Well thanks to those that have taken the time to read and enquire about this story, I hope you enjoy and please review and comment. Thanks

DISCLAIMER: As before I do not own property rights to Love Hina or the characters, they are the sole creation of Ken Akamatsu! I only wished I did... 'sigh'

Key:

speech: " "

thought: ' italics '

As they say "On with the show folks!!"

FALL FROM GRACE

Chapter 1:

'...The heart ungiven; nor they who yield the soul.

And guard the body. Love doth give the whole.

Its range being high as heaven, as ocean deep.

Wide as the realms of air or planet's curing sweep.'

Love's Trinity

-Alfred Austin-

The rain had continue its relentless assault, by the time Keitaro Urashima drove his car up into the carpark once he arrived at the airport. The most alarming thing he saw was that the carpark was virtually empty as he turned off the engine and removed the key, but he had better things to worry about shaking his head he sighed to himself as he climbed out of the car and into the rain. Quickly he opened the back door and grabbed a large army duffle bag then slams the door, once checking that the car is locked and secure he turns and runs to the nearest shelter from the rain.

A few minutes later he's standing under an awning near the taxi ranks, and staring around trying to get his bearings, 'Okay now that l'm here where is the international entry.... Ah there it is!'. Seeing where he needs to go he heads quickly to the main entrance, reaching into his jacket he pulls out his ticket and passport. As he passes through the automatic doors he looks around and sees mainly cleaners and security going about their business, looking at his ticket and trying to find out which way is the check-in area for JAL Airlines. Seeing which direction and the obvious sign telling him which way to go, he quickly walks and approaches the airline desk; a pretty young thing looks up from her terminal and greets him with a smile 'Wow! What a looker!!' EEP!!

Even at 40 he hasn't done a less-than-perfect-outburst for years, and quickly looks around to see if any one else was within ear shot; good no one was near enough. But one person did hear him – looking down he could see the slightly flushed face of the young woman looking up at him still with a smile on her face, and Kei couldn't help and reach up with his left hand and rub the back of his head. "So sorry about that miss, I didn't mean any offense" 'what is wrong with me I haven't done that for years, and now here I am acting like a kid', Keitaro lets out a laugh as he continues rubbing his head and the young woman still blushing laughs and tells him that its okay. "Can I help you sir?" Keitaro stops and quickly hands his ticket and passport to the woman and she checks it upon her terminal, once done and finished with weighing his luggage she finally turns to him and directs him to the waiting area for his flight. Keitaro smiles and thanks her as he makes his way to where she directed him, when he arrives he sees that he isn't alone; in fact the area is crowded with people both young and old at least half look Asian and the rest a mix of European and Pacific people! But Keitaro was use to little surprises like this; at the college he taught at there were mainly Pacific and European and maybe a handful of Asian students, he didn't mind too much as this gave him more time over the years to perfect his english.

Which for some funny reason when it came to speaking his native tongue he found it difficult some times? But he thought this was because he hardly had to use it since English and Maori were the main spoken languages here in New Zealand, and he really enjoyed learning Maori which for some reason wasn't that different or hard from Japanese! And of course the women weren't a factor nor that he had an effect that most women would fall hopelessly in love with him – but being as dense as he was he never could figure that part out BAKA!! But living here he discovered a passion for the country and the places he could travel too, he learnt from what people would say "Four seasons in one day". And its meaning from being very sunny in the morning and hot to cold and frigid the next, one day he would be skiing and the next out on eight foot waves surfing like a pro (okay now he's dreaming skiing I give him that, but surfing – lets just say 'shark-bait'!!).

But all-in-all life has been sweet (kiwi slang meaning great, good, fantastic!) and even though Shirai-san was there to help him when he got here, he found that he could quickly adjust to the life style and when he found the many Japanese bars and restaurants in the city; it made life that much better. So Keitaro did not suffer from the usual pangs of loneliness and depression that occurs when starting anew in a strange place, rather he enjoy and embraced it savoring all the new experiences he could discover and the multitudes of people he met each day. He smiled as he looked for a place to rest and thought of the things he did over the years, and among the passengers waiting for the flight he saw an empty seat, seeing that no one had claimed it he quickly took it and sat down with a loud sigh coming from his lips. 'MAN!' I didn't know I was that tired he thought as he looked around sheepishly and apologized to a family that was seated next to him. An older woman who appeared to be the mother of the three kids that were running around at that moment and an older man leaning back in a chair looked to be asleep, turned around and smiled to him before that its okay before turning back and calling out to two of the boys to keep the noise down.

Keitaro just smiled and leaned back into the chair stretched out his legs and smiled as he closed his eyes for a moment, just feeling relaxed for the first time this week since he arrived home....

Flashback

One thing that could be counted on was that this school term was going to be hectic, not only Keitaro Urashima had to arrange his classes for the next ten weeks. But he also had to figure out how the roster for the kendo classes were going to go as three of the six sensei's were leaving for Japan next week, on an exchange program for the next six months! And on top of that Shirai-san still expected him to meet him on Friday night after work – another hard session of male bonding – as usual?... KAMPAI!!

But this was pretty much his life; between teaching, kendo and Shirai-san, there was not much time for any thing else. Okay that's entirely true. He did have seven weeks off during the year as apposed to one or two back in Japan, but each day was a sixteen hours hard grind for him. So today wasn't that much different his last teaching class was with thirty year 13 students (think of high school or upper secondary!), which everyone was in attendance funny his classes were always full even on a last session of the week!! And as usual he had to dodge the usual comments from his female students enquiring what "Sir" *was doing on a Friday night, ignoring the fact that he was not only their teacher but old enough to be their father!! Though he always found it amusing he could never get over the fact that no matter how old he was, on the outside he still looked and moved like he was a twenty-five years old. This was a side-effect of his families trait of being an immortal, though not being a complete immortal he could in theory die or be killed - which he wasn't wanting to explore any time soon mind you!

So driving home after a long day Keitaro wound his way among the traffic heading along at a steady pace not wanting to speed, and just enjoying the sights and sounds all around him. It was a hot sunny afternoon with a dry breeze drifting above as he smiled to himself, looking around at the bright clear beaches and the blue skies above 'sigh' he thought 'maybe a quick swim might be in order before heading home might ease some of the tension?'. But deep down he thought 'NAH!' Shirai-san will know the best remedy for that 'WOMEN, SAKE AND KARAOKE!!'. He laughed out loud when he thought of last Friday when he and Shirai-san where out on the town coming back to his place at three o'clock in the morning totally wasted leaning on each other, waking up the whole neighborhood with their sad rendition of the Eagle's song 'Take It Easy'. At least they made some fans – in the form of shoes, pot plants, cats, dogs, verbal abuse and death threats to shut the hell up!! But the funniest part was Shirai-san wife waiting for them on the door step with the look of come-now-or-I-shall-kill-you-slowly... Very slowly.

Quickly Keitaro woke up from his day dreaming 'not a good idea to do that while one is driving!' he looked around and realised that he was nearing the street to where he lived, not a bad home he thought; two bedrooms, large lounge, decent sized dinning and kitchen, ample sized bathroom and a good sizable backyard. But the one thing that surprised him and made him laugh was the previous tenant had planted four banana trees that gave he most delicious fruit all year round? Which was weird to say the least! But it was home and it gave him peace – and it was his little kingdom. So driving along he came to his driveway and slowed down before turning of the street, as he drove up he glanced to his left and saw something in the letter box as he passed 'I'll get that later'. And continued up the driveway and the automatic doors opened on the garage and he drove inside, once the car was turned off he went inside and headed into the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge after he dropped all his work on the dinning table. He went to the lounge area turned on the stereo and sat down to enjoy his beverage, suddenly his eye brows rose up when he heard a familiar but haunting song that he hadn't heard from in years. The tune he knew well but the artist he couldn't place, but when the chorus came on he couldn't help it, he became emotional started shaking and without realizing it he was crying!!

'WHAT THE FUCK!!'

'What is going on? I...I...need another beer fast!' Holy cow what came over me he thought, 'okay Kei get a grip its been along day but that doesn't mean that you're lost your marbles. C'mon big guy you had a long day but its not the end of the world, yes another beer will do the trick'. After another beer or two – make that four or five folks! Keitaro realised that he knew there was something he forgot to do when he came home, thinking for about another five minutes he remembered that there was some thing in the mail box when he arrived home. So on slow but deliberate steps he made his way down the driveway to the letter box, when he opened the back flap to retrieve what was inside feeling some thing large and bulky he pulled the contents out. He looked at his right hand at what was there and frowned, it was a parcel no bigger than a VHS case (hands up who remembers what those are!!) turning it over he saw in perfect english his name and address. But looking closely he saw not one but three stamps and a series of watermarks, 'gasp' he couldn't believe what he was seeing; it can't be he thought. Turning the parcel over he saw no return address or anything else, for the complete parcel was heavily taped and nothing else was visible.

So he turned and for the first time in ages he ran back through the front door slamming it shut he headed for the dining room, he placed the parcel on the table and went to the kitchen to find a knife to open it. Upon returning his heart was pounding in his chest and he felt that he was sweating through his entire body, he couldn't stop trembling as he drew near to the object sitting on the table. He could swear he could hear it laugh at him and then slowly started to scream his name, shaking his head to clear his thoughts he reached out with his left hand to hold it while with the right he bought the knife to bear onto the seam that would cut and release its contents for him. Very slowly he cut away the tape and opened the parcel to pour the contents onto the table, he looked as when he placed the now empty box back down that it contained a small bundle of letters all tied up with blue and white ribbons? Slowly he untied the bundle and laid them out to see them better he picked one up to look closely, they weren't much just letters with the same stamps and watermarks upon them. But for some reason most of them had various addresses written on them that had been crossed out and others written in their place, funny why would someone do that he thought?

He stood there looking at the front of each letter and they too bore the same corrections, some one or person had written an address upon each letter then crossed them out to replace them with another! But what caught his attention was that the handwriting was the same for each letter, now his curiosity was aroused there were seven letters all in different types of envelopes he wondered who or why they were sent to him like this? Slowly he turned each one over to view the backs, once done he was able to get a closer look and saw that unlike the box each one had a return address. Looking closely he not only saw them clearly but his eyes went wider and his jaw began to slowly but surely drop till he swore it hit the floor with a 'thud!'. 'No it can't be.... No fucking way they knew where he was living... How, Why, Oh KAMI IT CAN'T BE' His mind kept screaming at him, its claws he could feel on his shoulders slowly digging its talons into his flesh and bone. He could feel no pain, no blood drew forth, only his heart pounding in time with every scream that echoed from his core. He looked closer to be sure that it was what he saw but he didn't want to believe it none the less....

Miss Mutsumi Otohime

Hinata House

1 Hinata Street

Hinata City, Kanagawa Pref.

Kyoto, Japan

He could swear he could hear it laugh at him and then slowly started to scream his name, now it was joined by many others screaming his name. Screaming for blood.....

Flashback end


Phew!! That was hard work, hope this satisfies your hunger for a bit longer. As usual comments and advice would be most appreciated. My apologies for the address at the end, I'm not sure if it is correct if someone knows the proper way to write a postal address currently from Japan – please let me know

Ka kite ano

K

A/N: * Sir is used as Sempai and Sensei aren't used in NZ, they are more commonly used by those currently taking part in martial arts and such. But things are slowly changing.

K