Touga allows another other comments along that line to pass. Utena . o O ( He's.. different, somehow. ) She finds herself pondering that notion as she watches you, surely looking at each detail of you as closely as you scrutinize (admire?) hers. The line of the jaw is a little harder and there's something in the eyes that wasn't there before.. even while the heated little smile is the same as before. The shoulders, just a little wider, and a little stiffer... . o O ( Well, maybe he's from later too.. seems like just about everyone is, except me and Wakaba... ) That thought disturbs her visibly, and she's grateful for the sudden distraction provided by that smug-sounding comment. Her response is a bit of a haughty sniff, and a turn of her head, presenting her profile to you. "I was almost starting to think you had something in there besides the playboy," she warns, before looking back to you with an oddly penetrating glance. "Let's keep the personal comments out of it, okay? But, tell me.. what was the last thing that happened to you before you got here?" Utena . o O ( It's comments like -that- that keep me from being able to believe in you, Touga... that's why I know you're not the one.. even though... ) "Inquisitive as ever, I see..." Touga replies, still smiling slightly, although it is no longer quite as... suggestive as before. He leans over and rests on arm on the rail again, looking out into the rain again. *(She hasn't changed from those days... before he came and began to cast his web around her.)* he ponders for a moment, letting the silence build for a moment, and then breaks it with a sharp chuckle. "What if I told you that I went all the way to the End of the World, and decided that I would throw myself off?" he asks rather cryptically. "Everyone changes, Utena... even you will, one day. But if you keep your noble heart..." A slight shrug, and then... silence, as Touga stares into space again. Utena's eyes go curiously blank for a moment. Not the filled-in curious blankness of her normal expression, but a complete blankness... pale blue, shadowless. As if the mention of that particular set of words drives her into a momentary trance. She presses her hand to her head and shakes it suddenly, looking like someone who's just had a dizzy spell. A moment later, she rubs the back of her neck and looks back at you sheepishly.. "Sorry... I guess I missed it there, what you said. I've been having these spells..." What an odd thing to say, isn't it? Particularly from the self-proclaimed 'healthy girl'. She drops her hand back, "... you know, we're getting soaked out here, like this..." A seeming tangent, with tones of 'peace offering' underlying. That sadness she senses in you now is alien and part of her is driven to know why. Why are all the other Duellists coming away so .. SAD? So heavy, as if their souls were weighted with iron ? "... Touga, I..." she starts to say... In almost immediate response to Utena's comment about getting soaked, Touga's hand with the umbrella comes up and around her shoulders, A quick press of the button and the umbrella opens, sending a sparkling spray of water out in all directions for a moment. The move conveniently places Touga right next to the pink haired girl, and he smiles at her for a moment. Not that Touga would dream of telling Utena why he feels so laiden with pain and grief... she would not understand. Not yet, at least. "Of course, Tenjou-kun. Lets not keep you out in this rain any longer..." he says with a small smile, gesturing with his free hand towards the door down to the more habitable parts of the school. His eyes look a little worried for a moment at her blankness, but he holds his tounge for the moment. Utena chuckles as you move so quickly- she doesn't fail to notice. "Always the gentleman," she murmurs, not without some degree of amused affection in her tone. She shakes herself off slightly, now completely drenched, wet strings of pink silk clinging to her features. She looks up, after making an attempt to flick water off her face, and begins to laugh when she sees just how soaked - you- are too. ".. we're like a couple of drowned rats," she laughs, that infectious, unfairly charming little laugh you rarely get to see, the one that comes when she's relaxed with her friends. She doesn't move yet for the moment though, instead doing something that will probably make you jump out of your skin. She wraps her hands around your arm and presses her cheek against your bicep.. just for a moment... one too-short moment where she lets her head rest on your arm and closes her eyes, sighing. It's almost as if you can hear her thoughts through that moment of contact- if only you were the one. If only. I missed you. I wish things were different. But she pulls back quickly and shakes her head as if to say 'breathe a word of this to anyone and I'll deny it'. "Tea?" Spook Touga? Quite to the contrary... the red head is used to that sort of thing happening... just not from the pink haired girl standing besides him at the moment. As a result the action is complete unexpected, and Touga stands completely still for a moment at the touch of her cheek, a small smile on his face. *(Things, and people, can change...)* he decides as she pulls away, shaking her head as if denying what she had done. "Who am I to refuse a lady's suggestion, Tenjou-kun?" Touga says with a small smile, bowing his head slightly to her. "If you have a place where we can go for tea, I would not be opposed..." he adds, a small polite smile on his face. "I am not quite familar with this city, if you would lead the way..." Utena rubs her arms momentarily, now feeling both the cold and some gratefulness for the large umbrella over her head. "Let me think.. I'm not as familiar with this area, but I'm sure we can find something." It's wrong to treat him as the enemy, isn't it? After all.. this isn't Ootori, no matter what he says or we might feel.. even if we feel the same, that school, that place isn't here. This is a different place. Things can be different. Can't they? She strides off toward the exit from the roof, in slight haste as the wind seems to become colder, and harder- as if to facilitate their exit, or drive them onward. The Black Blade Cafe Touga steps into the cafe, turning slightly so he can shake the water off of his umbrella and not get any more on the two Ohtori refugees that they already have upon them. The motion does move him away from Utena for a moment, so he simply keeps walking until he reaches one of the tables and pulls a chair out for the pink haired girl, waiting politely for her. Touga is nothing if not polite for the ladies... and this one inperticular. "Please, have a seat, Tenjou-kun..." he says, another small smile on his face as he rests his umbrella so it leans up against the side of the table. Utena rolls her eyes goodnaturedly, but crosses around the table and sits herself, closing her eyes with a faintly prim expression on her face. Overall though her humor seems improved- perhaps she's putting you in the 'temporary ally' category- as this is a strange place for all of us, there's no use in dragging out Ootori politics now, is there? Especially if the shadow of the school is looming. She half wonders if Touga isn't on autopilot now, and wonders if she's just playing into that... that could explain the watchful attention she gives you as you move away from her chair and seat yourself. "Sure is nice to be dry though," she comments brightly. "I think I want some hot chocolate instead of tea, if you don't mind." "Of course not, Tenjou-kun..." Touga replies with a small smile, his long red hair plastered to his face in a couple of places from their extended bout outside in the rain earlier. He gestures for the waiter, although his vivid blue eyes never leave Utena's face. "If you don't mind, I will cover the tab on this one... it is my first time in the city." He doesn't say what he normally would have... something involving 'first date', most likely. Touga is not one to press his luck, especially after the concessions he had won so far. Things had to be handled... carefully. "I will have tea, of course. Something simple to relax the nerves, and invigorate the senses..." Utena is still rather damp herself, of course- hair as thick and long as hers takes some time to dry when soaked, but the springy curls at her shoulders are just starting to regain their shape. She looks at Touga mildly for a moment, then looks away, chuckling and touching the back of her neck. ".. I just can't get away from you, can I..." she says, in a tone that's almost wistful. The only reason she's even allowing this much out is because of her genuine feeling that she's so far away from -that- place, and -that- world... and besides, who knows them here? It's not like either of them are surrounded by the hordes of groupie admirers. "You still drink it black, or have you changed your preference?" Leaning back in his chair, Touga chuckles softly in reponse to Utena's comment. "No, you can not. You want me around, for no other reason than to provide a bit of challenge in your life." He doesn't mention what type of challenge he is reffering to... but that is his way, letting the others finish his sentences for him and make of them as they will. That choice tells the red haired duelist more about his opponent than any amount of presuasion could uncover. As the water walks over, Touga gestures to one of the teas, black of course, before turning his gaze back to Utena. Utena lifts her head, having brought her fingers before her, linking them together and leaning her elbows on the table, asking for a hot cocoa with marshmellows. She smiles gratefully at the waiter as he moves away, and then a small, half-formed smile, like the Mona Lisa's gentle grin, settles on her face. "I could say the same thing about you, Seitokaichou." But then again, who was it who walked away first, stating that she had to become a prince and that was the only course of her life? "... You know," She comments on a tangent, resting her chin back over her fingers, "It's pretty weird.. how these things are happening. All the Student Council coming all at once, and Himemiya... and then the fact that I guess everyone's coming from a slightly different time. It makes my head hurt. I guess... if I understand it right, we didn't all even come from the same world...?" She shakes her head. "I thought I'd seen everything after that first Duel, but this really tops that." "Of course... but in the end, we really have seen nothing of what our world can truely offer us, don't you agree, Tenjou-kun?" Touga counters, leaning backwards and draping an arm over one of the chairs next to him - not Utena's chair. Part of him is overjoyed that they can talk like this, without his running into that solid wall of paranoia that she had raised between them after their second duel... a duel she had not fought yet. "But perhaps it is destiny guiding us with her hand, urging us in the proper direction. Or fate..." His lips twist sardonically around the word, thinking of Akio, "...has conspired to bring us all together, to continue our long dance of the rose..." Utena frowns, very faintly- just the beginning of a line pinching her pink brows together. "You know, "She says softly, "Even though my heart wants to believe in such things, I don't know that I believe in fate. Don't we make our own choices and have to live with the consequences?" Such as the consequence sitting across the table from her right now. She made her choice those years back, and yet... a quirk brought them back into alignment, like drifting comets drawn around a central sun. And him a Duellist, no less... She suddenly wonders, what exactly he's getting out of it... what he could possibly gain. The Touga of before... well, he had no need for 'revolution', did he? "Why are you going along with it?" she asks suddenly. The waiter arrives a moment later and deposits their drinks on the table in front of them, and Touga takes a moment to pick up his cup and sip from it for a moment as he ponders her question. Three children, and a woman suffering... everything seemed so long ago, and yet almost like it was yesterday. "Fate it was you make of it, Utena... but sometimes it can have a will of its own. I am curious to see what fate will make of my life, and where it might take me. We all became Duelists for our own reasons..." Touga raises an eyebrow at her for a moment, a tiny smile on his lips, "...and we all want to be the ones to bring about the Revolution. Even you, Tenjou-san... you want to change the world, so the Rose Bride is no longer bound to her duty. The others feel as strongly as you do, if for different reasons..." Of course he doesn't directly answer her question... of late, Touga is not sure that he knows the answer himself. Utena shakes her head quickly, almost too quickly, grateful for the distraction the hot chocolate provides her. Her hands smooth and curl slowly around the hot drink's edges. "It's not like that. I don't give a damn about 'revolution' or changing the world. I only kept duelling because I ws forced to, and because you guys just couldn't leave her alone. All I want is to see that Himemiya gets to have some friends and doesn't have to be swapped around like some damn pawn on a chessboard. That's the -only- reason." Is it? Well, she sounds convinced anyway- full of intense conviction as she breathes out the words over the chocolate- scented steam rising out of the cup she grasps. "It's not changing the world when you just want someone to be reasonable in how they treat someone else. Even you didn't let Saionji start whacking Himemiya around, that day in front of the greenhouse- was grabbing his hand 'revolution'? Maybe the world's just fine as it is..." she pauses to sip, "And the PEOPLE are the ones that need to be changed. As long as someone treats someone else like Saionji treated Himemiya... then that's what a prince should be there to stop." Touga pauses in drinking his tea, looking down into the depths of the cup for a moment as he ponders the information that Utena had just provided him... a momentary glimpse into the depths of her soul. Touga sips at his tea again, still looking over the rim at the pink haired girl. "Of course, a true prince would stop the villian from hurting the princess. We all must act according to our natures..." Another sip from the cup. "Ah, Tenjou-kun... you are a romantic. The world is not always made of things like this table and chair. It can also be seen as the people who live in it." Touga pauses for a moment, his memories flicking back -painfully- to the events of his childhood and adoption by the Kiyruu family. "And perhaps that is your revolution, to change the people in the world. To bring back the princes and princesses, to give hope to the world. And intersting prospect..." Utena rubs her brow gently, murmuring. ".. I keep saying it, but he doesn't hear it..." to herself. She swirls her cup slowly in her hands- half empty? or half full? she wonders distantly, while she does it. And then she catches the hidden, if gentle, barb embedded in the words. "You're saying that you were acting in the nature of a prince when you stopped him," she says aloud, that small faint frown returning. And an exhale, "Maybe I'm not as good at it as I goodbe- I'll never be as good as the memory of that prince... but I have to -try-. But the way you say it... like the only prince I need is you... damn it, Touga.. don't you see that's WHY I had to do what I did?" Touga makes a noise low in his throat, partly amused and partly concenred. "Do you think so little of me, Utena? Do you only see what happens in the school, and not try to look beyond appearances?" Swirling his tea around but not drinking, he pauses for a moment to ponder what the pink haired girl has said. "None of us can act against our natures, and not follow our dreams," he says a moment later, his mind more on Akio now than anything Utena has said. She was such an innocent romantic before the chairman had gotten his hands on her.... he could not let that be sacrificed to Akio's ambitions and dreams of power. "You are a dreamer, Tenjou-kun... you dream with your noble heart of a better world, and when given a chance you move to make your dream a reality." And you do so in a world that you are too good for, he adds silently. Utena rubs her cheek with one hand, feeling a bit of a tingle coming into her face, a bit of warm blood. It's hard not to be complimented, even if she faintly wonders if it's meant as a warning or as praise; she tilts her head slightly toward her arm, like a bird moving its beak toward the underfeathers of a wing- an unconscious hiding gesture. ".. Maybe it's just me but..I tend to think that actions speak louder than words, Seitokaichou." she says, pulling her hand free and doing her best to stifle the blush- without much success. It seems to lend a pleasant rose-colored glow to her features, making of her a blushing flower. "In the school or outside it." Touga gives a deep genuine smile this time, the blush raised by his compliment adding further touch of beauty to her already noble features. He leans back, sipping the last of his tea before he speaks again. "You should be free to dream your dreams in peace, Utena. You were not supposed to be a duelist, not at first..." he says quietly, running through several possibilities in his mind. "You do not need a Revolution to bring the change you want to the world. If I had my way..." Touga pauses for a moment, setting his tea cup down on the table and reaching over to set his hand on top of hers. "...I would like to not see you involved in another duel." Utena glances up, neither flinching nor jerking her hand away from yours when your fingers slide over hers, covering her signet under your palm. Instead she demonstrates a hint of that..frozen behavior, just as at the night of the ball, her head turned slightly toward her left shoulder, and the blush darkening a shade. "... but that probably isn't possible anyway.." Utena murmurs, voice thick and deep. "... HImemiya's here. If she wasn't, I might think differently, but what you said before..." she sighs, "... is true. As long as she's here, and everyone else is coming in.. I can't fool myself. I can't not be ready to fight for her..." She looks up then, into your eyes, long moments passing in silence. That thin, handsome face. How many times did they look at each other in those days after that singular day in the rain in the graveyard...? A girl hiding from the guardian's of her parent's estate, better to hide in the third coffin, the one that was meant for her anyway... and some years later, to meet a boy with red hair who seemed so familiar. "... it's the truth, isn't it, Touga? Even though we're here, just as you said... it's not over, is it." Barely a whisper, those words. Touga smiles as he gently wraps his hand around hers, gently raising her hand to his lips for a moment and lightly kissing the rose upon the seal of her ring. His blue eyes look into hers for a moment... much more seriously than one normally expect of the Seitokachou. Two children, a haunted young man and a terrifed young woman who mourned the loss of innocence in their own ways. No matter how things had changed, there was still that. "I wanted to protect you, even then Utena..." he says after a moment. "And it may never end... not until we are gone for many years. But we do not know... that we must wait and see." Of course, Touga did know what would happen... first the Black Rose duelists, then the End of the World... and just beyond his edge of vision, the Duel of the Revolution against a fallen prince. He would not see her hurt so again. But as long as she played the part of the prince... "None of them can give up the duels, any more than you can. Your fear for the fate of the Bride is matched by their desire to see the Revolution done with. And even should they choose to abandon the game... fate may still take a hand. Do you think you can face that, Tenjou-san?" Utena closes her eyes, the warmth and strength flowing from your fingers into hers a tangible thing, the warmth of your breath leaving a single, perfect droplet of condensation at the center of her signet. The rose pattern distends, glimmering like a raised jewel. She seems to hesitate, her hand twitching at the edge of the table; she wants to stroke your face, those strong, solid raised cheekbones, so finely formed and statuesque. Her blush rises, her breath quickening when you lean closer, just a bit across the table. "... a prince always protects the princess," she amanges... ".. and right now, I.. I'm still the Victor," she sighs, sounding wearier than her years, "... HImemiya trusts me." Touga a flash of pain crosses Touga's normally controlled features at her proclamation, and he lowers his eyes to the table for a moment, not willing to look at her, or let her see his pain. "Yes, you are the Victor of the Duel, and fiance of the Bride..." he says quietly, his fingers moving across hers in a gentle caress. "If you had seen what I have seen, Utena... if you knew what I knew..." Pausing again, Touga shakes his head and lets his hair fall away from his face for a moment. Part of him wonders if there is any other way... but no, not until he knew what Akio planned. "I want to protect you from that, Tenjou-kun. And the rules leave me only one way to do that. I hope that you can forgive me..." Utena's eyes shoot open- as transparent as caribbean water- rippling with sudden despair, as if you had just thrown a cannonball into their depths. Oh, she - knows- what's coming next, with the dull certainty of the man waiting before the judge for his death sentence. And she's already starting to pull away, take her hand back, take her -heart- back... a gap opening, widening in milliseconds. "Touga, /DON'T/..." she pleads, those massive, luminous eyes already beginning to darken. Don't you dare try to save me, this is why, this is WHY.... "Don't!" For just a moment, it looks as if the red haired duelist is the one who might be executed, as he feels that old, familiar barrier falling into place between them again... a wall of distrust and paranoia that he might never again be able to pierce again. And part of him mourns at that loss, when he may have just gotten through to her. But even so... he might be able to change things. The hand around hers tightens, holding her fast for a moment. His free hand slips into his jacket, grasping at an object that he had brought along, but prayed he would not have to use. In his hand as he removes it is a single white rose, which he gently rests on the table in front of her. "Tenjou Utena, let me see one last time that noble heart of yours before I cut you free from our cursed destiny. Let me see that fire of righousness that you used to defeat Saionji one more time. And let me save you from all of this... in five days, the arena will appear above the Maroboshi school roof. Let us meet there one last time, before you cast me out of your heart forever." Utena closes her eyes, and her head sags, the soft fall of her hair curtaining, cradling her face.. hiding her eyes from view in an inpenetrable shadow-mask. Her thoughts are veiled from your perception, but her shoulders shake visibly, as she struggles to hold in her breath. She stares at the perfectly pure blossom on the table before her, thinking dizzily, here lies me, and your image of me... the perfectly untouchable rose. Well, roses have -thorns-, and so do I, if you force me to grow them. ".. if I win.." she begins in a dark heavy voice, "... If I win, you'll never duel again. You'll leave the game." There is a clatter as Touga rises from the table, taking several steps away from the pink haired girl before he turns again to face her. Part of him exhalts, for she can ask no more of him than he can ask of her. And part of him is tempted... but knows what would happen if he gave in to that temptation. "If you are willing to do the same, Tenjou-san... I accept your terms. But with those as the stakes, you realize that I can not afford to lose this duel." Akio would kill him... flay him alive for saying this. And he could even override this promise, and forbid the entire duel for these stakes... but only if he found out about it. Touga gently presses a hand to his chest before he gives the pink haired girl a deep bow. "I accept, my lady. I shall meet you in the Arena, and we shall see how shall become Victor, and who shall leave the game..." Utena doesn't move- except to slowly place her hand around the thornless stem of the rose on the table in front of her. Her head remains bowed. "... Fine." she breathes. "... The Victor of the Duel accepts the condition of the challenge. Five days, above the rooftop." Her tone is aching, but cold at the same time- stiff and formal, choked with distress. "... now, if you don't mind... I don't want to see you right now... Kiryuu Touga." Touga bows stiffly, his face more like a mask at the moment than anything else. "As you wish, Tenjou-kun..." he says quietly, pulling out a hundred yen bill and dropping it on the table as payment for their drinks. "I hope that one day you can forgive me, Utena..." he says, bowing again and turning to walk for the door. Utena sinks back into her chair, heavily, her hand still closed around the white rose before her. She has every intention of leaving, but not until after Touga's gone first- and she won't let him see her walk out. . o O ( You still don't understand. I guess I have to make you understand.... I can't be your princess any more. Even if I -want- to be. I guess destiny really exists after all... I have to look after Himemiya... )