BlackRoseVixen05: Well, here we are... Chapter 22. It's been a long road, but we made it. I hope everyone who read this fanfiction found it enjoyable in some way. Big thanks, and big hugs to all that reviewed, and cookies to all that supported me. I love you guys. On with the chap! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Revolutionary Girl Utena, its characters, nor am I making money for writing this. I do, however, own the plot of this fanfic.

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Oh, man! I'm gonna be late!" panted a young woman with straight strawberry-blonde hair. "Anthy's going to kill me!" she groaned as she jogged across the massive Ohorti Academy campus.

"Hey there, Utena here. Yes, it's me…and, that's me too. Seems like I'm going to be narrating this chapter for you guys. I thought some things would be easier to understand if I gave some insight. I'm on my way to Miki's mansion. We're having a party this evening. Okay, maybe I should back up a little bit. It's been six months since I brought the Revolution. It is now March and tomorrow is the first day of Spring Break. So, in honor of that, Anthy and I decided to throw a party. Miki agreed to let us use his mansion as the setting. It's really nothing elaborate, just a small gathering of friends.

One thing I will point out right now is that we're all okay, and we're all still in school here at Ohtori. The school is now being supervised by Kanae's father once again. Neither of them has any memory of Akio. I thought it was for the best. Kanae's father has begun teaching his daughter the ropes of being a Dean so she can succeed him someday. Kanae currently has no plans of getting married."

"Ohhh…" Anthy sighed as she stood in the main hallway of Miki's mansion. "Where in the world is she?" the dark-skinned girl murmured, tapping her foot.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be along shortly," said a young man as he came to stand next to Anthy, offering the girl a smile.

Anthy sighed. "I suppose so. Did you guys need some more help in there, Ios?" she asked the young man as he entered the lounge.

"Nope, we just finished," Ios said as he and Miki had made the last couple of finishing touches on the large room. They'd rearranged some of the furniture so that everyone could sit near each other, as well as be close to the long coffee table.

"I know some of you are wondering who "Ios" is. Ios is the name Dios adopted when he became apart of the world I created. He told he me that he desired to live a normal life as well. He and Anthy are still brother and sister, but he is only a mere year older than her now. It amazes me sometimes…how different the "real" Anthy is. She's a very sweet and caring girl, though rather bossy and impatient at times. (chuckle) You may have noticed that she doesn't call me "miss" anymore."

"All set, Anthy. Are you ready to start making the snacks?" Miki asked as he came out of the lounge.

"I'm ready, but Utena hasn't arrived with the things I need yet," Anthy sighed, leaning back against the wall.

"Miki has changed as well. Not only in attitude, but in appearance, too. All the student council members have changed, actually… Instead of blue, Miki now has brown hair and warm honey eyes. He's so adorable at times. He's still rather timid and soft-spoken, but a little more prone to striving for the things he wants. One of those things would be Anthy. That's right, the two of them are dating. Happily I might add. I'm glad for them."

"I made it! Sorry I'm late!" Utena called as she burst through the front door, panting heavily. The blonde girl was wearing some dark purple pants and a pink off-the-shoulder sweater. She loved this particular outfit.

"It's about time!" Anthy whined, coming over and taking the two white plastic grocery bags from Utena's hands. "Everyone will be here soon!" she added as she darted off to Miki's kitchen.

"Wait up, Anthy! I'll give you a hand!" Miki called, before following after the Indian girl.

"Whew…" Utena sighed, catching her breath.

"Here, have some punch. Freshly mixed," Ios said to Utena, holding out a glass of red juice.

"Thanks," Utena breathed as she took the glass, getting a sip. "Ah, perfect... Just what I needed."

"Have you heard from the others?" Ios asked then, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"Yup, everyone should be here around seven," Utena replied with a smile.

Later That Evening, 6:48pm

Utena and the others had just finished laying out the snacks when the doorbell rang. Utena blinked and checked her watch. "Someone's early, but at least we're ready," Utena said as she went to answer the door.

Standing on the other side was no other than Nanami. Dark brown hair worn in her usual style, Nanami stepped into the house. She wore a short yellow sundress with black leggings underneath it and white shoes.

"Good evening, everyone," the pompous girl greeted as Utena showed her to the lounge.

"Hello, Nanami," Anthy said, smiling.

"Hi, Nanami. Why so early?" Miki asked politely.

"I just wanted to scope things out in case I decided to call my brother and tell him don't bother coming," Nanami stated bluntly as she sat down on the long couch. Everyone in the room held back a sigh.

"Boy, if anyone has changed the least, it's Nanami. She doesn't cling to Touga as much anymore, but still…Yeesh."

"I'll take a glass of whatever you're serving please," Nanami said, sitting on the couch with her arms folded.

Utena only shook her head and then headed off to fetch Nanami some punch.

7:10pm

The doorbell rang again and Miki answered it. This time it was Juri, along with Ruka Tsuchiya. Juri was still a redhead, and the girl was dressed in a gray pantsuit with a white blouse underneath and a gold necklace.

Ruka, who now had light brown hair instead of blue, wore black pants, a burgundy V-neck sweater, and a black fedora.

"Hey there, Miki. Are we fashionably late enough?" Juri asked with a chuckle.

"Perfect," Miki said with a laugh, "Come on in, you guys. Head to the lounge and I'll get some punch for you."

"While I was, well, changing the world…I saw into the lives of everyone important to me. I felt what they felt, and I realized things that I'd never known. That's when… That's when I decided to restore some of the lives that Akio had taken to fuel his plans. Ruka Tsuchiya was revived, and all traces of his disease vanished. I neatly fixed it so that no one even remembered he was ill. Juri deserved to have someone special, and I'm happy that the two of them patched things up."

Juri and Ruka made their way into the lounge and took seats on the couch as well, having greeted the others on their way in.

"So, Nanami, how'd you managed to come without Misturu?" Juri asked teasingly.

Nanami closed her eyes. "Not that it's any of your business, but Misturu had a play date. One of his friends was having a birthday party this evening, and I persuaded him to attend that instead. That girl named Mari, I think," the former Yellow Rose said, sounding a bit jealous.

"Are you sure you persuaded him?" Juri asked as she took a sip of her punch.

Nanami only glared.

7:21pm

A little while later, the doorbell sounded for a third time. "I'll get it!" Utena called to the others as she jogged out of the lounge. She opened the door and smiled warmly at the two tall figures outside it.

"Hey Touga, Kyouichi," Utena said happily as she nodded to both of them.

"Good evening, Utena," Touga said, smiling in return. "Sorry we took so long getting here."

"You should be sorry. It was your fault," spat Saionji, cutting his eyes at the other boy.

Touga's hair was no longer the bright crimson. The straight tresses were now dark brown like Nanami's, though it was decorated with a blood red streak near the front. Touga had done that himself. Touga was wearing dark blue jeans, a black shirt, and a brown blazer.

Saionji's hair had changed also. His wavy hair was now black, having an almost dark gray hue in certain light. Saionji wore his hair in a loose ponytail, which draped over his right shoulder. The Japanese teen was wearing black slacks, a white short-sleeved, cotton button-up, a long black tie with a white cross on the end of it, and black wrist bands.

Utena chuckled before stepping aside. "Come on in. Everyone's in the lounge."

"Meow!"

Utena looked down to see Mouse follow Touga and Saionji into the house. The cat stopped for a moment to rub against her legs.

"Hope you don't mind, Miki. He refused to stay at home," Saionji said to the younger boy, who stood at the lounge's doorway.

"Not at all! Now Chu-Chu will have a guest," Miki said, smiling.

The taller teen gave a nod and then entered the lounge after Touga.

"Wow, Touga and Saionji… They've become some of my closest friends now. Over time, I began to see their changes as well. Saionji wasn't constantly angry anymore. Though he still had a rather short fuse, he wasn't afraid to smile or laugh. And, to my knowledge, he's never struck anyone out of anger since the ordeal. Also, he doesn't seem to mind that I call him by his first name now either. On top of all that, he and I have tea in the Kendo room almost every Monday. I enjoy it.

Then there's Touga. He's still the student council President, just as Saionji's still the Vice-President, Juri the Secretary, and Miki the Treasurer. Touga takes his job more seriously now and actually shows passion in it. I'm also happy to say he cut down on his womanizing. He's still a bit of a flirt in public, but…according to my own reliable sources, the only person he, or Nanami allows to get near his bedroom is…Heheheheh, well, I suppose that's not my business to tell."

8:34pm

The group sat together in the lounge and chatted socially about the past weeks.

"Oh! I forgot to ask earlier. Wakaba couldn't make it, Utena?" Anthy asked the girl sitting next to her.

"Sadly, no. She and the rest of the volleyball team had an away game tonight. I had to talk to her three times before I convinced her not to leave the game early so she could be here," Utena stated fondly, giggling.

"Seems you'll have to make it up to her," Saionji said calmly, taking a sip of tea, which he'd requested instead of punch.

"I don't mind," Utena told him, smiling.

"Miki, Juri told me that you went for an interview with Professor Mikage. I bet that was interesting. How did it go?" Ruka asked then.

"What? Again?" Touga said before Miki could answer.

The younger boy nodded. "Yes, and it went very well. I agreed to be the Professor's new assistant. He told me that his previous one had moved to another city with his older sister. I'm really grateful for the job," the brown-haired boy explained.

"Well, then, congratulations, Miki," Utena said, clapping her hands.

"Just when were you going to tell us about it?" Anthy asked, sounding a tad upset.

Miki blushed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry… I got so wrapped up in this evening that it slipped my mind," he said.

"We'll forgive you this time, right, Anthy?" Ios said to his sister, who nodded, pouting.

"You should try and think of yourself more, Miki," Nanami stated, nodding.

"By the way, Miki, where's Kouze?" Juri asked the boy after a moment.

"Like Wakaba, she's off with the volleyball team. She wanted me to tell all of you "hello"," Miki said, before getting a cookie from the snack tray.

"And Shiori couldn't make it either?" Utena asked Juri.

The former Orange Rose shook her head. "Afraid not. She left yesterday to go and tour another Academy. Shiori's thinking of transferring."

"Oh, that's too bad…" Anthy said, a look of sympathy on her face.

Juri shrugged. "She said that Ohtori isn't what she was looking for after all," she said.

"Well, let's hope she finds what she's looking for," Ruka said, giving Juri a smile. The red-headed girl nodded.

9:58pm

"Okay, guys! Let's play some games. We've been just sitting and talking this entire time," Utena said, going to search through a stack of game boxes.

"I vote for Scrabble," Ruka said, smiling. "I'm quite good at that."

"I think Monopoly would be fun. Being the best at math, I vote for Saionji being the bank," Touga stated. Saionji didn't object.

A grin came to Utena's face as she found the perfect game. "Twister!" she exclaimed, holding up the rather thick box.

"Are you kidding me? Twister? What are we, twelve-year-olds?" Saionji grumbled, frowning at the game.

Utena smiled, "Aww, come on! I think it'll be fun," she said. "All in favor of Twister, raise your hand!" she added before anything else could be said.

All raised their hands except for Saionji, Ruka, and Nanami.

"Ha! We win! Twister it is," Anthy said, getting up to help Utena spread out the jumbo game mat.

"I can't believe you voted for that…" Saionji hissed to Touga, almost pouting. The student council President only grinned. Why did that make Saionji uncomfortable?

"Alright. Let's have a couples-battle. We'll have three teams. Team one will be Touga and Kyouichi, team two will be Juri and Ruka, and Anthy and I will be team three," Utena stated after the game was set up.

Saionji groaned, but Ruka accepted his fate quietly. Touga removed his jacket, and Ruka took off his hat, before the first two teams made their way onto the massive playing mat.

"Um, I'm going to sit this one out, Utena," Anthy said, giggling nervously.

"Huh? But why?" Utena asked, not understanding.

"Heehee, my skirt," Anthy said, blushing a bit. The Indian girl was wearing a blue jean mini-skirt and a white blouse with pink flowers on it.

Utena understood and sighed, "Oh, well. I suppose I'll sit this one out as well."

"I'll be your partner, Utena," Ios said then.

Utena's eyes lit up and she nodded. "Alright, let's go!" she said, going out onto the mat with the others. "Miki, you instruct us, okay?"

"Got'cha," Miki said, picking up a sheet of paper from inside the box. "Alright, um, first team to loose their balance and fall onto the playing mat is out. Last team standing wins," the boy said. "Ready?"

"Yup!" Utena said happily.

"No…" Saionji groaned.

"Yes, we're ready, Miki," Juri said, smiling.

Miki began the game after that, instructing each team what color they needed to touch with a certain body part without falling. The game went smoothly for say…the first ten minutes.

It wasn't long before Saionji found himself in a rather odd position on the mat with Touga. Groaning, the former Green Rose's eyebrow twitched as the Seitokai President grinned, hovering inches above him.

"I'm liking this game more and more by the second," Touga purred, looking down at his friend.

"I'm glad one of us is…" Saionji murmured, glaring.

"Touga, left hand blue," Miki said, standing next to the mat.

Following his orders, Touga was now fully straddling Saionji. "You see? This keeps getting better…" Touga whispered to Saionji as Miki gave orders to Juri and Ruka next.

"You do something stupid and I swear I will bite your nose off," Saionji stated venomously.

Touga ignored him. "Pity I can't touch you with my hands though…" he whispered, nuzzling the Vice-President's collarbone.

"Okay," Saionji hissed, "That's it!"

With that, Saionji pretended to loose his balance and then fell onto the mat. "Whoops, looks like we're out," he said, and was off the mat before anyone could protest.

"That wasn't fair, Kyo-chan," Touga pouted as he returned to his seat next to Saionji, sticking out his lower lip. Saionji didn't reply, sitting stoically on the couch with his arms crossed.

The game continued on and soon Juri and Ruka were the winners. While they were being congratulated, something outside the big picture window caught Ruka's eye. He gasped softly. "Look, everyone!" he said, an excited smile spreading on his face.

All eyes turned to gaze out the window. "Oh, wow! Look!" Utena laughed.

Outside, a beautiful star shower was taking place, the dark sky light up with silver shooting stars. "Come on, let's go outside and see!" Touga said, before hurrying out of the lounge. Saionji picked up Mouse and followed, as did the others.

Running out into the front yard, the group stood in amazement as they watched the stars streak through the black sky. It was breathtaking.

The star shower soon ceased, leaving Utena and the others speechless.

Utena finally broke the silence. "Wow… That was gorgeous, you guys…" she whispered, standing next to Anthy and Ios.

"Truly," Touga said, smiling at the now still sky.

"And a good way to end a night," Saionji said then, looking over at Touga. "Ready to get going?"

"What? You guys are leaving already?" Utena asked, checking her watch again. "But it's only a little after ten."

"True, but Touga and I have an early day tomorrow," Saionji said, looking at Utena.

"Oh?" asked Utena.

Touga nodded. "Indeed. We're flying out for Japan in the morning," he said.

A few of the others gave light gasps at the news. "Wow! Japan? Why?" Miki asked curiously.

"My parents insisted," Saionji said with a shrug, still holding Mouse. "They haven't seen me in a while, so I agreed to come for a visit during spring break. Touga and Mouse are just tagging along."

"After all he did for me at the Rose Gate, this was the least I could do for Saionji. I know it's rather cheesy, but there's this one part in a song that reminds me of him.

'Holy lightning, strikes all that's evil, teaching us to live for goodness sake. Hear the music, all the love eternal, teaching us to love for goodness sake.'

Saionji longed for his family, and now he has it again. Touga was there when Saionji got his first call from his parents after everything was over. Touga told me that, once he got off the phone, Saionji began to cry, unable to hold back. We never told him that I know that. (giggle)"

"Well, I hope the two of you have a good time. Please give your family my regards, Kyouichi," Utena said with a smile. "I'm a little disappointed though. I hoped we could all go to the beach together before our break was over."

"Don't sweat it. We're only going to be gone for six days. That leaves us a whole four days to get down to the beach," Saionji said, smiling a bit.

"I can't wait," Utena said, beaming. "Have a good night, you two."

"Likewise. See ya," Saionji replied, before he and Touga headed off together.

"Bye!" Anthy called, waving to the two boys.

"Have a good trip," Juri said, smiling.

Still standing with the others, Nanami shouted, "Make sure you bring all of us something!"

10:27pm

Once they were out of sight, Touga grabbed Saionji and pulled him close. The kendo-ka sighed, though didn't try to get away. "What now, Touga?" he asked.

Touga purred and playfully nipped his neck. "When we get back, I want to show you my version of Twister," the President said.

Saionji chuckled. "Game on," he replied.

"So, as you can see, life looks pretty good for us. I can't say what will happen in the future, but I think we'll be ready for it. Wish us luck, won't you? Goodnight. See you next time."

End of Chapter Twenty-Two

The End

BlackRoseVixen05: Well, there you go. The end. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this fanfic as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm already brainstorming for my next Utena fic, so be on the look out. Please leave me some nice reviews since this is the last chapter.

Special Thanks: Lots and lots of thanks goes to my mom, first of all. She's part of what made this fanfic what it was. Next I'd like to say thanks to OnlyInThisLight and BioKraze who gave me great support in writing this. I love you guys. Last, but not least, I'd like to thank God for giving me motivation, determination, and of course, these two hands of mine, without which I could not have written this.

Note: I will soon be submitting this fanfiction into a contest. The contest is being held by an anime convention I plan to attend in January. Please, guys, wish me luck! Thanks!