Death Wish.
A/N: I do not own Love Hina or any of its characters. Ken Akamatsu does.
"side note" Like so many other authors of fanfiction. I tend to get an idea for a story and it just won't leave me alone. I know I have other stories that need attention, but I hope that I satisfy my loyal readers with this latest in the Love Hina series of fics that I have out. this story will not be based on the Charles Bronson movies with the same name. Well, maybe in a way with the plot line, but that is where the similarities end. Obviously AU as you probably could have figured out yourselves anyway. Not sure if I should rate this T or M with the content that is in it.
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The Hinata District is considered one of the most tranquil and serene places in all of Japan. The people there are friendly to one another and tend to help their fellow neighbor out when it is needed. But on rare occasions there are crimes committed that are series enough to warrant either being jailed for a short period of time or even..that is if the crime is bad enough...to warrant a trial and if convicted, the offenders be sent off the one of Japan's many prison facilities. You may be asking yourselves.("what does this have to do with anything?") Its simple really. One of these rare crimes has been committed. The seriousness of it will have far reaching consequences.
Thus, this brings us up to now. As most stories start out, It was a dark and stormy afternoon. The rain was coming down harder than any other time in recent memory. The weather conditions fit the mood and setting perfectly. Several people were standing around just behind a large building that carried the name Hinata Inn. All were dressed in black, and more than one person could be seen dabbing at their eyes with a cloth. Sniffles and outright blatant crying was loud enough to even drown out the pounding of the rain. One young man in particular was alternating between crying and smiling. Crying because of a lost loved one and smiling at the memories that were of the good times he spent with the now deceased person.
The person being laid to rest had been apart of a family. Not a traditional family with a Mother, Father and so forth, but a family none-the-less. Her name...Mutsumi Otohime. Just her name inspired the feeling of love and joy to well up in anyone that had ever known her. Her dazzling smile could melt even the most jaded person. Her outward personality was very passive and friendly by nature, and when she spoke, it was like a thousand angels singing to you in the most pleasant of ways. One other asset that she had going for her was her physical appearance. Graced with the body of a goddess and coupled with her almost ethereal face was enough to make just about any man want her.
Unfortunately, it was her looks that were the reason for this funeral. It was a memory that Keitaro would never forget. One that had seered itself into his subconscious for all time. He was there to witness Mutsumi's final moments of her life.
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Flashback.
Keitaro and Mutsumi were walking back to her apartment after another long day of studying for the Todai entrance exams. With the exception of the occasional flight Keitaro had to take, Courtousy of Naru Airlines. He felt that they had really accomplished something. The talk was light and filled with laughter from both people. Just outside of the apartment complex that Mutsumi lived in, She stopped abruptly before turning towards the Manager of the Hinata Inn.
" Kei-Kun? Would you like to come inside? " she asked with a hopeful look in her beautiful brown eyes.
" I'm sorry..but I can't. Gotta get back before Naru or the others start to worry. Well, I better be go..." Keitaro didn't even get to finish he sentence when he felt something hit him hard on the back of his head. Quickly knocking him to the ground and momentarily stunning him. Then before he knew what was going on. He could see two men grabbing a hold of a now terrified Mutsumi. He felt a third body being pressed against his in an attempt to hold him down. He could move his head enough to look around, but that was about it. The two men that were roughly handling the poor young Okinawan from what Keitaro could tell belonged to a gang of some type or another. Which one, he was unsure of at the moment. What happened next would bring endless tears to his eyes for many years to come.
One of the thugs grabbed Mutsumi's shirt and proceeded to rip if off of her. Soon the bra came next exposing her ample bosom. Keitaro could hear the two brutes grunt their appreciation of Mutsumi's assets. One of the men looked back at Keitaro and the other man holding him down, and nodded. Soon, Keitaro felt himself being picked up rather roughly and dragged closer to the action. He again was shoved back to the ground and pounced on by the same person who had done so before.
The screams of terror emanating from Mutsumi's throat, tore through Keitaro like a hot knife through butter. His heart ached to help her, but knowing he couldn't do anything was killing him. Tears were flowing freely out of his eyes as he begged them to stop. Of course his plea's fell in deaf ears and the gang members began their...fun. The first man after tearing away her panties, quickly dropped his own pants and entered her with one savage thrust. Mutsumi howled in pain! That scream she let out would haunt Keitaro's dreams for as long as he dared live.
" Hey man! I think she was a virgin! " said the thug who was currently raping Mutsumi.
The other two simply laughed and he began to thrust into her with everything he could muster. Thankfully, his stamina quickly faded and he spent himself into her. Unfortunately this would not be the end of it. After exiting Mutsumi, his partner who was standing next to him, quickly dis-guarded his own pants and just as the one before him, savagely impaled her in a single thrust. Again the screams of pain echoed out of her mouth. Keitaro could see blood oozing from her nether regions. The testament to the torture she was going through. Keitaro fought as hard as he could to free himself from his capture, but all of his efforts were awarded with a sharp blow to his head once again and his vision swam.
The second thug finished just as quickly and put his pants back on. The two after finishing with her, looked back and asked the third if he wanted a turn. Of course he agreed! The first to rape Mutsumi walked over to Keitaro and took the place of the man who previously held him down. Again Keitaro watched helplessly as someone he cared deeply for was ravaged in ways that he had only read about and seen on movies. Never in a million years would he have thought that he would be witness to such a barbaric display. It sickened him and he felt like throwing up.
The that currently was leaning on Keitaro bent down a little further and whispered into his ear.
" I hope your enjoying the show here. There is still one final act to go." The voice sent a shiver down Keitaro's spine. It froze his blood in his veins. It was that cold sounding to him and knowing that this was not the end was even worse for him.
The third man finished and Mutsumi just laied there splayed out, broken and bleeding. Most likely ruined for the rest of her life. Another sharp blow was felt on his head and he nearly blacked out from the repeated blows to his head. He stayed conscious long enough to watch as the first man to rape her, pulled out a gun and shoot Mutsumi in her forehead, effectively ending her life. Keitaro's last thought before he finally lost himself into the tender mercies of unconsciousness was.." I'm sorry Mutsumi! " and then he knew nothing more.
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It was several days later before Keitaro would awaken from his deep sleep. He would be told that after he blacked out, apparently he was beaten to within an inch of his life, to which was so sever that it put him into a coma. When he awoke, he saw all of the girls there waiting by his bedside. Shinobu was the first to notice him awake.
" SEMPAI!!" She yelled out.
Everyone else who was either sleeping or simply not paying attention, snapped awake and rushed to be as close to Keitaro as they possibly could. The tears flowed freely and Keitaro was happy to know that they were there for him. But that happiness was overshadowed by the horrible atrocities that he had witnessed.
" How are you feeling Keitaro?" Came Naru's timid voice.
He simply looked at her for a moment. He understood that this was as hard on her as it was for him, but he still felt that the question was ill asked.
" I-I'm...ok. It's just..." He didn't need to say any more. Everyone around him understood completely.
" Tomorrow, you will be leaving him here. At least, thats what the doctors have told me. They were quite impressed with your healing rate." Haruka felt the need to try and shift the mood to something a little more light. Keitaro going home would certainly do that. And she was right.
" Thats good to know." Keitaro let out a genuine smile.
After being observed for another 24 hours by the doctors to make sure all his vitals were stable and all of his tests showed him to be ok, they finally let him go home. It was there that he learned of what had happened to him and to when Mutsumi's funeral was scheduled to take place.
" She shouldn't have died like that! I couldn't even be man enough to help her! " He walked out of the room and noone saw him until the day of Mutsumi's funeral. And thus, this brings us up to the present.
Everyone listened only half-heartedly as the preacher rambled on about how it was a tragedy for such a young life to end in such a manner. Noone needed him to them that! Especially Keitaro. Without even realizing it, the service was over and Mutsumi's coffin was being lowered into the ground. Roses were being thrown in as she was being lowered down. Cries of anguish were heard all around. Some coming from Naru, some from Kitsune. Even the stoic Haruka was openly crying. There was not a dry eye in the place. and it was not just because of the rain either.
Soon everyone was headed back to the Inn. Keitaro walked up to Mutsumi's Mother and siblings. He didn't speak for a few moments, but when he did, it was full of sorrow and anguish.
" I'm sorry Mrs Otohime! I couldn't protect her! I will never forgive myself or those...those PEOPLE, for what they did to Mutsumi, this I swear. they will pay. somehow..someway." with tears in his eyes, he quickly strode away before Mrs. Otohime could even utter a single word to the distraught man.
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1 year later.
Life had slowly but surely returned to normal in the Hinata Inn. All who resided there, did their best to go on with their lives, just like they knew Mutsumi would want them to do. Keitaro was another matter though. For after the funeral, he had literally shut himself off from the world. At night the girls could hear cries of anguish. They knew he was not getting any sleep. And neither were they. To confirm their suspicions. Everytime they had seen him during the day, which was infrequent, They saw heavy dark cirlces around his eyes. Bags had begun to form under them as well.
Everyone was affected by this. Kitsune and Motoko probably more so. As they had both harbored strong feelings for the young ronin. Naru as you might expect had also for a time, secluded herself away. She was after all not only a study partner, but also a best friend of the departed. Su, for being so young. Understood all to well that this was a hard time for everyone. This was when she wished most that the crimson moon was around. She felt that maybe her being an adult would help in some small way.
Of course you can expect Shinobu to be sad just like anyone else. But with the combination of a loved one's death and another's self-imposed solitude was almost to much for the young cook. But she kept strong and did her daily duties. In fact, because of her strength. The rest of the girls found their own strength to move on and do what needed to be done to get life back to normal.
Now on the anniversary of Mutsumi's death, Keitaro had been seen busily running in an out of the of the Hot Springs all day. When anyone tried to ask him why he was keeping them from bathing. He would simply say that the springs needed cleaning. At first this excuse was accepted, but after 6 hours of him cleaning, They knew something was up. And the girls tried their best to get him to either tell them what he was doing, or even going to Su to see if she would send one of her flying mecha-tama's over the fence to spy on what he was doing. Su shook her head, stating that Keitaro asked her to promise him not to do anything to spy on him or what he was doing.
She of course agreed. The bundle of bananas he gave her didn't hurt either.
" Hey Shinobu could I ask a favor of you?" Shinobu looked up at Keitaro when he addressed her.
" O-of course Sempai. You know you can ask me for anything!" She gave him a smile that in turn made him smile as well.
" Thanks. Now, would you please go and get the rest of the girls to the common room? I have an announcement to make." Shinobu nooded her head and took off to do as he asked.
Soon. Shinobu was back with the rest of the tenants. A couple of them for some reason, looked a little worried. It had been a long time since Keitaro had requested any of them for any kind of formal meeting. There was talk between the girls about what he might want. The chatter soon died down when Keitaro entered the room.
Clearing his throat he spoke. " Alright, I gathered you all here to thank you for being paitent with me. I know it has not been easy the last year...for any of us. We all know what day this is, and I wanted to do something that was special. To honor Mutsumi's memory." He stopped and waited to see if anyone was going to say anything. When noone said anythng, he continued.
" I have spent alot of time as you know in the hot springs. Building something that I felt would be...appropriate for the occasion. So if you will, please follow me?"
They all followed him of course. All curious as to what their manager was up to. Soon it became apparent as to what he had been doing. Everyone was in awe of the level of work and detail that Keitaro had put into building a shrine for the late Mutsumi Otohime. It was beautiful to the eye. Decorated in flowers and surrounded by candles of all shapes and sizes. It was already dark outside and the glow from the lit candles casted an pleasing light onto the picture of Mutsumi. Her picture was smiling at them all. And they all were reduced to tears when they were reminded once again that they had lost an important part of their family.
Noone noticed Keitaro quickly slip out of the room. He headed by to his room and stripped down to nothing but his boxer shorts. After making sure he locked his door, he quickly walked back to his closet and pulled out a trunk that he had smuggled in some 3 months earlier. The trunk contained several sets of black pants, black socks, black shoes and long sleeved black shirts. he even had a black ski mask to complete the look. Another interesting thing that lay in the trunk was also made of the same black coloring. but not the same material as the clothes. No this things was heavy and metallic. In fact it was the very same thing that ended his friend's life. A gun!
He picked it up and let it just sit in his hand, so he could feel the weight of it. That and the weight of the sins he was about to commit. Simply looking at the shiny object in his hands was almost enough to make him reconsider what he was about to do. Then the image of Mutsumi's fear stricken face and the screams of pain she emitted were more than enough for him to go ahead with his plans.
That night he had seen the symbols and markings that were on the thugs clothes. He had spent a fair amount of time researching the different gangs that were around the Hinata District and most of Japan. What he found shocked him. He was not aware of the gang problem that normally tranquil place that he lived in was so bad. It was frustrating when he didn't come across any of the symbols that the thugs wore when he was researching. So he came up with the bright idea of going out and doing some old fashioned foot work.
Another thing he did was to train himself in the use of the gun. Finding the time to do this was hard and often times frustrating. But somehow, he did and found he became a natural at handling the weapon. Of course this was not something he reslished in anyway. Taking of another human being's life was...unfathomable. Yet he knew that this was he had to do to pay penance for letting Mutsumi go the way he did.
He didn't dress right away. and waited for everyone to go to sleep before he even dared to go out and look for his targets. There were a few knocks on his door wondering if he was ok and if he needed anything. He as politely as he could refused or said he was ok and just needed sometime alone. After he was sure everyone was finally asleep, he quickly dressed in his all black attire and pocketed his gun. Quietly he walked out of the Inn and past Haruka's place. Soon he found himself in the middle of the district itself and he began his night long hunt for the people who murdered his friend and loved one.
Only an hour into his adventure, and he heard the tale tell signs of a woman being hurt. It sounded like they were coming from an alley way between two buildings. The street was empty of people since it was so late at night, that Keitaro knew that noone was going to come. So he quickly and quietly as possible ran to where he heard the muffled noises.
Two men in gang colors were busy taking turns raping a young woman of no more than he would guess of 20. Keitaro slide back around the corner of the building and took out the gun from his right pants pocket. His hands were shaking badly. He didn't know if he could do what he had wanted to do. and that was kill the people who had done those horrible things just a short year ago. But the sounds of another girl being beaten and raped was to much for him and he acted.
Running in, he got behind the first guy and put the gun directly into the thugs back. " Freeze! " for a moment, he felt stupid for saying that. but it quickly faded as he saw it had the desired effect.
The two gang members stopped moving. The one that Keitaro had at gun point slowly brought up his hands and started to turn around.
" Sorry, officer. but me and my buddy here were just having some fun with our girlfriend here.." the thug was saying as he turned towards Keitaro. These words only served to anger Keitaro even more. And once the man was fully turned, Keitaro squeezed the trigger once.
The resounding bang ehcoed loudly off the walls in the alley they were currently in. Keitaro was surprised that he even had the guts to do something like this. When Keitaro looked back up from the gun in his hand, he saw the look of shock and pain etched on the man's face before his body fell back with a dull thud. Blood was pouring out of the wound in his mid-section. and pooling all around him at an alarming rate. The second man scrambled to get off the of the naked and bruised girl and had his hands up as well.
" H..Hey man! Please don't kill me! " Keitaro lowered his gun for a moment and the thug thought that maybe he would live to see yet another day. But Keitaro's face became twisted in anger once again, when he heard the muffled cries from the young woman on the ground. It reminded him of the sounds that Mutsumi made when she was being tortured in the same manner as this poor girl. He raised the pistol and emptied the rest of the bullets he had in his revolver.
Another dull thud was heard and the walls and ground were stained red with fresh blood from the two dead gang members. Keitaro quickly pocketed his gun and went over to help the young lady off of the ground.
" Are you ok? " He asked her.
" NO...but I will be, thanks to you..who are you?" she asked shakily.
Keitaro debated for a moment if he should tell her his name. but decided it was best if he just kept that a secret.
" I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that. Please get yourself to a hospital and to the police!" With that said, he left, but the woman who he saved that night would someday tell her children and grand-children of the story about the strange young man who saved her life.
Just after Keitaro left the scene, the sound of sirens could be heard off in the distance. The girl got up and stood on un-steady feet. Soon the police and medic's were there. As the meidcs attended to her wounds. An officer by the name of Akira Aragorou came up and questioned the young lady.
" I know this might not be the best time, but I was hoping to get a statment from you?" He asked her politely.
The girl nooded her head in reply.
" Oh good. My name is Detective Akira Aragorou. May I have your name for the record?"
" Hitomi Segawa" She winced when the medic put a bandage on her inner thigh. The cut she recieved there was a grim reminder of what could have happend if that mysterious man didn't come and save her.
" Next, could you possibly tell me if you got a good look at the person who did this?" he gestured to the two bodies in body bags being lifted into the coronors van.
Hitomi thought about it for a moment. She did indeed get a good look at the young man, but as she figured it. He saved her life and she was not about to let this cop go about and try to arrrest him for killing those two. After all they did deserve it in her opinion.
" I'm sorry Detective. I didn't get a good look at him. It was dark and it was like..like the shadows moved to conceal his face from view." She couldn't help but smile inwardly. She knew the crap that was spewing out of her mouth so as fake as that American's Donald Trumps hair. But she would be damned if she gave any information about her savior.
" Ok then...if you happen to remember anything, you will be sure to give me a call?" as he said this, he reached into his coat and pulled out a buisness card. " It has my office and cell on it. Call me, day or night." With that, he walked away. All the while knowing that the girl was obviously lying about not seeing who had done the killings. But couldn't do anything more at this point. So he left to go and wait. He had a feeling this would not be the end of it.
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A/N: This was probably the hardest fic I have ever tried to write. Mutsumi is a good character and I would never ever wish to see her in that predicament. but as I told my beta reader who by the way refuses to read or beta this story and that is because Mutsumi is his favorite character, I wanted this fic to be taken seriously. I was at first going to use Naru as the victim, but then I got to thinking that alot of people would probably cheer and think it would be funny. So I went a different route. I apologize to anyone who would feel offended by this fic, but I stand by my decision. If you feel the need to flame, then go ahead. I will understand. but know this...I will not change this. Its something that is rarely explored. R&R
I updated this fic, because I was told it needed more dialouge and depth to it. After reading it again, I agreed. So I hope you like this more updated version of this chapter.