Crash!
Su's overeager arm knocked the cup from the table to the floor where it shattered, startling the other residents of the Hinata Inn who were in the middle of breakfast. Motoko quickly stuck her nose back in the book she had been reading all morning, while Keitaro immediately abandoned his breakfast and knelt on the floor picking up the shards of glass.
Broken things were a relatively common occurrence around the inn and the other residents quickly returned to their breakfasts until, as usual, Kitsune disturbed the peace with a well-timed word.
"Enjoying the view of Motoko's panties down there, Keitaro?"
Keitaro comically popped up from under the table with a bewildered and defensive look on his face and began attempting to defend himself.
"What? No! I was just-"
"Kei-ta-ro!" growled Naru, each syllable hitting like a blow to set up the right hook she sent flying at the bewildered kanrinin.
Thwack!
Rather than a supposedly perverted face, the usual deadly Narupunch struck the extended bamboo sheath of Motoko's sword, stopping it just a few inches from Keitaro's face. Naru quickly pulled back her hand and rubbed her stinging knuckles as the shocked breakfasters turned to look at Motoko, who hadn't looked up from her book.
"What the hell!" demanded Naru, temper flaring due to the throbbing in her hand. For a moment, the break in routine made a part of her realize just how absurd what she was doing was, hitting one of her friends, but she quickly refocused her anger. The rest of the residents just stared incredulously, none more shocked than the recently saved Keitaro.
Motoko hardly seemed to realize what she had done, and peeked out over the cover of her book long enough to explain calmly,
"Urashima was just cleaning up the broken glass. I have pants on, so it's not like he could see anything," she said, then returned to her book.
Naru felt the tables turning and knew she had to make a hasty retreat.
"Fine, just let him stare at your panties then, I won't protect any of you!" She yelled before storming up the stairs, her annoyance only amplified by the fact that she knew she sounded silly.
Breakfast resumed as usual, minus the redhead, with Keitaro dumping the shards of glass into the trash and Motoko picking at her vegetables between pages of the book her sister had sent her. Kitsune seemed to be the only one to notice anything unusual, as she watched the two through wary fox eyes.
After finishing his usual chores, Keitaro felt the growing need to apologize to Motoko and reaffirm the fact that he had not been looking anywhere near her undergarments.
This need brought him to her door, which he carefully approached and knocked on, wary of it somehow opening to reveal an angry half-dressed swordmaiden, as it had been known to do for various reasons.
"Come in," replied Motoko, and, tragedy averted, Keitaro opened the door and took a few steps inside, still careful to look off to the side to avoid decapitation or some other grisly fate.
"I'm dressed, you can look at me," Motoko said, setting her book down on the table in front of her pages-first.
"Errr, hahaha, of course you are, I mean, you invited me in and-" Keitaro blurted awkwardly, cutting himself off when he realized how strange he sounded. For her part Motoko just watched him unreadably, with what might have been a hint of amusement on her face or a trick of the light.
"Did you need something?" she asked, as much to save Keitaro from the awkwardness as anything.
"Um, no, well, I wanted to say I wasn't looking at your panties or anything this morning," he began, moving from awkward pauses to a nervous flow of words.
"Of course not, I was wearing pants, so-"
"I mean it's not like panties hold any interest for me anymore anyway, I've been doing the laundry here for years and," he continued, gradually picking up speed into dangerous territory at world-record pace.
"What-"
"Let me tell you, I've seen pretty much everything there is to see in the underwear department, and any male fascination I may have had with them has long been replaced by knowing I have work to do when I so much…as…lay…eyes…on…them" he trailed off, noticing Motoko's gaze focused sharply on him.
"Do you mean to tell me you know my bra size, Urashima?" she asked, trying to remain calm, but unable to prevent a hint of a blush from appearing on her cheeks.
"32D," Keitaro couldn't help but mumble, clapping his hands over his mouth immediately afterwards then hunching down for the impending blow, which never came. When he felt brave enough he glanced up to see a glowing red Motoko. Some tiny fragment of male intuition guessed it was embarrassment and not planet-destroying rage.
"Don't feel bad, I mean, that's bigger than everyone except Kitsune!" Keitaro attempted to reassure her, inadvertently revealing his encyclopedic knowledge of every female's measurements.
Yesterday I would have hit him, Motoko thought, sighing and leaning down against the table with her hand on her forehead. It was her own fault for shoving all her laundry on him.
Sensing he had narrowly avoided death, Keitaro began planning escape scenarios that didn't involve his dismemberment.
"Sooo, I should go. Thanks for defending me today." Never having had anyone take his side in the Hinata Inn, he wasn't exactly sure how to go about thanking someone for it.
"You were innocent. If you had been trying to look at my panties, my reaction would have been different. Goodnight Urashima." She smiled enigmatically and turned back to her book as Keitaro let himself out.
Author's Notes: So, I've found a Motoko characterization I like. I was thinking about how she would grow up and how her role models, her sister and those around the house and the people she would meet at college would influence her. I currently have a muse kick for this so expect at least a few more chapters in rapid succession.