The Black Swan and the Duck (Princess Tutu FanFic)

Chapter 9: Practice Makes Perfect, But Practice isn't Perfect

Ahiru wondered why she had stopped herself...why they'd both stopped dancing. What about Fakir suddenly was familiar...more familiar than Mytho had ever been to her. She looked down and twiddled her fingers a bit, feeling a small blush. Maybe there was more to this story...the Black Swan sure seemed to lead her to think so...

Fakir looked at her. He wasn't put off exactly by this feeling. He cared for Ahiru...he'd guessed so since he'd written that sentence in his notebook and she'd appeared human in the forrest...but something was changing. Ahiru was...different at times. And he wasn't sure why...but something about her drew her in...even more so then before, but today...at times she almost repelled him. The Ahiru today seemed almost like Rue when she was the Raven Princess...confident...overly confident and rather impersonal to others. Now, she was softer, meeker and...like the old Ahiru he remembered. Tomorrow was a practice class...maybe then they could work out the pas-de-deux so it always felt more like...this.

"I'm going to go to bed now." Fakir said. "Tomorrow we'll work on it some more...don't stress so much Ahiru."

She nodded and watched him go back inside. Could she even sleep here? Would she not turn into a swan again when the sun rose? She had to do something about this...she just had too.

Ahiru woke up as the sun hit her pillow, recalling a strange dream she had had. She was alone on a lake looking at a Prince, she couldn't see the Prince's face...but knew she was looking at a Prince. She was also Princess Tutu...and danced between the trees, looking at the Prince from afar. The Prince seemed to be amused with another...another girl who also seemed familiar but she could not place. She felt her heart drop, almost as if she'd hoped for herself to be the Princes' muse...when she'd felt another's eyes on her - and thats when she woke up.

It was a long dream...it all had to be...yesterday could not have been real...the swan...the dance on the lake...her black swan twin...it just had to be.

She yawned and tried to rub her eyes. She then looked at her hands in slight disbelief. White feathers. She looked at her reflection on the window sill. A swan. A blue eyed swan with a small white feather that stuck up on her head like she'd once had as a duck. She needed to leave now...Fakir would wake and wonder what could have caused a swan to sleep in Ahiru's bed. She reluctantly opened the window and flew out, just in time to see the sunlight hit the black swan's wings, as she became Ahira and entered the cabin as if she'd never left.

She had to do something about this.

Maybe she would say Swan in front of Fakir.

He'd have to believe her if she turned into a swan in front of his eyes.

He'd just have to.

"You know...I'm really not in any mood to practice more." Fakir said as he left the room after class.

"Why?" Ahira asked.

"Its...just...it's not like last night. You're trying too hard or something... and your not dancing like you did before. How did you magically become perfect for the Odile part? Last night you could barely perform such a dark role and..."

"But Master- I mean the Director likes it..." Ahira said, trying to become more meek. She was made to become her victim's evil twin or dark half. Being like Ahiru wasn't easy...plus Master made it clear he didn't want them to recall their past...or not at least too soon.

"Fine. But...I think you need to dance how you like. I'm sorry but it just wasn't the same." Fakir wondered why the hell it bugged him so much. He shouldn't be this angry but it didn't fit. "I'm going to the library. Just leave me there...I need some time to...think. Sorry." He always hated cutting Ahiru off but this Director-pleasing stuff was affecting her...or something...and not in a good way.