Yeah, I'm getting 403: Forbidden.

I'm willing to bet though that if you describe the scene in a little more detail, 20 people will pop up knowing exactly what you're talking about.

Mmm hmm, I think this is a case where a cigar... or polishing a sword... is just a cigar.  No sexual innuendo.  From the smitten way Shiori reacts to Ruka throughout this pair of episodes, I doubt they had a relationship before Ruka left.

Depending on your perspective, either Shiori is a contemptible liar for telling Ruka she polished his sword -- as emotional blackmail to keep him from leaving her, no less! -- or Ruka is a manipulative sociopath for intentionally giving her the opportunity to lie in order to defame her to Juri.  Duelists or no, I don't think either of them come out of it smelling like roses. 

Another reason to doubt any sexual innuendo involved is that, when the phrase comes up earlier, Shiori says she polished the sword while Ruka was away, which might be a little difficult.

Still, it's fair to be suspicious of everything in the context of SKU.

satyreyes wrote:

Depending on your perspective, either Shiori is a contemptible liar for telling Ruka she polished his sword -- as emotional blackmail to keep him from leaving her, no less! -- or Ruka is a manipulative sociopath for intentionally giving her the opportunity to lie in order to defame her to Juri.  Duelists or no, I don't think either of them come out of it smelling like roses. 

I don't think that Ruka can be classed totally as a sociopath; he does manipulate people but his ultimate goal seems to be securing Juri's happiness (or at the very least, helping her break out of her ''coffin''). The fact that he's also living on borrowed time would suggest that he wasn't doing this for his own personal gain (unlike some of the immortal cast members), however, this of course does not stop him from being a Magnificent Bastard. It is unclear as to why he uses the methods he does, perhaps because he believes a softly softly approach (such as one that might be favoured by say, Utena) simply wouldn't work against Juri.

A thought occurred to me whilst reading this thread: Is it possible that Ruka needed Shiori to fall in love with him? In each of the Apocalypse duels, the Bride/Groom of the duelist is someone to whom they have a strong emotional attachment or past history (Kozue/Touga/Ruka himself/Saionji). Is it possible that Ruka deliberately led Shiori into falling in love (or at least becoming attached) to him so that he could use her in the duel, before then going on to use her as a pawn against Juri?

It makes sense that Ruka needed Shiori's "love."  In the black rose arc, it is mentioned that the black rose duelists must have some sway over the hearts of the original duelists.  Since the symbol of the bond is similar--the removal of the sword--I would say the same rules ought to apply.  The shadow player girls also claim it's difficult to work together, and they hint at marital concepts during that particular schpiel.  Then, of course, the end of the series heavily suggests that it's the bond between Utena and Anthy that leads to success.

I'm sure I'm missing some more overt references, but that's what springs to mind at the moment.

Though, of course, if Ruka didn't think the duel with Shiori as rose bride would succeed in the first place, the question is whether or not he still needed Shiori's love for the duel?  I'd say that the prerequisite action of drawing the sword is still there, so it's likely.  The depths of her desperation/lust, however, was probably overkill solely for the purpose of pissing off Juri.

I also don't think Ruka intended to win the second duel, but the idea that he's experimenting with the strengths of other bonds is an intriguing one that I hadn't considered.