Author’s
notes: To all Utena fans: This will follow the basic storyline, but there will
be a lot of straying, add-ins, and other things that never happened in the
series. I figured that it would be kinda pointless to rewrite the whole story
all over again exactly as is, and my memory’s not up to that because I don’t
have any of the tapes. So this is going to have the same setting and some of the
same situations, but nothing’s going to be exactly the same.
Another
slight warning. Utena was riddled with some bizarre and adult topics, so don’t
be surprised to see them here. There was never anything explicit, but they sure
had fun implying things.
**
“ Watch out, coming through!”
Smoothly, she navigated the court, dribbling the ball all the while. The
members of the other team tried fruitlessly to stop her, but it wasn’t long
before she reached her goal.
“ SCORE!”
“ Yes!” she whispered, but took care to not rub it in their faces.
There wasn’t much time left before the teacher called the end of the game, and
her team was winning by quite a bit. Not too bad for a transfer student,
she thought with a grin.
“ Filia! Yay!” a bunch of people cheered from the sidelines and she waved graciously, ignoring the glares the jocks threw at her. They just couldn’t figure it out, how a woman can beat them at their own game.
She allowed her smile to turn just a tad smug. Let
them try to figure it out. It would be beneficial for them to exercise
some brain muscles once in awhile. Digging her bottle of water out of her bag,
she nodded as another person went on the court for their turn. The bell was
going to ring soon, and she would have to hurry if she wanted to change in time.
“ Good work, Miss Ul Copt.” The P.E. teacher said
as she went by.
“ Thanks.” She replied.
“ Okay, class, it’s almost time to leave! Red team, you have 30
seconds to try to raise your scores!”
She changed quickly once she was in the locker room, pulling on the
comfortable shirt and the black uniform jacket over it. Her pants were also
black, but in a lighter shade. She had decided against wearing the red shorts
that the uniform had came with in the first place because it made her stand out
even more than she already did…
Filia filed out a little ahead of everyone else once the bell rung,
determined to avoid the crowd. Her plans were perfect, except for one thing.
“ MISS FILIA UL COPT!!”
She stopped dead in her tracks and winced. Not again.
The guidance counselor did NOT look happy, and it was the type of NOT
happy that made the students around look down and hurry to their classes,
silently happy that it wasn’t them in trouble. “ MISS Filia, how many times
do I have to tell you that you are not to wear that horrid uniform to school!
I’m sure the Academy has issued you a perfectly fine girl’s uniform-“
“ Ano…Miss Martina…” Filia smiled ruefully. She personally
thought the guidance counselor need to get her own clothes checked. “ I
already told you that it’s more comfortable for me to wear this uniform
instead of the girls’ because I run around a lot and-“
“ That is not the point!” The other woman’s voice hit a shrill
pitch. “ I won’t allow the rules to be broken!”
“ Um, ma’am, the bell’s going to ring soon…” Filia said as she
edged away. “Being late is against the rules too, right?”
That derailed her train of thought. “ Well…”
“ SoIgottagotalktoyoulater!” She waved and hightailed it out of
there, leaving Martina speechless with indignation.
“ You come back here!” Martina yelled and shook a fist at the blond
who was ignoring her discreetly. She stomped her foot and swore that one of
those days, she WILL get that tomboy to follow the school rules and wear a
girl’s uniform.
**
Filia heaved a sigh of relief as she slipped into her seat in her History
class. The classroom was only about half full, and she took the opportunity to
fan herself. “ I really shouldn’t have ran all the way over here…” she
muttered. It was hot enough already without the running, especially after the
basketball during P.E.
A glint of silver caught her attention and she stopped her hand, then
smiled as the sunlight reflected off the smooth, polished surface of her rose
signet. She wasn’t particularly worried that she hadn’t found her prince
yet. He was here, she was sure, and it would only be a matter of time…
“ Class, attention, please!” The teacher said as the bell rang. Filia
smiled absently as everyone took their seats and waited for the teacher to
begin. History was boring, as usual. Filia knew she should study harder, but she
was never the type that was good at memorizing facts.
“ Miss Ul Copt!”
She snapped out of her daze and sat up straight in her seat. “ Yes,
teacher?”
The history teacher gave her a mildly annoyed look and repeated the
question. “ I asked you if you are ready for the midterms that are coming up,
young lady. Just because you are a transfer student does not mean it
exempts you from testing.”
“ Yes, I know that midterms are coming up.” Filia lied. Shoot, she
had forgotten all about it. “ Thank you for reminding me, sensei.” That was
sincere, at least. She really was grateful that he had reminded her.
“ Hmph.” The teacher snorted, then started taking roll. “ Where is
Mr. Metallium today? Don’t tell me he’s absent again.”
“ I saw him today.” A student volunteered.
“ That doesn’t tell me anything.” The teacher grumbled.
Filia placed her chin in her hands as she watched a student lean over to
her friend. “ Yeah, he would have gotten kicked out a long time ago if his
brother wasn’t the dean…”
The teacher heaved a long-suffering sigh. “ Class, quiet down.” The
ruler was rapped smartly against the podium and the class quieted. The teacher
was just about to start when the door opened and a student walked in. Filia
raised an eyebrow. Purple hair?
“ Good morning, sensei.” He said in a quiet voice. “ I’m sorry
I’m late.”
“ Mr. Metallium, it’s great that you can join us today.” The
teacher said, somehow fitting volumes of sarcasm in the tone. “ However, that
is three consecutive tardies. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to
stand in the hall this period. Maybe that will teach you a lesson about being on
time.”
There was no argument, he merely nodded and said, “ hai.” before
turning and walking out. Filia raised an eyebrow. Most students usually try to
negotiate or argue with the teacher, even a little bit. If he had a good excuse,
it might have worked… Filia shook her head. Why do I care?
She looked at her ring. Because I’m supposed to care. She
reminded herself. A prince should try to care about everyone, because of his
noble heart. And if I want to be a prince, I should act like one.
“ Back to the lesson, students.” The teacher admonished as a small murmur rippled through the room. “ Now, please turn to page 125…”
**
The bell rang after what seemed like forever, and the blond packed up her
books and headed out, still thinking hard. She couldn’t put a finger on it,
but something was nagging at her. It bothered her so much that she didn’t
notice the girl with emerald eyes running towards her at breakneck speed.
“ FILIA!!!!”
Filia grunted as the girl jumped on her, piggyback style, and glomped her
happily. “ Shielfiel?” she muttered as the girl nodded.
“ Hi, Filia!”
“ Ugh, you’re heavy…”
Shielfiel took the hint and slid off, linking her arm with Filia’s happily. Filia looked around discreetly, but didn’t see the guy that was sent to stand in the halls. “ So, Filia, what class are you going to next??” Shielfiel asked sweetly.
“ I have math. Shielfiel, isn’t your class on the other side of the
school? You’d better go if you don’t want to be late.”
“ Aw, you’re no fun!”
“ Whatever.” To soften the sting of her words, Filia smiled gently.
“ Come on, Shielfiel, I’ll walk you to the field, ne?”
The dark haired girl nodded happily, then continued to chatter on about
relatively unimportant things. Filia made sure to nod and smile at all the right
places.
“ Valgarv-sempai!” She heard female voices squeal in chorus,
something that just sent her shuddering at the utter brainlessness of the sound.
The only thing she was grateful for was that it wasn’t, for once, directed at
her. Shielfiel tugged at her arm and Filia gave her a look.
“ What?” She asked. Shielfiel pointed and Filia followed the path of
her friend’s finger. And frowned slightly.
Surrounded by a sea of slender girls, the upperclassman named Valgarv
stuck out. Not just literally, although he was at least two heads taller than
anyone else in the crowd. It was more the vibes that he gave off, to her at
least. Everything about him, from his golden eyes, confident smirk, and haughty
posture screamed ‘arrogant bastard!’ in her ears. Something about that just
bugged her, and she looked away.
“ Ne, don’t you think he’s just gorgeous??” Shielfiel
gushed, her face pink with adoration. “ Look at his hair…oh, I love his
eyes…”
Filia murmured something non-committal, then coughed. “ Shouldn’t we
be on our way?” She asked politely. Shielfiel sighed wistfully before tearing
her eyes off the object of her adoration and following Filia.
**
He was watering the flowers when she saw him again, through the frosted
windowpanes of the garden. Filia smiled as she caught the splash of purple
inside the green, and wondered if that was why he was always late. If so, then
at least he was spending the time productively.
The Garden, as most of the students called it, was a small greenhouse in
the shape of a tall dome. It was one of the Academy’s pride and joy. Inside,
the most rare and precious strains of plants were cultivated, and from the looks
of it, with painstaking care. Roses bloomed both inside and out of the Garden,
opening their beautiful petals to the sun and air as they perfumed the air with
their fragrance. Filia had always liked roses, especially since her prince
seemed to be associated with them.
A frown flashed across her face though, and she stopped her walk as she
saw the aqua haired man storm up the path that led up to the Garden. From her
position on the hall of the second floor, she could see Valgarv waving his arms
as if enraged. The other, purple haired student did not seem to be replying,
just standing still as if waiting for the storm to pass.
Then to her absolute shock, Valgarv raised his hand and hit the other
student, hard. He then yelled something and smashed a few flowerpots before
storming out of the Garden and leaving. Filia stared for a second, trying to
decide if she should go yell at him right now, but unfortunately, she was on the
second floor. Snapping out of her shock, she ran down the stairs as fast as she
could and hurried to the garden.
He was inside, on his hands and knees, picking up the shards from the
destroyed pots. She stood at the door, not sure what to do as he tenderly picked
up the sideways plant and found another pot for it. She shook her head as he
calmly began to scoop the soil back to where it was more useful.
“ Are you all right?” She finally asked.
He looked up, not really surprised. “ It’ll be fine.” He answered,
gesturing to the plant. Filia wondered if he was playing dumb or just in shock.
“ No, I meant you.”
His smile was distant as he got up and set the rescued flower on top of
the counter by the windows, where it could get all the sun it needs. “ I am
fine, thank you.” Just that. Nothing else.
Filia didn’t know what to think.
**
“ Do you know, do you know??”
“ There is a princess who wishes to be a prince!”
The shadow girl posed dramatically, then hopped on a stick-horse before
galloping off to save a ‘princess’. “ I will save you!” and then
whispered, “ I have some small talent for rescuing princesses.”
“ But the princess…isn’t a girl.”
“ Oh…but still! I will save you!”
“ You will challenge the Victor?”
“ Yes~! In order to save the …er…princess…and be a prince!”
“ But the prince isn’t a guy and the princess isn’t a girl??”
The shadow girls twitch and convulse as they try to
reconcile the confusing gender roles of the story.
“ It doesn’t matter!” one finally decided. They all nodded and
started waving their arms again. “ The prince…er…princess who wants to be
a prince…will go rescue the princess…”
“Who isn’t really a princess because he’s not a
girl.” The other shadow girl added helpfully. “ I have some small talent for
being able to tell the difference.”
“Whatever! Have at thee!”
“ But is that such a good idea?”
“ Do you know, do you know?”
“The gender roles in this story is so screwed up… I am so
unfortunate!”
***
The bell rang.
Filia breathed a sigh of relief. Shielfiel bounced up to her as she
gathered her books and stuffed them into her book bag quickly. “ Come on,
let’s go.”
Shielfiel fidgeted a little and smiled shyly. “ Do you think we can
drop by the Kendo Club practice room for a bit, I want to see if Valgarv-sempai
and Lina-sempai are practicing today.”
Filia rolled her eyes and reminded herself every teenage girl had a
prince on a white horse…hers just happened to be a REAL prince on a white
horse. “ All right, all right. Come on, then.”
Shielfiel laughed happily and skipped off, dragging Filia along. Soon,
they rounded the corner of an archaic building and arrived at the Kendo Hall.
The Kendo Hall was headquarters to the Magus Kendo team, not to be
confused with the school’s other prominent swords team, the Fencing team. It
is also a very important place for the student politics, seeing as how both the
president and vice president (not to mention many of their ardent admirers) are
usually found there.
“ Hey…what’s going on?” Filia asked with slight confusion as she
noticed the large group of people gathered around the bulletin board. Shielfiel
frowned also.
“ Let’s go look.”
The two made their way in and Filia nudged and pushed her way into the
crowd until she was up to the board. She read it with a deepening frown as some
boys laughed.
It was a letter, one of the many ones commonly written by the teenage
girls, written on pastel pink paper with the letters dotted with hearts. It was
rather mundane, as far as love letters went, something about gentle smiles and
dreams and such…And it was addressed to Valgarv.
“ I can’t believe someone wrote this!” someone laughed out loud.
“ It’s like, SO lame!”
Filia’s frown deepened in to a scowl. Not that she approved of sappy
love letters, but it was mean to make fun of some else’s private thoughts and
feelings. “ Hey, shut up! It’s someone’s letter, and it’s private! Who
posted this anyway!?”
“ It’s up there.” One boy said defensively. “ Of course that
meant someone wanted other people to read it!”
“ It’s a mean thing to do.” She reached up and tore the letter down
angrily. “ If you guys are decent people then you’d ignore it-“ The words
died on her lips as she turned to ask for Shielfiel’s backing. The green-eyed
girl had an expression on her face that was frighteningly blank, the only sign
of emotion was the one tear that trickled down her cheek.
“ Shielfiel…you sent this letter? To Valgarv?”
They stared at each other for a second before Shielfiel turned and ran.
Filia gasped and started shoving her way out of the crowd. After a few pushes
the people parted way for her.
“ Shielfiel, wait!”
Shielfiel didn’t run for long, and Filia caught up easily once they
were outside. Wordlessly, the girl accepted Filia’s comforting embrace as she
started crying in earnest.
“ There, there…” Filia soothed. “ Don’t worry…I won’t let
Valgarv get away with hurting you like this, ne?” Her eyes glittered
dangerously as Shiefiel cried in her arms. It was WRONG to do that, to ANYONE.
Valgarv didn’t know it yet, but he just got himself a date with Filia
Ul Copt.
**
“ It’s not my fault the letter’s been posted up.” The aqua haired
upperclassman drawled as he practiced his kata. Filia’s fist tightened around
the crumpled love letter in her hands as she stood stiffly in the doorway of the
training dojo.
“ You should’ve been more discreet about throwing it away!”
He paused to give her a disdainful look. “Miss Ul Copt, I get a very
large number of these love letters every day. I throw them away. If the girls
write me love letters, then they are not being very ‘discreet’ at all, are
they?”
Bad enough that he had thoughtlessly trampled on Syphil’s (and probably
many other girls’) feelings, but to have him dismiss them in such a
condescending and haughty way…“ You are an arrogant bastard.” Filia
gritted through her teeth. Reaching over, she grabbed one of the bamboo practice
swords. “ I challenge you to a duel!” she declared, pointing the blunted
weapon at the still smirking face of the older student. It wasn’t until after
the words left her mouth that she realized exactly how silly they sounded. A
duel? In this day and age? Yet, for some reason…they felt right.
Yes…her Prince would approve, because it was a princely thing to do.
Never mind that that sounded a bit silly too.
Valgarv raised an eyebrow as he looked at the raised sword pointed at
him, but his amusement faded for a second when he caught a glint of white-silver
on her right ring finger.
A white seal, engraved with a pale red rose.
He smiled.
“ I never thought that anyone outside the Student Council was granted
the Rose Seal.” He purred softly, with a sudden deadly seriousness that made
the hair on the back of Filia’s neck stand on end. “ Very well. Your
challenge is accepted. Be at the Dueling Forest at sunset, and we will settle
this.”
Filia had a disturbing feeling that something very important had just
happened, and that she had no clue as to what it was, precisely. But she nodded
tensely.
She had a duel tonight.
**
End chapter 1?