Slowly consciousness stirs within you... once again you feel the warmth of
bedsheets snuggly around you... you're in bed..

Utena groans slowly, facedown in the pillows, and a pounding in her head,
a taste like iron in her mouth... whuh...? She pushes up from the bed and
looks around dimly, her hair curling around her neck and dangling in the
air as the blanket slides down her back.

Your still in your clothes..as memory floods back to you.. Touga...  As
you look around.. you see a chair by the bedside.. within which Touga is
seated.. his black uniform jacket hanging losely over his shoulders like a
blanket..as beneath his body is bound in many white bandages.. along with
one over his forehead..  Apparently he was attended to during your
unconsciousness.. he is currently slumbering soundly.. sitting back...head
tilted to the side..as if watching over you still..

Utena mrfs and rubs at her eyes, as if convinced he's going to disappear
at the next moment when they clear fully from sleep; she slips out of the
bed and moves around it to brush her hand gently along his cheek, before
kneeling down before him, a hand on his knee, looking at him. "..
Touga..."

A voice suddenly speaks up from the doorway, "Allow him his rest child."  
Michael.  Hands folded within the depths of his sleeves before him.. hood
drawn low, "You pulled him from the brink of death.. but he still requires
his rest."  After a moment.. he comments, "He regained consciousness
before you..and eased you into bed before I caught up with him.  Dressed
his wounds..but even still he insisted on sleeping on a chair beside you."

Utena unfolds from the floor and looks over toward the angel, sighing
quietly. "I've put him in a lot of danger, haven't I...? Or have I saved
him? I don't know for sure..." She glances at the man, unable to stop
herself from reaching out and smoothing back some of the fall of that
crimson hair, tucking it behind one of his ears. "... How are we
connected, Michael..? I know we are, I can FEEL it. I've known him..."

Touga's bishounen features are as exquisite now.. and almost more so.. as
he sits, guarding over your bed.  In sleep you can tell, all the pretenses
of his position, station, and attitude are gone.. only the care remains.

Michael intones, "All I know is.. that you and he have dreamed the same
dream before.  You share a common beginning.  Beyond that.. I know not."
Utena gazes between the angel and Touga with her lower lip bit between her
teeth... she has to protect him... he looks so fragile like that, so not
himself... but it's so familiar... she's seen him wearing that look
before, even if she can't remember when... she nods slowly, and only with
reluctance looks away... trying not to give in to the urge to linger close
beside him. "... I know this just escalated things. I need to have more
than just a vague idea of what I can do and what I can't, if I want to
protect him. I'm still trying to decide on my plan."

Utena says, "I need to be able to... to disappear... to fly... to be able
to keep moving even when I'm hurt, to have the sword come when I want it
and not just when I'm afraid... I need to be able to change shape..."

Michael answers you, "You have already learned the most basic things.  
Now all you require.. is practice.  Means to apply your abilities.  Let
your belief in Miracles grow stronger.  If you wish to learn such
things... then you must go.  Of old.. it helped budding masters to find a
means of inspiration.  By watching the Eagle soar high above..  a Tiger
blending in the bush to stalk it's prey.  Often.. we find strength and
courage through example.

Utena nods slowly, absorbing your words... "An inspiration..." She looks
around, but in a catacomb, there isn't exactly much to be inspired by, is
there? She sighs, sitting back at the edge of the bed. "We shouldn't stay
here too long.. as soon as Touga's awake, we'll have to prepare and think
of a plan, and then leave. I don't want to drag your church into this..  
they WILL come looking for him.. and for me."

Michael answers you, "My Child.  This church is already 'into' this.  
There is no hiding from the influence of the Kings.  However, it is true
you cannot accomplish your ultimate goal by staying here forever.  Use
this place if you must.. but know you hamper your own efforts by standing
by your crutch for too long.

Utena nods. "I know." It's a bitter tone and a hard realization, but it's
also clearly something Utena understands well. She closes her eyes where
she sits... letting out deep breaths, and almost without even REALIZING
her breathing deepens further... as she slips into a near-meditative
state, struggling to clear her mind suddenly it just... voids, and there's
blackness around her, calm and strong.. nothing there... In this void,
having achieved it, she searches for inspiration, for images that might
come, for any trick or symbol that can give her power and assurance. And
she really fights not to let her desperation tinge into her thoughts...
She doesn't know what she's looking for.. but in the empty and open state
she's entered, something should come..

But reaching into yourself to find inspiration... while it works for some
things, doesn't necessarily work in a case like this. Vague, shapeless,
shadow-play images flicker along the void before her eyes, too dim to
really identify as anything except... feelings. Drifting fragments... a
summer breeze on a field of warm green grass, the way the sky feels
shining down... back to the earth, half in the soil... the way light plays
off a sword's edge, traveling down to trace a circle along a blurred
ring... red hair, the sun that becomes Touga and melts back into the sun
and into a flow of blood that fills the sky and rustles.. waves of red
cloth... the way it moves, so beautiful and silken and sinuous... the only
thing that seems to emerge from the melting, drifting gestalt inside
Utena's subconscious is a kind of motion.. a blurring, shifting, sliding
motion, undefinable, but she can feel it.. drifting and slipping and
darting about suddenly..

A wave motion.. smooth and seemless.  A continous and unyielding
grace..like the wind.. you can feel the motion.. in all things..
especially within yourself... the edges of your waving hair.. your
clothes... yourself.  Is that a key?  What could this mean?

Utena doesn't question.. she just sinks into that flow, that grace...  
trying to learn its feel, trying to fall into pace with it... there's
power in that flow, in that absolute unbroken link of rippling intent from
start to finish... like the wind, but that's too simplistic, this flow
moves through everything, through clothes and skin and blood, constantly
pulsing and shifting and moving like currents of water, but all of those
descriptions deny the real indescribable sensation of that flow...
stronger than anything, unbreakable current that coils and wraps around
the world, and moves in and out of everything.. that wave, to ride that
wave for even a moment, couldn't one do anything with it..?

To have that wave behind you and in you and PUSHING through you... she can
almost feel it. Almost..

Anything..anything at all.. but you've only just seen a small bit of this
flow.. the wave motion that exists within.. the calmness and serenity of
internal existance.. how can this be applied outside.. you need to test..
but not here... not in such a cramped place.. not enough motion.. not
enough openness.. you can't feel enough of it.. you need space.. room..
motion..

Utena's eyes snap open. To go outside.. well.. it's a risk, like always.  
But the feel of that wave.. she has to hurry, before she loses it.. she
scrambles to her feet and the sword pops into her hand, and she starts
running quickly over the stones of the catacomb floor.. holding onto that
internal sense of flow with a mental grasp tightly... not wanting to let
it escape before she can feel it truly.

Michael moves out of the way..watching you go as you seem to be onto
something..and just smiles.  Looking over Touga.  As you move outside..
you can feel the motion around you in the small catacomb.. wouldn't it be
easier to ride the motion.. the natural flow.. as your feet move from step
to step.. move your legs in synch with the motion... feel your body enter
it's rhyme.. feel the rush.. the sheer kinetic joy.. as your movements
begin to match that of the wave motion you can only barely feel.. your
footing becomes sure.. easier.. as you easily make it up the two flights
of stairs in but for easy motions.. small leaps really.. and never losing
balance or touching the walls..even around the tight corners.. it's so
much easier to move when you feel things like this..

It is. And there's an intense -joy- in that motion that's inexpressible to
conventional human words... a feeling of complete ACCORD with the world..
part of it, not resisting it, joined utterly with it, with its flow, its
demand and timing and pacings... the joy is somewhere higher than
physical, though there's almost a sexual feeling of communion; it's in her
and fulfilling her... but it's even higher than that, beyond the flesh, a
thing of the soul... bringing soul, sense and flesh all into one accord...
she doesn't even notice when she stops following the ground with her feet,
when she's running on the air itself, just a few inches from the ground,
letting the flow pick her up and carry her, her eyes shining with her
bliss at being embraced into it; she bursts out through the church door
and into the open air, almost laughing and crying.

You exit the door.. and burst forth into the world.. the perpetual shroud
of mist recessed a bit..allowing you to surf about the edges.. as the
world greets you.. as you slowly practice..accumating your eyes to this
new sight.. your body to this new feeling..  so much motion everywhere...
this kinetic paradise..  what CAN'T you do?  As if you've joined with the
movement of the world.. dancing along with it.. you can skate back and
forth.. as if on invisible ice skates without fear of falling... backwards
and forwards... even up higher along invisible slopes... anywhere..

Utena closes her eyes, not wanting the world's illusion to distract her...  
and it actually becomes even easier this way, if she can't see the
world...  she carresses the flow in her mind, crying with joy into it, as
it embraces her like a deep lover... whispers softly to it, making a
request of it, "Can I..?" and the image of her flight spreads in her
mind... to move, to soar completely away from the ground, not just in the
hovering way that she's moving now, but to actually follow the flow up
high and away...

A whispery answer, ".. later.."  when you've learned more.  As you try to
move higher.. but no.. the World does not let you repeat Icarus's mistake.  
Be content with what you know, you feel it convey, you have much to
understand as is.  Soon enough... as this alone.. is more freedom than you
dared dream possible.. as you skate about a few inches above the ground..
a single bound can take you to the tallest rooftop.. as your landing is
sure and without hesistation.. fearless.. as you can move now unlike
you've ever moved before..  How can anyone hope to catch you this way?  
As the world itself permits you to move faster than anyone else..

Utena sighs, an ache in her heart, but she submits to the will of the
world, as she couldn't do anything less, and doesn't want to leave this
state of grace... sh e tests her limits, though, like any child, her eyes
shimmering as she smiles to herself and makes a jump, young legs tensing,
feet coiled and pushing herself off the air upward, to the top of one of
the old buildings across the street...

Such ease.. you barely feel winded.. you feel as if you could scale
heights three times that!  As you keep moving.. the fear of falling.. gone
from you now.. as gravity becomes an ally rather than a hated enemy...
willing to work with you as you... run along the sides of walls?  No
problem.. bounce between surfaces... child's play.. there are no limits
for you now... save true flight..

And she's very much the infant in the hands of the world, giggling like a
child just let out of school into the playground at recess.. the whole
world that playground... but she finally comes to a stop standing sideways
on a wall between two buildings, her feet resting there as solidly as if
she were on normal ground.. and to the flow she asks, "Can I change myself
this way...?"

And the flow answers, "Do not ask I without... ask I within..." as you
must refocus onto the flow within yourself..

Utena focuses on those strange words for a moment.. but obeys the World's
whispering voice... and abandons the division of her internal and external
flows... turning inside... to find that connected piece that moves through
her... shape me? she asks humbly... to become a bird, she can vision it, a
huge white bird with wings... or a cat... something, an animal, a
different thing.

A bird?  Or a cat?  You must focus!  You cannot be two things!  Or can
you?  Prehaps... you ask inside... as you feel about yourself.. so many
things.. so many ways you can change yourself... so many possibilities..
little bits and pieces inside of you... so much you can manipulate ..
use.. reuse..  So many its hard to know what to start with... but.. you
can do it... your sure you can... just.. you must figure out precisely
how.... what to change.. something simple...

Flight is forbidden, even becoming a bird would probably be a strain.. so
she opts for the other thing that comes to mind.. a cat... of course,
she's never BEEN one before, but... how can that matter when she can feel
the grace in her...? She goes into her flow, visualizing the tail, the
soft fur, white and soft, sniffing at the air with her nose... whiskers
sprout.. a piece at a time, changing by accordance with the parts of her
body.. finding that her legs and arms contain the primal memories of
claws, of fur, of past animalistic forms.. it's all there, the whole world
in her body, all the forms that ever were in her cells.. it's really just
as simple as picking and choosing. You try and change.. then realize
something.. as your body shifts...  your not shrinking!  Unfortunately..
the ability to change your mass is yet beyond your grasp... but at least
the cat you end up as.. is proportionate..of course it's hard to see
without a reflection.. but you think your a feline the size of a large
dog... you can smell the various scents in the wind... your slitted pupils
can see much more clearly in the shadows.. and your lean springlike
muscles can propell you that much faster... care to try for a spin?  As
your now crounched on all fours on the side of the wall still..

Utena growls softly in her throat, why not? Delicate traceries of scent in
the wind that she couldn't have picked up with simple human senses reach
to her mind, making her mouth water, food scents... she springs from the
wall landing on the pads of her paws back on the ground, darting forward
with tension and power in her restrung muscles, the wind tickling her
fur..

You bound through the streets.. with elegance and speed the likes of which
you had not known even while riding the wind!  Your muscles moving in
perfect tune.. like a machine.. like a Panther moving through ancient
jungle ruins.. exhilleration... the primordial feeling..

Utena could lose herself in this forever... but reason returns... and more
to the point, not reason but worry.. she's gotten far from the church, and
from Touga, who she promised to protect... she wheels on her four legs and
lets her body relax.. shifting from cat-form back to human form, the parts
of her body sinking back into the form they were born in by default...  
then, as she finds herself kneeling on her hands and knees she pushes from
the sidewalk with a hand and darts forward, human flow through the world's
flow to carry her quickly back to the church grounds.

You move quickly.. sprinting and bounding..almost as fast as you had while
in your feline form.. luckly you don't feel any disturbances nearby..as
your stroll went unnoticed.. leaving you to mull over your
discoveries...and you feel.. this is but the tip of the ice berg... so
much more you can do.. so much more you can learn... you have to do this
more.. give into this flow.. let yourself adjust to it.. and bring forth
Miracles..

Utena hurries back through the front pews of the church and down into the
catacombs, seeking out Michael and Touga again.. exhilarated with her
discoveries, still feeling the flow in her though here, underground, it's
lesser, as if confined by the heavy stone walls.. gravity feeling heavier
on her, her feet moving with less speed...

As you move back to the room.. you see Touga.. whom is nowawake.. rubbing
his forehead gently.. still sitting back. A tray of lunch at his side..
half eaten.. glass of water half drank.  He hears your footsteps and looks
back to you.. immediately he smiles that knowing smile of his.. not
lessened in the least by his bandages, "Ahh... for a moment I thought you
ran out on me."

Utena blushes quietly, leaning against the door of the room, shutting it
behind her. She shakes her head, gazing at the floor... what she wants to
SAY is that she'd never run away from you again.. but she can't quite
bring out the words, so she just blushes deeply, and replies, "... I'm
glad you're feeling better.."

Touga shifts his position a bit..facing you more proper.  His jacet still
losely hugging his shoulders.. a single glasp done up top..his bare arms
resting on his knees as he leans forward a bit, long crimson locks
spilling over his shoulders as he tilts his head a bit, violet-blue eyes
piercing you expression, "Thanks to you of course.. " he chuckles, "I
should be angry at you.. I wasted a perfectly good death speech," he
chuckles disarmingly, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.

Utena says softly, with more heat than she meant, "I won't let you die."
Utena shakes her head and crosses away from the door back toward you, her
hand reaching out to caress the side of your cheek... her eyes searching
you silently. "... who are you, Touga...? Why do I know you?"

Touga smiles wider, and a bit more sincerely as he closes his eyes, "Thank
you.  That means alot coming from you.. especially you."  As he looks back
up to you with his intense eyes as you touch his cheek.  His own searching
yours as well.. a lengthly pause ensues... before finally saying, "...  I
used to have the answers... I used to know the secrets of the world...  "  
then his voice softens just a bit, ".. Until I looked into your seas of
blue... and saw everything I knew washed away...  I don't know who I am...  
or why you know me... not anymore.  But... I hope together..we can find
out someday.." his own hand covering yours on his cheek gently...

Utena bites her lip again softly as your warm fingers move over hers; she
sighs softly. "I've ruined your world, haven't I...? Is there a way we can
still protect your place in their world so that we can use it to our
advantage..?" She blinks a moment.. "It's cold to say, but... you had such
a useful place there."

Touga chuckles at that, "No.  I'm afraid not.  By now.. Sorrow has spread
word of my defection to all.." his hand gives yours a little reassuring
squeeze, "I have no regrets.  I know now...  I was not meant for that
life.
 I was unfulfilled.. bored.  The world at my fingertips.. but I cared
nothing for anything in it...  Until I met you.." he breathes softly.  
Eyes still intently upon your own..

Utena frowns vaguely.. but your warm breath that she can smell.. the eyes
on her.. she fights the spell of your presence over her.. ".. Couldn't you
say you were.. forced or something..? We need a way into that world... if
you took me back with you.."

Touga sighs a bit, then intoning, "Sorrow is no fool.  He will kill me the
next time he sees me.. and not even give me a chance to speak.  These
beings are brutal Utena.. they do not offer second chances or possibility
for redemption.  Even if they did believe my story.. they would still
destroy me for failing them twice.

Utena sighs. "Even if you deliver then the Victor...?" She shakes her
head, letting out a deep exhale, rose-scented.. she leans over and puts
her arms around you, resting her head over your shoulder. "... I'm sorry."

Touga doesn't let you rest your head.. as something in your sentence upset
him.. he takes your shoulders quickly... giving you a little shake to
force you to look into his eyes, "Utena.. you must -NEVER- say that..  Do
you hear me?" seemingly extremely concerned, "NEVER even THINK of allowing
yourself to fall into their grasp.. do you understand me?" almost
frantic..  afraid you might think of something suicidal..

Utena blinks, pushed back forcefully by your hands; her eyes gaze into
yours in some shock, wide, deep and blue... the flow is in her, and she
can feel it dimly, moving through her body and into Touga's and through
him..  almost like a nudge at her back. Oh ho... she shakes her head,
blushing tightly, and gulps, "I just wanted to... How are we going to be
able to stop them if we don't know what they're going to DO?"

Touga answers you, "Oh..what they're going to do.. is easy to predict.."
as he loosens up his grip.. looking a bit remorseful at his actions..as he
tries to make up for it by giving your shoulders a gentle hug, "They're
going to try to hunt us down."

Utena sinks into your arms, her slender legs bending at the knees,
inverted, and she breathes out wearily. "I know. I knew that when I saw my
name in the papers. Touga, can you... " It's probably a foolish question,
but she has to ask it of you anyway.. "You can change yourself..? You have
power, don't you...? I don't know much about mine, but I know I HAVE it...  
I'm learning."

Touga hehs, smiling to you, "You have learned much already Utena..if you
can do that much already..." a bit slyly he adds, ".. I can.. but we will
not need that yet.. they can't find this place for now.. it's protected
somehow... Even Sorrow can't find us here." pulling you a bit..so you
settle onto his lap..as he continues holding you warmly, snugly,
comfortingly, "... eitherway... our best bet.. is to strike at them hard
and fast.. throw their forces into disarray..so they have to spend time
just to reorganize rather than search for us.

Utena nods, her senses swimming while she sits held in your arms.. so
strongly... this feels so utterly RIGHT, it almost makes her weep that she
rejected it before.. but if she hadn't, this couldn't have come to pass.  
She said it herself, it had to be on her terms.. she nods, thinking
grimly.  "... We have to fight the rest of these kings and queens...' Her
eyes become weary, thinking about the struggle there'll be in that... but
she's not ALONE, at least, now.

Touga smiles and nods, "Exactly... and I know whom and where they
are...and how to get to them." his grin takes on a bit more of an edge, "I
must admit.... it gives me a certain thrill.. the odds involved.  I've
never felt so truly..alive in a long time.." as he holds you a bit
tighter..  leaning forward to brush his smooth cheek against your silken
soft version..whispering into your ear, "And I have you ..to thank..

And the flow is still moving through her.. she almost hears it giggling at
her, the whole world... well.. she'd better learn to give in, hadn't
she..? It's pushing her... She lifts her head and gazes quietly at you,
catching her breath at the sudden realization of your closeness... your
cheek pressed to hers, you can feel the sudden warmth in it.. she throws
her arms around your neck suddenly.. drawing her head back to gaze
helplessly into your eyes, flow whispering, go on, do it, you want to, and
he wants you to..

Utena tremblingly moves a hand, stroking her thumb along your small,
thinner lips... just the tiniest touch making her hand tingle. "...
Touga.."

Touga feels you throw your arms about his neck... as he lowers his arms
about the small of your back.. and looks deeply into your eyes..  
glimmering... a bit surprised at your suddenness... but he is certainly
not dissapointed.. he moves just a tenth of an inch closer... his lips
feel slightly moist..warm.. inviting, as he breathes, "... Utena.." eyes
half hooding..

Utena should hold herself back, this is -crazy-. She .. no, he's hers, and
more... it's crazy to change forms and run sideways on walls, but she can
do THAT too... some miracles are easier to believe in than others,
though... even though this seems more real than anything... she whimpers
softly, drawing her hand back and pressing her lips forward in its place..  
a trembling, uncertain nervous sort of kiss, sounding you out. Just a
taste... her eyes drift closed...

Touga's lips meet yours... and immediately it feels as if they've found
their home in the universe.. an almost electrical buzz...a shiver running
down your form..and as you can feel.. a similar one runs down his as
well...his arms tighten a bit.. as he is not nervous in the least.. he is
sure.. he is certain..and this sweet sweet kiss... only makes it that much
more clear..  Madly, deeply, passionately....

Utena moans softly; she wasn't sure until you.. until the connection.. and
the flow of the world slips through her body, filtering through her
directly into Touga, pushing her even closer, making her move that much
closer; her lips give and yield, hunger rising as she craved this thing
she didn't even know she was without but now can't BEAR not having.. like
the higher grace, this is another sort of joining... just as addictive,
just as needed.. she needs this to live. She doesn't even realize,
submitting to her instinctive desire, as she pulls you back with her, away
from the chair, to the bed, pulling you down over her like a blanket, not
breaking that sacred kiss even once in the process, you're HERS now.. and
she's yours.. as it should be, was, and is...