Life After Roses
by Makani
Chapter 2
Back to the Menu
Utena was out of the house early the next morning, much to the surprise of her aunt, who watched in amazement as she rushed past her and out the door. She ran all the way to the florist shop, but Nakahara-san said that the girl hadn’t come through yet.
“Calm down, Tenjou-chan. Go on to class; when she comes I’ll send her up to your school. If she says she knows you, she’ll wait by the gates. Now, hurry or you’ll be late, Tenjou-chan.” Yuya Nakahara shooed her out the door and Utena was forced to hurry towards her school. She spent most of the day staring out the window towards the gates hoping to see a purple-haired girl standing there, but her last few classes were on the other side of the building and so she couldn’t watch them.
The final bell had her running towards those gates, half expecting to see nothing there at all. There was a bit of a crowd around them and Utena was forced to slow her run. The gates finally came into view, but she couldn’t see anyone waiting inside of them and her heart began to sink. She wanted to hurry and get out on the sidewalk so that she could go back to Nakahara’s shop; perhaps she was waiting there.
“Utena-sama?” Normally those words would have made her speed up and try to outdistance the shrieks, but it was so low that she almost missed it. Skidding to a halt, she turned. Anthy was standing near the wall with a few flowers in her arms. Her hair was down in purple waves to her waist. She wasn’t wearing her Ohtori uniform and she looked so different wearing a pink dress and a white beret. “Utena-sama?” she said again, as if not sure. There was a small crowd standing around her, some holding roses.
Utena froze and her heart seemed to leap into her throat, preventing her from speaking. Although she could hear the voices of students all around her, all she could see was the woman standing in front of her just a few yards away. Before she could move, Anthy dropped her roses and ran towards her, tears welling in her eyes. Utena managed to catch her but couldn’t compensate for their combined weight and they tumbled onto the ground. After a timeless stretch of seconds, the jubilant sound of a mouse next to her ear pulled her back into reality somewhat and the sounds of the students around her came back into her range of hearing as if the volume on a television was being returned to normal.
The chatter of students filled her ears and more than a dozen surprised voices floated around her. She could even hear the shrill voices of her freshmen stalkers. They must’ve seen everything, but now she didn’t care. Her princess was back in her arms and that was all that mattered. She pressed her face into Anthy’s hair, never wanting the moment to end. Something wet fell on her neck and Anthy’s body was shaking. The former Rose Bride was crying.
Utena snapped fully back into reality at that, feeling tears escaping her own eyes as well, and she managed to get them both upright in a sitting position. Anthy’s light green eyes were full of tears and her thin body shook with the force of her sobs. She was mumbling something, but the sobs were preventing the words from being understandable. Utena found that she couldn’t speak either and pulled Anthy close.
By this time there was a rather large ring of spectators around them. Utena knew that she should help Anthy to her feet and get them someplace less public where they could talk, but she just didn’t want to let her go. Anthy’s sobbing seemed to be slowing, but Utena found that her own tears had begun to run faster. She was lost in the moment until an all too familiar shrill voice rang onto the air like fire drill.
“That girl hurt our Utena-sama!”
Utena’s arms wrapped protectively tighter around her princess and she glared up through the violet waterfall of Anthy’s hair at the five stalkers who were hurrying towards them. She tried to get them both to her feet, but she wasn’t able to move fast enough. One of the girls, one of the shortest ones, with her brown hair cropped to her chin, grabbed Anthy’s arm and tried to pull her roughly away.
“Get away from our Utena-sama!” Her shrill voice shredded Utena’s last thread of controlled temper. Anthy was giving the girl a bewildered tearful look. Utena leapt to her feet and slapped the girl’s hand away.
“Don’t touch her!” she snapped. She reached down and gently helped Anthy to her feet, even retrieving the fallen multicolored roses. “Are you ok?”
“Hai…” Anthy said slowly, apparently bewildered by the events and unsure of what to say or do.
The girl was holding her stinging hand and she and her cohorts stared at Utena. Their shell-shocked faces were caught between tears and outrage. The gathering of students had thinned, but a few remained in a loose circle around the drama.
“Utena-sama, who is that girl?” Another one of the girls finally found her voice and when she spoke it quavered.
Utena wanted to turn and glare, but Anthy was looking at her and her eyes were full of concern. Her very presence seemed to calm Utena’s rage. What did she have to be angry about? Her princess had come back to her; she couldn’t be angry.
Her tone held mild annoyance instead of the rage that had bubbled up a moment ago. “She’s my princess.” Her voice was softened on the last word and the truth it brought to the surface bubbled around her.
Anthy’s eyes widened in momentary surprise and then lowered almost in embarrassment. “Hai…” Her voice was low, nearly a whisper, but filled with awe.
The voice made Utena’s heart sprout wings and take flight. She held Anthy’s hand tight in hers; the other was half full of roses. Anthy took them from her one by one and rearranged them in the crook of her free arm.
“Princess?” It was a different voice, but just as shrill and disbelieving.
Anthy winced at the voice, but continued to arrange her flowers, face still a mask. That made Utena scowl and she whirled on the five girls, not caring which one spoke.
“Yes, my princess!” she yelled and she was ready to continue, a righteous rage building in her chest, but –
“Utena-sama?” Anthy’s gentle voice fell soft on her ears, melting the rage. “Shall we go?” Her green eyes sparkled when Utena looked over. “I’m afraid that the roses are going to wilt.” She walked to where she had been standing a few moments ago and picked up a suitcase. Her small mouse companion followed, munching on a cracker. Utena followed and snatched the suitcase from her, stuffing it in the same hand as her own school bag. Chu-chu leapt onto the bag and clung to her sleeve, checks stuffed.
“We can take them to Nakahara-san’s shop,” she murmured, taking Anthy’s free hand in her own.
“Please excuse us,” Anthy said in a low, gentle voice as they made their way past the five girls. Utena thought that she saw a gleam of satisfaction in Anthy’s eyes and heard it sneak into her voice, but it only made Utena smile softly and feel even warmer towards the former witch. They walked up the sidewalk, away from the school, and behind them the five girls stood bewildered in front of the gates.
Words seemed to stick in Utena’s mouth as she led Anthy towards the flower shop. She had a million things that she wanted to say, but none of them seemed to want to come out of her mouth. All she could do was stare at Anthy and wonder.
The familiar glasses were gone, and her hair wasn’t done up in the Rose Bride coils. Her pink dress and white shoes were a welcome change from the Ohtori girl’s uniform. Her face was more demure now, and no harsh strange hidden emotions ran below the surface. They walked in silence to the flower shop where Yuya Nakahara greeted them both happily.
“Ahh Tenjou-chan, you did find her.” The older woman smiled. Utena still hadn’t found her voice, and in a strange reversal it was Anthy who responded.
“Hai, thank you very much, Nakahara-san.” She bowed. “I’ve brought more flowers.” She handed over the bouquet of colorful roses.
“They’re very popular.” Yuya smiled as she walked towards the large windows and placed them in a crystal vase that glimmered in the light. “I don’t mind telling you that they’ll sell very well if you can keep providing them.” The shopkeeper went to the cool marble topped counter and tapped on the keys of an electric cash register covered with stickers advertising different services and credit cards.
Anthy smiled, her green eyes twinkling with a light that Utena had only seen rarely, and her heart skipped another beat. Those eyes weren’t full of pain and despair. They were light and happy. The sight made Utena weak in the knees and a warm feeling bubbled up in her stomach that spread to the rest of her body. “That smile…” she thought, her mind awash in the hazy warmth. “It’s doing something to me… It’s so wonderful.” Then the realization hit with a force that almost made her stagger. She knew these feelings; these were the things that Akio had once stirred inside of her. She managed to hold back a quiver of fear. Anthy was different from her brother; Anthy wasn't trying to awaken these emotions in her. She realized with a start that they had always been there, hiding just below the surface.
“Arigato, Nakahara-san.” Anthy said with a little bow. “I think I can provide them to you, if you think they’ll sell.” Her face was beaming with pride. Pride at her roses, Utena thought. The roses were always hers, their purpose had been Akio’s, but the garden and its growing things had always been Anthy’s. No matter what happened in the duels, they couldn’t take the garden away from her.
“I’m sure they’ll sell, the ones you brought by yesterday sold very quickly.” Yuya backed up a step as the cash drawer sprang open. She sorted through the yen there handing Anthy a small stack of bills. “I’m giving you the same price as yesterday, will that be ok?”
Anthy smiled, almost blushing, Utena noted, and took the money carefully. “Hai, more than enough, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Yuya's smile beamed at the two of them. “I am glad that you two managed to find each other. You look like you’re in the same grade as Tenjou-chan, perhaps you can help her studies.” She pushed the cash-drawer back in and brushed a few stray leaves from the counter.
Utena placed her hand behind her head and laughed, embarrassed, but Anthy turned around and smiled knowingly. “Hai, Nakahara-san. I will help her study. We can help each other with math.” Her eyes twinkled.
Utena blushed brighter and Chu-chu chirped in her ear, wondering at the strange coloring on the pink-haired girl’s checks. Were they something to eat?
“I’ll study harder, Nakahara-san.” Utena said with an embarrassed bow, causing Chu-chu to slip down onto her bag with an affronted squeak.
“Hai. I expect you will. Now hurry home and get your homework done.” Yuya smiled. “Will you bring more roses tomorrow?”
“Hai.” Anthy responded with a smile. “Thank you very much.” She bowed again, folding the yen into her hand, and reached for her suitcase.
Utena watched her turn, suddenly enraptured by the beauty of the former Rose Bride. The suitcase slipped from her fingers. Anthy’s long purple hair tumbled down like amethyst waves and her eyes were like warm jades. Any place else the descriptions that rose in her mind would’ve seemed trite and overdone, but on Anthy, somehow they seemed only fitting. Her heart fluttered as all around her the scent of roses seemed to take her back to the time that she wanted to find her prince. Now she was the prince, and she had found her princess. She had lost her once, but now her princess was standing in front of her like a vision of beauty. A lump began to form in her throat as Anthy took her hand again and they walked out of the store.
Utena was only vaguely aware of being led out onto the sidewalk. Chu-chu was chirping in a song-song voice as her bag swung with her movements and normally she would've been talking to him, joking at his singing, but all she could do was stare at Anthy. If Chu-chu noticed that he was being ignored he didn't seem to care. His singing never faltered from its happy tone, tiny eyes glued to Utena's face.
Anthy turned and gave her another soft, warm smile that did more strange things to her insides. "Utena-sama, I'm afraid I don't know where you live. Would it be all right if we went to where I'm staying?"
"Huh?" Utena blinked and shook her head. "Oh… hai. Hai! Your place is fine." She smiled again before the realization hit her. "Wait! You have your own apartment? Aren't you too young?"
Anthy smiled. "I have to have my own apartment, Utena-sama. I can't stay with my brother anymore."
"Oh…" Utena's face tinged with embarrassment again. "Hai. That makes sense. If you left Ohtori you'd need your own place to stay, wouldn't you?"
"Hai. Do you have anybody that you need to call?" Anthy inquired as she led them across a street.
"Call?" Utena's voice had begun once again to take on a dreamy tone.
Anthy stared at her a little confused and concerned. "Hai, Utena-sama. Should you tell anyone at your house that you won't be home right away? I can make you dinner, if that's ok?"
"Etou, I should call my aunt, shouldn't I?" Utena managed to pull herself mostly out of the daydream, but her voice still had a dreamlike quality to it as if reality hadn't taken a firm grip yet.
"Hai." Anthy paused in front of a pay phone.
Utena stared at it for a moment as Chu-chu tried to eat the cord. She shooed the mouse away with the lure of another cookie that Anthy deftly handed to her as she fished through her pocket for some coins to make the call.
Cars roared past them on the streets and passersby carried on conversations with companions or cell phones as they passed. The sun was beginning to lower, but still shone brightly and Utena almost forgot to dial the number as she watched the light bounce and reflect on Anthy's hair and face.
"Moshi moshi?" Her aunt's voice brought her suddenly back to reality and the cars seemed louder than before.
"Aunt?" she yelled into the phone. "I've met up with an old friend. Can I have dinner with her?"
"Oh! That's wonderful, Utena-chan. That's very good timing, they're coming by today to spray the house for bugs. I tried to tell you this morning but you ran out the door so fast that I didn’t have time to say anything. Can you spend the night with your friend? I don't want you coming home and getting sick from the fumes."
"Hai!" Utena raised her voice over a passing car as she turned to Anthy, who stood with her suitcase gripped in both hands. "Can I stay overnight?" There was more hope in her voice than she had intended.
"Hai!" Anthy said cheerfully, cocking her head to one side. "My apartment is very small, but I'm sure I'll be able to make some room." She stepped closer to the pay phone to clear a path on the sidewalk.
"Yeah, it's no trouble." Utena said into the reciever, eyes barely leaving Anthy's face.
"Oh, your friend is there! Wonderful. You be sure to tell them that I said hello. Don't be late for school tomorrow, Utena-chan. You can't afford to be late many more times. I'll see you tomorrow night for dinner and why don't you bring your friend with you, we can cook for them in thanks for putting them through this trouble. Ja, Utena-chan."
"Hai, hai, ja ne." Utena hung up the phone and turned back to Anthy. "She wants you to come over tomorrow night for dinner," Utena said, pulling Chu-chu away from the phone cord again.
"Hai, that's wonderful." Anthy took Utena's hand again. "I think I have enough food for us to have dinner and breakfast tomorrow." She led the way through the tree-lined streets.
They walked along still not speaking. The city roared around them, alive and bustling. Utena began to feel awkward in the silence. She wanted to talk to Anthy and find out what had happened. There were so many questions that needed to be asked.
"Himemiya?" The name was almost whispered, as if Utena were afraid that speaking it any louder would break a tenuous spell. She was leading the way. Anthy wasn't just following anymore. She was like a normal girl.
"Hai, Utena-sama?" Anthy didn’t turn, but continued to lead the way through the streets, dodging other pedestrians.
"What… what…" Utena struggled with the words, wondering what to say. "What happened… after… after the last duel? You fell, I couldn't hold onto you…" There were tears in her voice again as the guilt began to catch up with her. She held her breath to keep them back.
Anthy paused and turned around to meet her eyes. "I left my brother and went out to find you." She pulled Utena to stand next to her and then continued walking with the Prince at her side. "He was going to start it all again, but I left. I left everything. Thanks to you, I could break free." She led the way up a set of concrete and metal stairs. Their shoes scuffled along the surface and sent echoes up to the open-air halls above their heads.
Utena was dumbfounded and a little confused. "But the fall, the swords…" she stumbled over the uneven pavement.
Anthy winced as she opened the door into a small apartment, as if those words brought back an unwanted memory. "Hai, sumimasen, Utena-sama."
Anthy hadn't been exaggerating when she said the place was small. It appeared to be comprised of only three small rooms, one of which was the bathroom that Utena could see off to one side where the door was partly open. The kitchen was right inside the door, and everything was crammed so tightly together that there was barely enough room for one person to cook. The tiny counter was crowded with a bag of rice and a rice cooker, since there appeared to be only one cabinet.
The next room was the largest, but only the size of a normal living room. It seemed to be general living quarters and opened onto a tiny balcony where Utena could see roses already flourishing in large pots, and there were more pots full of younger roses inside the door, spread out in front of the pane of glass to absorb the sunlight. In the center of the space was a low table with a few pillows set neatly around it. A hot water urn was set up on the table, sharing space with a tray set with a teapot and two cups, which were a simple off-white and unadorned. Utena wondered where the rose crest cups had gone. Had Anthy left those behind at the academy?
In the center of the table was a tall, round, and rather wide plain glass vase half full of water in which a few white and pale pink roses were resting. Only one other table stood in the room and that was a tiny end table on which sat a black small radio, the kind Utena often saw in bargain stores. The radio looked as if it had seen better days. Perhaps it had once been black but the casing was scratched so badly that it looked gray, and the plastic covering the line of stations it would tune to was so badly scratched that the numbers underneath it were illegible.
On one wall there were a set of drawers where Utena guessed everything else was kept. Everything was plain hardwood, worn until it was almost gray, although the pillows made an attempt to brighten up the place. They were worn too, but at least brightly colored.
Anthy turned on the light and led Utena into the main room, waving for her to sit down on one of the pillows. Putting her suitcase down, Anthy took the yen that she had folded in her hand and opened one of the drawers on the wall. She pulled out an old, tattered purse and put the money inside it before replacing it and carefully closed the drawer.
Then she opened the suitcase and removed some carefully wrapped packages that she carried into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator door, which momentarily hid her from Utena's view.
"But… I let…" Utena started again, picking up the conversation where they’d left it coming in, and she sank down onto one of the pillows, crossing her legs.
"Would you like some tea?" Anthy interrupted as she came back into the room. She knelt down and lifted the teapot to the spout of the pink hot water thermos.
"Yes, please," Utena said, trying not to get distracted. "Himemiya, what happened? You fell…" Her voice faded as Anthy looked up at her and smiled, the roses behind her almost glimmering in the sun.
"You survived all those swords that were meant for me, Utena-sama. Is it so hard to believe that I survived the fall?" She placed the teapot on the table to give the tea some time to brew.
"No…" Utena admitted slowly. She had been in the hospital for a long time. The doctors never explained or asked her any questions, which had always left her wondering how her injuries had been explained to them. Did Akio control the hospital the same way he controlled the school? It was hard to know for sure and Utena half suspected that she would never be free of the devil in angel's clothing.
"Silly prince," Anthy said with another sweet smile. "Let's talk about something else." Getting up, she walked back to the kitchen. Utena watched her as she set about preparing dinner, and thought about that. She didn't want to talk about other things, and she was amazed that Anthy had been so direct in her request. She couldn't remember a time when Anthy would request a change of subject. The dark girl would be silent for a long moment and then something would happen, and that would take your mind off whatever it was you had been talking about.
Utena sat dumbfounded for a moment as she tried to find the words to continue the conversation, but she couldn’t find them. Foiled in the attempt, she tried to think of something else to say. She didn't want silence. When Anthy had been the Rose Bride there had been far too much silence and Utena had only realized it much later. The silence had seemed natural and trusting at the time, but the more she looked back on it the more she realized that there had always been something underneath it all; something dark and tense.
"How long has it been since you left?" she asked, leaning back and stretching her legs as she watched Anthy in the kitchen. A clean white apron went over her dress and the long amethyst hair was pulled back under a kerchief.
Anthy poured the rice and water into the rice cooker without speaking yet. Closing the lid, she turned it on and pushed it to one side to make some space on the counter. "Hmmm." She hummed as she located a cutting board, opened the fridge and retrieved several different kinds of vegetables that she grouped on the board. She started chopping them before she answered.
"I've been looking for you for about a year, Utena-sama. I knew you were still alive and I couldn't stop looking until I found you." She continued to chop vegetables, although her hand slowed a bit for a moment. "It hasn't been easy…"
There was something in her voice that made Utena's heart ache, something inside her that didn't want Anthy to suffer anymore. "I've been wondering about you." Utena admitted a bit sheepishly. "I wrote to Wakaba to find out if you were ok, but after a while she stopped writing back."
"She's probably forgotten about you, Utena-sama. As soon as you left, almost everyone forgot who you were." Anthy finished chopping, pushed the vegetables to one side and opened the refrigerator again.
"What!?" Utena shouted before she could stop herself. "Everyone knew who I was! What about all those girls who used to call out to me? Or that guidance counselor who used to chase me around about my uniform?" Her mind ran through the list of other reasons why no one at Ohtori should've forgotten her. "What about the student council?" Surely they would remember her, especially Touga and Saionji.
Anthy reappeared with a package wrapped in white paper. The back of one hand closed the door carefully before she placed the package on the counter, slowly unwrapping it. "I doubt that they even remember who you are, Utena-sama." She paused for a moment as she placed some meat on the cutting board. "Do you remember Mikage?"
"Who?" Utena had rolled onto her back and was peddling her legs in the air.
"Mikage Souji, the head of the Black Rose Seminar," Anthy said, cutting the meat into small pieces. She pulled down a wok from a hanging rack above her head and placed it on the stove, turning the heat on, and poured a little sesame oil into it. "You had a duel with him, Utena-sama."
Utena lay in deep concentration. A shred of memory flashed through her mind; black roses and black rose signets… but it was elusive and faded just a bit more every time she thought she had a hold on it.
"He had hair like yours, Utena-sama, only it was a paler shade." Anthy didn't look up from her cooking. The meat sizzled as it hit the warm oil. "He made you fight Wakaba."
"I've never had a fight with Wakaba," Utena declared, although her voice was rather less sure. "I tried to get you two to…"
"That's what I mean, Utena-sama," Anthy interrupted. "You don't remember him because once he had served his purpose he vanished from the academy. You may get the memory back someday, now that you’re not at the Academy anymore."
"I haven't lost any memories!" Utena said as she flipped herself up and began stretching her arms. "Etou… at least I don't think I have." She found that she was less sure of her first statement. "Now that you mention that though, everything about that place seems like it was a dream." Bemused blue eyes stared out the window. "I do have to repeat that grade because I didn't pass any of the placement tests," she mused, almost to herself. "I never was a good student to begin with… but Miki helped me with math… didn't he?" Utena's voice trailed off as she realized the truth of Anthy's statement. "I guess I don't remember a lot of things," she decided finally.
"Hai." Anthy agreed cheerfully and dumped the vegetables into the wok.
Utena sat glumly in the silence that followed. "Does that mean that everyone will forget you now that you're gone, Himemiya?" She wondered if Saionji's memory could be that easily erased.
"Maybe," Anthy said, stirring the contents of the wok with one hand and reaching up to the cabinets with the other, and her voice sounded quite hopeful. "Why don't you call me by my first name, Utena-sama?"
"Eh?" Thrown off by the sudden change of subject, Utena stammered a bit before answering. "I don't know, you're always so formal and…"
"I've always called you by your first name, Utena-sama," Anthy corrected, managing to get some plates and bowls by standing on her tiptoes. She reached into another drawer and retrieved some chopsticks.
"Well, yes, but you insist on calling me 'sama'."
"Shall I call you Tenjou-san?" Anthy asked, lowering the heat a bit under the wok and sorting through the bowls on the counter in front of her.
"No. I mean, I'd rather you call me Utena… I mean…" The conversation had begun to remind her too much of Anthy as the Rose Bride and she decided to change the subject herself. "I see you're growing roses," Utena said lamely, staring at her feet.
Anthy laughed, and the sound made Utena forget her embarrassment. "Hai. I can't do much else, I'm afraid."
"I'm sure you can do other things." Utena turned her gaze towards the flowers. "You have all the colors that you used to have," she noted.
"Yes," Anthy agreed in a bright, cheerful voice. "They're all doing very well, except for the deep purple ones." She sighed. "They don't seem to want to grow."
"Maybe they're scared," Utena suggested with a silly little smile. "Maybe they're afraid to be outside of the greenhouse.”
"Yes," Anthy agreed in a low voice. "Maybe that's it…" She turned to look at the roses growing in their pots, and Utena felt her heart stick in her chest; the look on Anthy's face was the same expression that Utena had seen once before, when her world had crumbled in the dueling arena and Anthy had flown up to draw the blades away from Akio. It was a sad, weary face, existing only because the soul behind it couldn't or didn't have the will to die. The expression was only there for a second, but it made Utena want to leap up and wrap her arms around Anthy and apologize for saying such a silly thing.
Before she could rise, though, the look had vanished and in its place was a panicked, amused, wide-eyed sort of expression. "Oh no! Utena-sama, I didn't pour your tea!" Anthy hurried into the main room and carefully poured Utena a cup of tea, then frantically felt around a cabinet to find a bowl of sugar that she placed on the table. "Sumimasen, Utena-sama."
"Eh? Oh, don't worry!" Utena tried to shoo her back to the food on the stove, but Anthy only left when she had found all the proper condiments and placed them within reach of Utena's hands. Utena felt a bit embarrassed at not getting up and fetching them herself.
"What are you cooking?" she asked finally.
"Just stir-fry," Anthy replied, stirring the contents of the wok a bit more as she again began to sort through her cabinets and refrigerator, trying to put together extra dishes for the meal. "I'm afraid I don't have much," she said slowly, the truth of her statement accentuated by the sparse sounds of things moving around inside the refrigerator.
"That's ok, we can go to the store," Utena said quickly.
Anthy laughed again. "How, Utena-sama? I don't have a lot of money." Pouring some soy sauce into a shallow bowl, she carried that over to the table along with some fresh cucumbers that she had placed in another bowl.
Money had never been something that Utena had spent much time worrying about. Back at the academy, Akio had access to the Ohtori accounts and whenever there was a lack of food in his apartments someone would go shopping and there would be more. It almost hadn't occurred to her that Anthy would have to worry about money.
"I guess you wouldn't have a lot of money now." Guilt snuck in again. "I should have some money," Utena said, digging through her school bag.
"Oh no, Utena-sama, you don't have to give me any money," Anthy said as she brought over a big bowl of rice and a small dish of bean sprouts.
"But I want to!" Utena said, grabbing Anthy's hand before she could get away and pressing the small wad of bills into it. "It isn't much, but I can get more."
"No, Utena-sama." Anthy tried to pull her hand away. "I don't want to take your money," she said gently, in the tone that a mother would use with a small child.
"Please, Himemiya, take it," Utena begged. "I want to take care of you now. You're my princess! Isn't that what princes do?"
Anthy's tone softened and she smiled. "Hai. Domo arigatou, Utena-sama." She took the money. "I can go shopping tomorrow after I bring roses to Nakahara-san."
"Hai." Utena smiled, satisfied that she was doing something to help her princess. "Hey!" She had suddenly noticed that something was missing. "Where's Chu-chu? He's going to miss dinner!"
Anthy sat down across from Utena and smiled. "Don't worry about him, Utena-sama." Her voice was gentle and as Utena found herself caught up in Anthy's soft stare, all the worries about the small mouse vanished.
"Hai. He never misses dinner," Utena agreed softly.
***
Dinner was a humble affair and Utena was a bit startled, but happy at the amount that Anthy spoke during their meal. Utena often lapsed into silence as she watched the former witch. Everything had changed, the way she moved, the way she spoke, even the way that she held herself. She was more confident and all of her movements were strong and graceful. There was no more strange silent rage under her features or hidden behind her glasses, and now the glasses were gone. Utena had never noticed before how much the glasses had hidden her eyes, and now she decided that she liked Anthy's eyes better without them. They had seemed so secret before, full of some indescribable emotion that was always on the verge of boiling over, but now they were clean, bright, open, and happy.
After they had eaten and cleaned up they sat across from each other at the table while Anthy poured some more tea.
"I'm afraid that I don't have more than one futon to sleep on, Utena-sama," Anthy said apologetically. "You can sleep on it tonight."
"But where will you sleep?" Utena asked, stirring her tea and contemplating asking her aunt for some money so she could buy cookies for Anthy.
Anthy smiled. "I can sleep on the floor, Utena-sama. It's not a problem." She took a sip from her cup.
"Etou…" Utena bit her lip. "You shouldn't have to sleep on the floor, Himemiya." She began to feel embarrassed for using up Anthy's slim resources. "Maybe we can share it."
Anthy rewarded her with a startled look that almost made her laugh. "If you like, Utena-sama," Anthy said slowly, as if she were unsure it was a good idea.
"Good then! That settles it!" Utena beamed.
"Hai, Utena-sama," Anthy said slowly, sipping her tea and appearing lost in thought.