Why I Stay

By SecondSeraphim

"Hey Keitaro what time did you-" Naru began to say as she opened up the opening between their room and stuck her head down, stopping as she caught sight of Keitaro.

A half naked Keitaro, caught in the middle of changing into his work clothes for a day of labor.

"YOU PERVERT!" she screamed, jumping down and punching him across the room.

"Hiya Keitaros!" Su yelled as she delivered a good morning kick to Keitaro's face, knocking him into the wall. A moment later, a small stone idol slammed into him, knocking him the rest of the way through.

"Urashima! I how dare you enter the hotsprings while I was bathing! ROCK SPLITTING SWORD"

"Hiya Sugah, say, I don't suppose you could spare me a bit of money for sake could ya? Oh, and I'll need an extension on the rent too."

"Good morning Kei-kun," Mutsumi said before fainting the next moment, conveniently landing on top of him...just in time for Naru and Motoko to walk into the room.

"URASHIMA!"

"YOU PERVERT!"

"Keitaro, I need you to watch the store for a bit while I step out."

"Ok Aunt-"

WHAM

"Don't call me aunt."

And so goes a typical day at Hinata-Sou.

He didn't know why he stayed. He really didn't. No matter what he did it was never enough for them.

Naru, his so called promise girl, did nothing but hit and yell at him. Tell him how stupid he was, and how he would never get into Tokyo U.

Hurt him.

Motoko was just as bad, her hatred of all things man driving her to attack him for whatever reason she could find. All because her sister had married and given up the sword. At this thought Keitaro flinched; after fighting Tsuruko after she had supposedly given up the blade, he held no desire to see what she could do before she gave it up.

Both of them hurt him so much.

They all did, and not all of it physical. Did Kitsune have any idea how little money he had, and how much of it he gave up so that she could be happy? How many times he had gone without buying something for himself, how many new textbooks he so desperately needed he went without because she needed money? Did she have any idea when the last time he bought himself new clothes were? How he had Haruka cut his hair for him, since he could no longer afford to get it cut? Did she know how much it hurt to see her degrade herself, acting like she did to get his money?

Su meant well. He knew she did, she was just a child. Sarah as well. Neither of them could possible understand the pain their pranks caused him, the strain the repairs from their experiments put on his already slim savings. He could not truly blame them no, but that did little to lessen the pain.

Mutsumi, who he saw as a friend and a sister, was always fainting on him. Did she not understand how much Naru and Motoko hurt him when they found them like that?

Even his Aunt Haruka hurt him. Why did she have to hit him every time he messed up and called her aunt? She was his aunt like it or not, and no amount of denying it would change that fact. She even insisted that he call her by that title when he was younger, why the change? Was she that self conscious about her age?

And it hurt so much that she, his own flesh and blood, ignored the pain that he was put through every day. She had left him to grow up and take care of himself, just like his parents had.

But how could anyone take care of themselves when faced with the torment he was faced with everyday? What was he supposed to do, evict them all?

He couldn't make them leave. This was their home, they had nowhere else to go to. Despite what they did to him, no matter how unwelcome they made him feel, he could never make them leave. Meanness, revenge, these things were just not in his nature.

So. That explains why he didn't make them leave. But why didn't he leave them? They made it clear they didn't what him there, and he could always find someone else to manage the dorm for him. He could get an apartment closer to school, and a job to pay for it. So why didn't he leave? Why did he stay?

He was interrupted from his musings by his door sliding open. Pretending to be asleep so that whomever it was would leave him alone, he was surprised when he heard Shinobu's voice.

"Sempai? Are you awake?"

He didn't answer.

A moment later he heard the door slide shut and at first though that Shinobu had left; the next moment however he felt her kneel down beside his head.

"Thank you for everything you do for us Sempai." he heard her whisper, and a moment later, he felt a soft pair of lips press up against his forehead. They quickly withdrew, and her task apparently completed Shinobu stood up and left. As he heard the door slid shut the second time Keitaro couldn't help but smile.

'Oh yeah. That's why.'

THE END

A/N: I hope you all liked this little fic of mine. This is a retooling of what Happy Birthday Sempai was supposed to accomplish, a fic where Shinobu was the only person who appreciated everything Keitaro did for them all, and as a result was the primary reason for him staying. I may go back and try to finish that story some day, but for now this is the end of the story.