/ Bon Jovi - Something for the pain - /
Early in the morning, before the sun has barely crested the horizon. A young man begins his journey.
That young man steps out of his home. He opens the large metal gates and lets himself out onto the asphalt road outside. He is dressed in a pair of jeans and a red shirt hanging loosely and not tucked in, a pair of comfortable shoes and a pair of oval glasses sits on top of his nose. He has straight black hair is long enough to pull back into a shortish kind of ponytail, truth be told though, the hairstyle did not really suit him at all. His build is slightly overweight which is the direct results of big bones and a slight overdose with lazyness.
Slung over his shoulder in a duffel bag is most of his travelling gear. Money, spare clothes, socks, underwear, a towel toothbrushes and toothpaste, his passport and a katana which is tied across the bag handles.
For what seems to be the last time, he turns around and looks at the semi-detached house which he has called home for the last nine years of his life. It is filled with memories of his life, arguments with his mother, joyful days, his friends and family, hateful encounters with uncles and aunts.
There is no need to say goodbye to his parent. All goodbyes were said last night. Now all he wanted to do was escape before the household started to wake up. He did not think he would be able to maintain his composure if they came out to see him off.
For the second time in his twenty years of living he will be leaving it all behind for more than a month. As he turns and walks away, a small tear leaks out the side of his eye and runs down his face leaving a glistening trail from his eye to his chin.
By chance the rising sun fully casts its light at that moment. Briefly the dropping tear sparkles brightly like a dropping star for a precious few seconds before it hits the ground, splashing into hundred other tinier stars.
In front of him, waiting while he says goodbye to his house and family, is his one of his best friends with the getaway car all ready to take the young man away to the airport.
As he gets in the friend asks, "Hey, you alright?"
The young man wipes away the tear with the back of his hand before replying "Yeah, just a little sad about leaving." The friend nods then gets into the drivers seat, then in an attempt to cheer up his friend, leans out the passenger side, grins, then says cheerfully, "Well come on! Lets make good on this escape!"
Forcing a smile into place, the young man nods once, then gets into the car, clutching his travel bag close for comfort. The bag gives very little.
UnitTwo,Inc Proudly Presents
A Non-Movie feature in
Black&White Text
Loving Hina
Visual Effects by
Your Active Imagination
Sound Effects by
ImagineTheSound.inc
On the airplane ride over to Japan the weather seemed to reflect the young man's feelings as it rained heavily. As he was going through customs the rain outside seemed to grow even heavier. It was positively raining cats and dogs now.
Walking around inside the airport terminal he found a small cafe, with a little bar facing the streets outside. Parking his butt on the nearest barstool he ordered up a drink and nursed it while waiting for the rain to abate. Hunched over his drink with a leave-me-alone expression written all over his body posture generally made the bartender and other more friendly patrons avoid talking to him.
After about an hour or two the rain slowed enough for the him to now go outside and flag down a cab to take him to his destination. Once outside the airport as the sun shines triumphantly down, through the drizzle, onto the soaked earth, the young man feels more excited for some reason.
He looked at the huge city which sprawled for miles around him, people moving about on their own business, cars jockeying for position on the road, buildings filled with people working and the young man right in the middle of it all.
Deep inside of him, his wanderlust fully awakens. It looked to the left, and liked what it saw. when it looked to the right, the sight that greeted it also pleased it very much. Like an animal on a very short leash, the young man felt his wanderlust tugging at him to move and explore this strange land called Japan. Places all around him call out to be visited. Shops and advertisements called out to attract him to buy the products they offered. Streets call out to be walked on. To be explored.
It felt very much like being a child in a candy store, the young man did not know where to begin exploring. Slowly a smile spreads across his face as the mounting excitement covers the last vestiges of his homesickness. The dark mood that had been trailing him ever since he left his home was banished to a dark corner of his mind and in its place a feeling of exhilaration spread itself throughout his body.
With an supreme effort of willpower he curbs his excitement enough to walk over to a taxi cab and ask the driver to take him to an place called Hinata Inn. The young man showed the driver a piece of paper with his destination written on it in japanese kanji.
The driver was puzzled for a few moments then his face lights up as he recalled another place with a similar name. With a few gestures and a smattering of half English and Japanese mixed in, the driver explained that he knew where the place was. Nodding once, the young man got into the cab after putting his luggage into the trunk.
On the way over the friendly taxi driver acted like a tour guide, pointing out places of interest to his fare. Here was the Tokyo Tower, and there was the famous Shinjuku district. The young man is looking, or more accurately, staring out the taxi window enraptured by the sights going by, occasionally tuning back into to the taxi driver's jabbering in an his strange mix of languages.
A long ride later, the cab had left the main part of the city and headed out into the outskirts. Eventually the cab stopped in front of a long stone staircase running up a hill and out of sight. At the top the driver indicated was Hinata Inn. The young man got out the cab, paid and thanked the driver then collected his only luggage bag and sword, then started climbing the stairs.
At the top, after a brisk five minute jog up the stone stairs, the young man turns around and a marvelous view of the whole town spreads before him. Squinting really hard the young man can just make out the taxi cab making its way out of town.
Breathing in, the fresh smell of nature fills his lungs. The earthy smell of a cold soaked earth was doing wonders for the young man. About halfway through one of of these cleansing breaths, he notices a wooden sign, decorated with a little flower and leaf at the top, hanging straight down in the traditional fashion, next to the main door.
Pulling the piece of paper from his jeans pocket. The young man compares the Japanese kanji on the sign to the ones written on the paper.
The first few matched up, but the rest... were different. After a few seconds of thought and looking back and forth at the sign, the young man concluded that the inn must have changed its name after a renovation or perhaps after a change of ownership, but kept some of its old name.
Satisfied with his deductions the young man stuffs the paper back into his jeans, stooped down to gather his bag and sword, then bravely opened the door and stepped inside the building.
"Hello.....!" he called out in English.
Any further attempts to secure a room at the inn were forestalled at the lack or a reception desk and a receptionist. The young man slides his gaze across the empty room, obviously it is some kind of living room.
His gaze takes in a square, cubish, payphone that sits on a counter near the entrance. Nearer to the back he sees a staircase leading upstairs to possibly where the tenant rooms are, near the stairs is a sofa set with a nice square coffee table in the middle.
Casually he draws a finger across the countertop with the phone on it. It came back with a minimum amount of dust, proving that people either still lived here or someone came to clean the place up at least once a week. The young man hauls the duffel bag over his shoulder then since the manager has not come out to greet him, decides to find the manager himself.
The next room was a dining hall with a long rectangle table with ten chairs around it, four on both sides and two at the ends. The wall facing the interior was built with large glass windows permitting an almost unadulterated view of the hills outside. The room connected to a middle sized kitchen with a pretty large refrigerator, next to a pair of doors which lead outside to what seemed to be some hot-springs judging from the mists he saw back there. Not wanting to go back outside the young man retraced his steps back to the staircase.
Pausing for a little while he decided that the manager would probably stay on the highest floor. Climbing the stairs two at a time, the young man made his way upstairs to the top floor.
All the corridors on the way up were similar. One side had the front wall of the rooms, while the other side were large windows of glass which stopped just slightly higher than waist level.
The floor ran both ways for awhile passing a total of four rooms altogether before moving onto the next buildings. The room distribution was equal on both sides of the inn, supposing you cut the inn in half from where the front doors opened, you would end up with an equal amount of rooms on both sides, with the stairs in the middle and half a balcony each. Reaching the highest level, the third one, the young man decided, on a whim to turn left at the stairs.
The first room he came to had an official looking plaque of wood at the top. Unfortunately it was also in Japanese kanji therefore the young man could not read it. If he could however, it would read Aoyama Motoko. As the young man was looking at the plaque he heard a rustling sound inside.
Glad that he had found the manager at last the young man, in his excitement, shoved the paper door open. For the second time that day his words of greeting were cut short, this time before they even left his tongue.
The reason his words had failed him was because he was staring at the back view of a pretty looking girl with very long black hair in the process of putting on her clothes. Her chest was being bound up in a long strip of cloth. A longish gi and hakama were then pulled and tied into place, it looked like she was about to leave for a dojo somewhere.
At her feet resting on a stand was a nice looking sword in a wooden saya, with the sword inserted inside it looked like a long piece of wood with a thick woolen red string with tiny bells tied on one end, however the sword currently escaped his notice, because of the other rather dazzling sight.
Finished with her preparations, the pretty girl turned around with her hands resting on her hips and said Yes, What is it? then stopped and stared at the young man.
An very awkward silence ensued.
The last minute or two, starting from where she heard the door open, rewound and played itself through her head.
Moments where she was putting ON her clothes. Moments where HE had seen HER at her MOST vulnerable state, So a pervert... in here... Seeing what should not be seen...
The young man could see the progression of thought on her face as it slowly screwed itself into a mask of anger, her eyes in particular were interesting because for a moment the young man could have sworn that the were shining like orbs of fire. When the girl started talking in Japanese he didn't quite understand it, but caught the general tones. In short they meant something like "You saw everything. You pervert." The young man began stumbling backwards while trying to explain his actions. "No... hey, it was a mistake, I mean I... I... You don't understand a word I am saying do you?" he looked at her face and noticed the total lack of comprehension.
At this point Motoko caught sight of the bag on his shoulder and mistook it for a bag of loot. So you are a THIEF as well as a pervert. she bent down, picked up her sword and drew it with her right hand. You will find my punishment most severe indeed... Motoko sets herself into the classic Tsuki maneuver.
She put one foot slightly forward while bringing the blade up to shoulder height in a two handed grip with its tip straight at her opponent. Prepare yourself! She shouted. Then without any further warning she lunged forward straight at him.
All this while the young man was still trying his best to explain in English what actually happened. This approach failed because Motoko was to busy seething in anger, and she was too busy trying to kill what she observed to be a pervert and a robber. At the last minute he abandoned the diplomatic approach and slid awkwardly out of her charge.
When he regained his balance he dropped his bag down onto the floor and drew his own blade out and held it in a ready position, all in a smooth motion.
Very good... Not many people can escape my initial slash... Try this one... Slashing savagely upwards she cries. "HIKEN! KIRUKARAHI-RAME!" A wave of force erupts from the floor where the young man stood, the force spike smashes the wooden floor into a medium sized hole, suddenly deprived of his own floorspace, the young man drops down to the floor beneath, his luggage follows him down. He lands in a ragged heap on the floor below, under him, the floor bends and two planks give way, but that is all that happens. His bag lands next to him with a loud whump of air.
Some martial arts training allows the young man to absorb most of the fall. The landing on the floor below on the other hand, could have gone better. Up above Motoko looks down from the hole. The young man quickly gathers his strength and jumps through the window next to him with his left arm which is closed around the sword as well as trying to cover his face. His right arm is held protectively behind him because it is holding onto his travelling bag which was hastily grabbed from the floor as he jumped.
This action could later be said to have saved his life because at that moment Motoko jumps down from the hole above with her sword raised high above her in a vertical slash position and a roof shaking battle-cry.
/ Heart of Sword - Rurouni Kenshin /
As Motoko jumped down from the floor above time slows in a slow motion effect. When she is a quarter way down, the stranger jumps out through the window facing the outside. Still in slow motion, glass from the window slowly spins through the air sparkling from the sunlight at various angles. Then time reaserts itself and he tucks into a controlled dive.
Halfway down, Motoko, suddenly deprived of her target underneath her, shifted more of her attention to landing safely on the floor below. She lands gracefully on two legs, immediately however she pushes off through the window broken earlier by the young man.
The young man completes his dive, this time landing more gracefully on the front entrance area below.
He skids about one yard then barely has time to cast aside his duffel bag, spin around and bring up his katana in a horizontal parry above his head to stop Motoko from breaking open his skull.
For an eternal moment they are locked in this position. Motoko suspended in the air flowing through an aerial strike and the young man parrying with his feet firmly planted on the ground below. Then the moment breaks and Motoko falls to the ground still locked in a contest of strengths.
"Well, since you are so intent on splitting my head open, it looks like I shouldn't hold back." Mutters the young man as he looks at Motoko through their crossed swords. Motoko could not understand what he was saying but she took it to mean that he was taunting her. Motoko replied by griting her teeth and bringing her full force down onto the locked blades.
The young man smiles then suddenly sidesteps and let his blade fall from the parry. Off balance Motoko stumbles forward a few paces, immediately the iron dicipline re-asserts itself as she prepares for a strike between her shoulder blades. It does not come. Instantly Motoko snaps open her eyes and spins around.
Motoko focuses her vision on her enemy. His left hand holds an old katana in a one-handed blade down stance. His right hand is curled as if it is gripping something. The young man flexes his right hand once.
3:05 minutes left
Then suddenly it is. A bright flash and his right hand is holding a shorter sword with a slightly thicker double-edged blade but still needle pointed and dangerous. They stand and observe the other side from a few meters distance. For a brief moment the wind whirls around making their clothes flap dramatically. The young man spreads his feet his left foot is placed slightly in front of the rest of his body. Motoko gets ready as well as she brings her sword in front of her in a ready stance, her sword points straight to the heavens. A leaf blows through them carried by the moving wind.
2:45 minutes left
On some unheard cue, they charge at each other, blade meets blade with a loud ring of steel. The young mans snaps his right hand out, which was held back from immediate view, it was still holding the shorter sword. Somewhere on its journey out it started spinning round in a circle, with his fingers deftly spinning the hilt around, it becomes a blurring disc of metal. Bringing his hand out in a wide arc it looks and sounds like a buzzsaw at work.
Motoko takes a half-step backward out of swords range then flashes a controlled grin at her enemy.
For a second time both sides clash together, this time they exchange a flurry of blows so exact they seem to be moving on instinct alone, predicting exactly where they should attack and parry. A distance away it looks like they are going through a two person sword kata for an exhibition show. The young man unleashes another buzzsaw attack to the front, forcing Motoko to step back again. This time the young man fully extends out his arm, with a deft flick of his wrist he sends the spinning sword toward Motoko.
The attack was not totally unexpected. Motoko deflects the sword up into the air, then rushed through to punish the young man for using a cheap tactic like that. The young man parries aggressively then broke off to the side to reclaim his dropping sword. Standing roughly a meter away he does not even bother to take his eyes off Motoko and check on where the sord will land,
On cue the sword falls neatly, hilt first, into his waiting right hand.
The young man smiles and uses a finger to push up his glasses. His shirt is slightly soaked with sweat. Motoko could feel her gi was slightly damp as well. The whole issue of anger, peeping and being a thief have dissappeared from her mind. All that she knows now is that there is a worthy opponent in front of her. Then as the break ended Motoko and the young man lunge at each other again, flowing back into the two-person kata once more.
This time the battle goes into a more mobile stage. The ground around Hinata Inn is fully used to the maximum, every bit of ground is used as both parties trade offensive attacks. At one point the battle is continued on the side of the inn. both swordsmen seemed to defy gravity.
The young man dodges a lightning strike which would have halved him neatly across his bellybutton. Stepping back the young man starts a counter-offensive which is neatly broken by Motoko with a skillful sidestep and another punishing strike at his stomach area.
The fight carries over to the inn entrance. The young man uses the whole situation to his advantage. He locks blades with Motoko then jumps, steps off the wall and using the locked blades as a fulcrum of sorts he unleashes a full-force kick aimed directly at the girl's head.
Martial arts training takes over her body as Motoko drops her sword and back-flips away from the kick, landing about a yard or so away from the young man.
The initiative was his, for the moment, but he was at an awkward position to use it. His back was facing Motoko.
As Motoko's sword slowly clattered to the floor, she charged forward. When she was about three meters away she leaned to the right, deliberately letting herself fall to the right. When she was dangerously close to the ground her right hand shot out seeking something.
It found the ground. Doing a halfhandstand Motoko let her kinetic movement carry her legs forward in a sweeping kick. The young man simply jumped up and landed a few meters away, a twist in mid-air and he was facing the right way this time. Only the kick was never meant to connect. Using the move as cover Motoko regained her sword. In a graceful maneuver she swept through her kick and stood, used her leg to boost her sword into the air, into her waiting hand. Then moved to attack again.
Motoko opened with a double chop at the young man. He sees it coming and neatly parries them.
Then locked their blades together again. The swords resemble a weird asterisk of crisscrossed blades. Both of them push with their full strength in an effort to win the duel early. Neither of them budged an inch. Each of them silently complimented the other party for their tenaciousness.
1:32 minutes left
Once again they broke apart, jumping back a meter or three. The duel had seemingly reached a stalemate. Now both of them are grinning crazily, wrapped up in the exhilaration of the fight. Motoko murmurs to herself I still have one trick left.
Motoko brings up her katana and slashes into the air. "ZAN GAN KEN!" The ground erupts in a variation of the earlier force attack. This time the energy wave travels along the ground toward the young man with the speed of a striking serpent.
Only the young man is not where he stood anymore. He appears flickering into sight to her left with the shorter sword already buzzing down toward her. Motoko moved fast, partly reflex and partly skill. Enough to parry the buzzing sword but belatedly realises that she is open to the other blade now. Sure enough, the young man's katana is already moving of its own accord toward her. She braces herself to take the hit. Involuntarily her eyes shut for a split second as the blade is about to hit. Another eternal moment passes as Motoko realises that her eyes are closed. She curses herself for her weakness and forces her eyes open to meet her fate.
To her surprise the sword is held in front of her about an inch away from her face. Then both parties make eye contact, then abruptly the young man breaks out in an ear to ear grin.
He says, "No matter what I did or you think I did. I am not a killer." even with the language barrier between them the meaning of the words made themselves clear to Motoko. Gathering her composure back Motoko nods once letting the young man know that his message got through.
The young man grins again then backs off a few meters. He tosses his smaller sword around and catches its blade as it drops. With a quick motion he throws the sword toward the ground. Any other ordinary sword would typically bounce off the ground with its tip slightly bent, leaving the owner with a heck of a repair job later. However the sword bites a little into the concrete, point first. A testament to its sharpness.
Motoko notes the quality of the blade. When she returns her attention to the young man she sees that he has assumed a single blade stance in front of her.
Then Motoko says quietly, Lets finish it. Both parties ready themselves. Motoko assumes her former stance of a straight blade pointed towards the heaveans, but this time she raises the blade to her shoulder. The suns rays catch on the edge of her blade providing a suitably dramatic flash as she finishes getting ready.
The young man raises his sword to his shoulder as well, his sword tip is resting in the space between his right thumb and his right index finger. His whole right arm is stretched out toward Motoko. The same rays which catch on Motoko's sword fall on the young man's sword. The little ball of light runs along the edge of his sword and stops just short of the tip.
End Song
Once again the wind blows through the courtyard. A piece of tile which has been broken off in the middle of the combat and is blown by the passing wind, chooses this minute to fall. With a loud grating sound it falls. As it falls the two lunge at each other.
Motoko goes high, her sword is fully stretched into the air, pointing to whatever gods that happen to be watching this duel. The unnamed swordsman speeds toward her with a strong leap, at the hightest point of his leap he thrusts forward his sword, adding to his forward momentum.
There is a loud scrape of swords as both of them meet. Motoko brings her sword down in an all or nothing slash. The unnamed swordsman is also putting all his remaining energy into this final attack. Motoko barely avoids the sword thrust, her gi is sliced open along the torso but her own body is unharmed. The unnamed swordsman avoids her attack as well. The only casualty is a bit of his hair and a thin slice off his right shoulder. Then it is over. Their individual momentum carries them past each other. They land on the ground highly exhausted but happy at this draw. The young man says, "I am glad that this was a draw." Motoko is really to exhausted to answer
The young man stands up straight, goes to his bag and sheathes both of his swords back inside their saya and takes a deep breath. As he turns back around to make another comment, Motoko able to make out the shapes of two missles with a very familiar logo on them. She starts to shout a warning cry, the missiles hit their target, the young man, dead on, he is engulfed in a huge explosion considering the size of the missles themselves.
As the smoke cleares, amazingly the young man is still upright. heavily burned but upright. He manages to croak out "check...please..." before collapsing in a heap. before he loses conciousness the young man could hear the samurai girl shouting a word KAOLLA!
"KAOLLA! Explain yourself!" Motoko looks sternly at a little teen girl who is standing a few meters with a smoking missile launcher on her right shoulder.
Kaolla Suu a 14 year old girl with a light brown skin colour, blonde hair tied back in a little spiky tail and two little pink ovals on her cheeks, looks very surprised at this question. "Hrm? whats wrong?" She runs over to the young man and looks at his unconcious face. "Ah-ha..." she uses a hand to scratch the back of her head in a gesture of embarrasment. "I thought it was Keitaro." she explains while grinning. Motoko sighs then says "Alright... help me get him into my room."
A while later...
Motoko managed to haul him up to her room and set him down on her futon, while Kaolla brings up his travelling bag. At the sight of his bag Motoko remembers that she thought that he was a robber. 'Well lets see what he has stolen.' She says to herself. She actually doubts her assumtion but wants to make sure.
Sitting down cross-legged beside the body of the young man, she pulls the bag toward her. Kaolla jumps over and lands in a cross-legged position opposite Motoko. "I want to see too!" she exclaims energetically.
Together Motoko and Kaolla open up the bag, Motoko finds the essential items for survival in a foreign country, A towel toothpaste and toothbrush, spare clothes, socks, underwear (most definately male). Hiding her embarrasment quite well Motoko still flushes to her collarbone in a natural reaction to having goofed up big time.
Kaolla doesn't notice, in her hands is a passport, on the front page is a smiling photo of the unconcious man. Personal info like his name and address were printed lower down. There was a slight problem. The information was in english, and Kaolla was looking at the words upside down.
"Hey, Motoko!" snapping out of her embarrasment Motoko looks at Kaolla. "Y..yes?" she says. Kaolla hands over the passport, "Do you know how to read english?" she asks. Motoko takes the passport and says "A little, it is not my best subject and I have almost no time for languages because of my training."
Motoko reads the young man's name aloud "Tho... Mas... Thomass... Yo... Yooonngg... To-mas Yoong." she successfully says at last. Looking down at the unconcious man, 'Strange... he does'nt look like a To-mas...' she thinks to herself.
Kaolla is already prancing around the unconcious person chanting "To-mas! TO-mas! To-MAS! To-ma-san!" At that moment Motoko's door slides open. Motoko looks up frantically, "Mitsune! You are back!" Mitsune opens her eyes really wide to take in the highly unusual sight of a male other than Keitaro in Motoko's room.
In an instant they are back in their usual nearly closed state, "Ah-ha!" with a sly look which is usually seen on Mitsune's face, she continues in a mock scolding tone. "Motoko! Its about time! You have finally got yourself a boy-friend! Hee Hee... Do you need advice on how to keep him?" wagging an index finger at Motoko. Motoko's mouth drops open in horor as Mitsune's words slowly sink into her conciousness. Mitsune steps into the room.
"ITS NOT LIKE THAT!!!" Finally able to regain her wits Motoko makes an attempt to salvage her honor. Mitsune bends over to have a better look at To-mas, "Well, he's not bad looking. You could have done worse." Then she spots the passport. "Oh! So he's a tourist then? Ah! A long distance relationship? And he has come over to visit you." Motoko splutters and looks scandalised. Then with a supreme effort on her part, she composes herself enough to calmly say "I told you its not like that. Actually..." she then tells Mitsune the whole thing. "So why was he in Hinata-sou in the first place?" asks Mitsune at the end of the explanation. "Heaven knows. Maybe he wanted to find somebody here. In any case we have to inform everybody, maybe someone else will recognise him."
Mitsune, in a rare mood, is actually serious for a change. "Alright, I think I can hear Naru and Keitaro coming back. Wait here, I will go get everybody in here."
About 30 minutes later
"So, you see, thats what actually happened..." concludes Motoko.
Gathered in a loose circle around the futon containing the unconcious stranger are all the residents of the Hinata all girls dorm. Motoko looks around for signs of recognition but all of the residents don't seem to know the person.
"Mitsune, Kaolla and I don't know him, so it must be one of you, Naru, do you know this person?" says Motoko with a questioning look.
"No I don't." replies Naru with a shake of her head.
"Keitaro?"
"Nope, not me." Keitaro replies.
"Shinobu?"
"I am sorry, Motoko-sempai, I don't know him." Shinobu bowes her head apologetically.
"Haruka-san, surely you know..." Motoko asks.
"No, I don't know him either." Haruka looks slightly bemused at the situation. (but then Haruka usually looks bemused at any situation)
"Well if nobody knows him why is he here?" asks Mitsune with her arms crossed in frustration. Of course that was the cue for the stranger to suddenly sit up and blearily look around at the assembled faces in front of him. Did anyone get the number of the rocket that hit me? he says.
Hurriedly the assembled residents of Hinata-sou gathered in a corner of Motoko's room. Except for Haruka who is still sitting next to Thomas with a cigarette in her mouth.
"Did anyone understand what he just said?" asks Shinobu.
"He is speaking in english." says Naru in a whisper.
"How do you know?" queries Mitsune.
"I am not the number one revision tester for nothing!" replies Naru with some small measure of pride.
"That's great! we can communicate with him. Narusegawa! You are appointed as chief communicater on behalf of everyone here." says Keitaro.
"What!! Who are you to give me an order like that!" replies Naru angrily.
"As Hinata-sou dorm manager. Er and besides my english is not up to standards yet." says Keitaro.
"Thats true, an idiot like you could never get a proper message through." replies Naru in a huff.
"you don't need to say it like that." says Keitaro in a small voice.
Meanwhile Thomas had sat up feeling a multitude of aches all across his body, it felt very much like being run over by a truck. Several times. Aside from that he felt just fine. Looking around he noticed that he was in the samurai girl's room again ,the samurai armor on display in the room was a huge tipoff, the interior decorations was'nt helping much either. He also noticed the crowd of girls ,and one boy but his view was being blocked by Mitsune, in the corner of the room whispering excitedly. Looking around some more his eyes finally fall on a slender, dark haired, woman in a turtleneck sweater and jeans, A cigarrette is stuck in a corner of her mouth. She has aparrently been sitting patiently next to him. "Er, good morning," says Thomas hesitantly hoping that this woman would not go ballistic like the samurai girl.
"Actually its well past twelve o'clock now," replies the wonam after consulting a small watch on her wrist. The cigarrette in her mouth bobbing up and down in time with her words. "Its always morning somewhere in the world." says Thomas with a small smile. The woman gives a lop-sided smile in return, "So who are you and what are you doing here," she questions. "My name is Thomas Yoong and why am I here is a slightly longer story, but basically I am here to fulfill a promise." Thomas stops, then asks a question, "What's your name?"
The woman raises an eyebrow slightly, "My name is Haruka and I would like to know your reason for being in a girls-only dorm." Thomas looks a little surprised, "A girls-only dorm?? I thought that this was the Hinata Inn!" Thomas extracts the paper in his pocket and shows it to Haruka. Haruka takes the paper and gives it a look. "Well you are in the right place, but at the wrong time," says Haruka at last.
Thomas looks puzzled then figures it out, "Ah, I see. This was the Hinata Inn but later it became an all-girls dormitory." before Haruka could confirm this the huddle in the corner breaks up, notices the conversation between Haruka and Thomas. A beautiful girl about 17 years old comes over and speaks to Haruka, Haruka-san! You know how to speak english!! Haruka looks at her and replies in japanese, I picked up a thing or two during my young mis-spent teenage years. Haruka gets up from her sitting position, Well my shop is not going to take care of itself. I guess I will leave you all to get acquainted with your new friend. With a backward wave Haruka walks over to the doors and lets herself out.
There is a very awkward silence for the people in the room. As some collect their jaws from the floor.
At last, the 17 year old girl who spoke to Haruka turns to Thomas gives a brave smile and speaks in halting english, "aa.. Hello. My Name is Naru Narusegawa." Sure the inflections were slightly off but it was easy enough for Thomas to understand her. "Hi nice to meet you. My name is Thomas Yoong, err... look I am sorry about the little mess I made earlier with the samurai girl over there, it was all a huge misunderstanding, I was looking for the managers office and I accidently, well you know, then we were all over the place. OH! sorry about the window. I will help fix it later. And then rockets! would you believe it..." Thomas trails off as he realises that most of what he said went over Naru's head. The english-japanese dictionary in her hands was a big giveaway. The giant sweatdrop was another.
Eventually Naru manages to digest the message and give back a reply, "It is o-k. You... can understand or speak japanese?" Thomas considers the question then answers, "No, not really. I don't understand it that well."
Naru considers the information, "Please wait yes?" She turns back to the other girls (and one boy). Keitaro over here. Naru beckons Keitaro over to the corner,
"Yes Naru?"
"Keitaro! we have a big opportunity here!"
"What opportunity?"
"He doesn't speak a word of japanese! We could teach him in return for lessons in english."
"But we hardly know him!"
"So? Your aunt Haruka seems to trust him!"
"Alright, but where will he stay?"
"Idiot. This is after all a dorm!"
"This is a all-girls dorm!" At this Naru gives him a stare which says 'how dumb are you?'.
"Alright! Alright! I understand! But he is definitely not sleeping with me."
"Idiot. Hinata-sou has a few unused rooms." Keitaro seems to be losing more ground the longer he keeps up the argument with Naru. She can tell he is weakening.
"Think of how much better off your grades will be! Tokyo-U has very high standards in english! This could be your golden opportunity to catch up to the standard. At the very least we should let him recuperate here after the damage Suu and Motoko did to him." The last sentence makes up his mind.
"Alright. I suppose we could let him use the room above Mitsune... Ok I agree, but only if he wants to stay."
Thomas half-listens as they whisper excitedly for a minute or three. Meanwhile Thomas takes a closer look at the remaining girls who have sat down at the far edge of the futon he is lying down on. The samurai girl is sitting with her legs folded underneath her, she is drinking from a clay cup with her left hand underneath the cup supporting it, Thomas takes a wild guess as to what she is drinking.
After a moment or two her moment of tranquility is broken as a dark brown, foreign looking girl drapes herself all over the samurai girl. A few things that stood out was her yellow hair and pink ovals on her cheeks. The samurai girl seemed to be used to this treatment as she continues drinking her beverage.
A little to the right of the samurai girl and her companion are two other females, a young woman and a young pre-teen girl. They are engaged in light chatter.
The elder one had a short and simple hairstyle that did not need much maintenance; it was parted in a seemingly careless side-parting of sorts and was almost a silver and light brown color. Her eyes were very closely lidded, only occasionally would she open them all the way; another thing that struck Thomas is that no matter her expression, the young woman's eyes were always happy. She had the kind of sophisticated beauty an mature woman would have. Although the way she was talking to her companion had all the hallmarks of a sly prankster at work.
Yet Thomas' impression of her was a good one, and she was probably not going to spontaneously challenge him to a duel.
The younger one had that innocent and cute girl look that appealed to many people. She had wide open eyes that said they inevitably trusted anyone she looked up to. Her hair was probably unconciously styled to ensure a maximum cuteness score from the male population, or maybe that is just her personality at work.
At last Thomas returns his attention to the couple in the corner. Thomas notes that there is a male (himself excluded) in a girls-only dorm. The guy was a stereotype for student, short hair, a long sleeved sweater with a collared shirt inside to keep him warm at night when he crams for an exam the next day, thick square lens in his glasses, a little thin but not emaciated appearance. His face had an open honesty in them. He would probably look pretty good if he changed his glasses and got a tan.
Naru herself is quite a knockout all by herself, she was very pretty in an odd mixture of a girl growing up, but not quite ready to let go of her childhood innocence, no. Scratch that. It had a little girl-next-door kind of feel to it. She had an open quality about her that made people instinctively trust her. Her hair is very hard to describe. It sort of flows down her back and the fringe sat at angles that could do nothing but complement her face. Two antannae of hair just sat up from the middle of it all. Like I said, very hard to describe but the end result was a very attractive girl.
The student-type fellow finally gives up after making a few questioning noises that sound like objections, then apparently convinced by Naru he concedes defeat and agrees. He puts up an index finger in the universal sign that his acceptance is conditionary.
Abruptly the room goes silent, Thomas is taken aback for a moment and is rendered speechless at what he is seeing. Naru is shaking with silent anger. Thomas can only guess at what she is feeling. The student notices his error and starts to apologize. Apparently the student type fellow accidently sank his finger into Naru's upper chest when he raised his precautionary finger. Naru lets out an shout which sounds like ECCHHHIIII!!!! then lets fly a powerful right hook that sends the student fellow through the wall he was leaning against. A detached thought passes through the part Thomas' frozen brain that is still working, 'The girls that stay here seem to have an instinctive reaction to males when they perceive a pervertic act in progress'
Naru suddenly comes to and seems to realise what she has done to the student and flushes red, she absently rubs her fist as she returns to Thomas.
Thomas notes that the others are acting like it is a normal occurance to punce people into a Low Earth Orbit around here.
It is a good few minutes before Naru can even speak to him.
"Tomas-san? Would you mind... I mean, can you..." she begins hesitantly, Thomas waits patiently for her to finish, to interrupt now would be very rude and insensitive. Naru's face flushes slightly again as she tries to say the rest of the sentence, then like a water-dam that has broken open, she fairly rushes out the sentence. "Could you..stay here and teach Keitaro and, and me Engurish!" Thomas blinks. 'Teach english! Can I do that? Um... Buy time while the brain computes the question!' Thomas' brain has apparently left on a train and left the body to fend for itself. "Er. Ah, Hmm. How do they feel about this?" he points at the other residents of Hinata-sou.
Naru pauses for a second to register that there is a reply that is not negative, then smiles. It is like seeing the sun after a rainstorm. She turns around to speak to the other people living at the dorm. Do any of you mind if Tomas-san stayed here to teach me and Keitaro English?
The samurai girl shakes her head He is a good person. His skills at the sword are not bad as well, He is welcome to stay here at any time. At the very least until he is recovered. she gives a thumbs-up with a reassuring smile. Naru turns to the foreign girl. Thank you Motoko. Kaolla? she inquires. I have no problems! Is english nice to eat? already Kaolla's mouth starts to water slightly. Naru turns to the pre-teen girl, Shinobu? How about you? Shinobu holds a clenched hand to her chest, Ah. Um, Naru-sempai I don't mind at all. She smiles.
Before Naru can ask the young woman she speaks up, Haa! You don't have to ask at all Naru! Its fine by me! The young woman moves close to Naru and lays an arm across her shoulders, And besides its time Motoko got herself a boyfriend as well! Motoko flushes and says Mitsune! I told you that it was a mistake! Mitsune laughs slyly and then says Yeah I understand, she turns to Naru well he doesnt look like the bad sort.. and since everyone has given their go-ahead... sure why not! Its another male in the dorms anyway! Mitsune grins widely, Naru looks embarassed but pushes on anyway MitSUneee! One of these days... Mitsune laughs again then says You had better tell our new tenant the good news!
Naru sticks out her tongue at Mitsune before turning back to Thomas. "They have agreed." Thomas smiles widely as he makes up his mind. "If you give me lessons in japanese I will in return teach you english." Naru nods once to seal the bargain. "Then you have got yourself a tenant." Thomas smiles widely.
Mitsune loudly shouts Well lets have a welcoming party for our new friend and tenant!! Sake bottles and food seemingly appear from nowhere as an impromptu party is carried out in Motoko's room, and there was much rejoicing throughout the night.
As the party went on inside the building Thomas stands outside the inn looking up into the night sky. A little while later Naru joins him, her face is slightly red. The results of more than a little bit of sake. She is slightly tipsy but still retains her mind. More or less.
"Hello To-mas." Naru leans against the wooden door frame, her hands clasped behind her.
"Good morning." Thomas replies. He hardly feels the effects of all the alcohol in his body. A natural resistance to alcohol at work.
"Why are you outside?" Naru asks.
"I am thinking of my home. I miss it very much." Thomas returns to looking at the stars.
Naru walks close to Thomas. She also stares up into the sky.
"For now, this is home, and we are family." she says. Thomas looks at her. Then smiles a lopsided smile. He recognises an attempt to cheer him up.
"I guess I am home then." He says at last. "Come on, lets go in. Its getting chilly out here."
Naru nods. Together they enter the inn and back into the center of warmth.
And so a few months pass happily.