Phsyco Midori: I'm glad you like my story but I would ask you to please not insult me at the same time. I would NEVER degrade my writing ability by making a lameass Naru-Keitaro fanfic. That would just suck.
(o)
Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina. Tokyo Pop and Ken Akamatsu do.
Warning: Contains bad language and emotional and physical abuse. Reader desecration is advised.
ELOPE A DOPE
Chapter 3
The Sorrow
It has been 3 days since Shinobu's parents have told her about the arranged marriage they have set up. And ever since then she has fallen into a deep depression. That same night she had cried for the rest of the day and late into the night. It wasn't until the early morning that she fell asleep out of exhaustion in Keitaro's arms.
It has been a rough 3 days for Shinobu. Because of her depression she hasn't eaten much at all. She's hasn't gotten much sleep, and she hasn't even bathed. In fact the only times she has come out of her room is to use the bathroom and go to school.
But even when she is at school she doesn't act much different. She has been spacing out in class, not eating at all, and won't even talk to Akiko even when she is speaking to her.
And when ever she would come home Shinobu would just go strait to her room and not say a word to anyone. Keitaro would end up having to make the meals for everyone. Everyone has tried talking with her but she just zones out, even when Keitaro tries talking with her.
The only thing she has done is either zone out while lying on her bed or just up and start crying again for hours. Keitaro has come in a few times when she starts crying to try and comfort her but all he ends up doing is hold a trembling, zoned out Shinobu. As Motoko has put it it's like she has been thrust back 3 years to when she was her old depressed and sad self, only 2 or 3 fold.
The only other emotion Shinobu has shown is hatred. Hatred towards her parents. Hatred towards Mr. Hibachi. Hatred towards Shin Hibachi, the boy who had molested her when they last saw each other. She knew that if she marries him she would no longer have a life of her own. As far as she is concerned her life is over.
And what is worse, her parents are completely blind to it. Blind that their only child is dieing on the inside and on the outside; her will, her personality, her dreams, her essence, her heart, all have been shattered.
Their ignorance has come before their daughter to the point that they don't believe a word she says. As far as they are concerned, she to them is nothing but a commodity to be bargained with. After these bouts of hatred the tears would come again and she would start the cycle all over again.
This morning is no different…. at least that's how it starts.
BBBBBUUUUUZZZZZZZZZ goes Shinobu's alarm clock. She slowly wakes up and reaches over and turns if off. She picks it up and looks at it and it says 7:00am. She puts it down and slowly gets out of bed.
She walks out of her room and into the bathroom where she washes off her face and puts on some deodorant. She walks back to her room and passes Su along the way. Su tries to say hello but she doesn't get an answer.
Even chaotic Su can understand what Shinobu is going through right now. She herself is arranged to be married herself, but she knows it's to someone who is kind and gentle. Not to a perverted bastard as Shinobu describes him.
Shinobu enters her room and slowly changes into her school uniform, not even bothering to change her underwear. She use to get excited about getting ready for school and looking forward to talking with Akiko again. Now it only reminds her that she is 1 day closer to a horrible life that lies ahead.
When she is done she looks at herself in her mirror. Before she use to see the face of a cute young girl who was well on her way to growing up. Now all she can see is a face of dread and despair. She looks and can still see the bruise on her right cheek and her split lip from where her mother backhanded her the other day.
Both wounds seem to be healing very slowly and still hurt. Fresh reinforcers of what lies ahead in the near future. One of her teachers had noticed it and had asked what had happened. She had stayed silent for a moment before she answered saying that she had gotten distracted while cooking and a pan had fallen on her. The teacher only laughed it off saying that he had a similar incident when trying to hang a small shelf on the wall for his wife. He quickly passed it off as a fluke accident.
Shinobu gathers her school stuff and heads on over to the living room to watch a little of the news to see what the temperature is going to be for the day. After about 10 minutes it's almost 7:30am., and she begins to walk to the front door.
From the dinning room Keitaro spots her and calls out to her. "Hey Shinobu!" Shinobu slowly turns her head and glances over to him. Even in her depression she still can't help but responded to that sweet voice of his, but even that has been reduced to just a glance.
"I've fixed breakfast. You should eat something before leaving. You haven't eaten much so you should at least have something." says Keitaro. Shinobu's heart nearly breaks again. His kind and caring attitude toward her never ceases.
That's what made her fall in love with him in the 1st place. The day that she was going to move no one had noticed it but him and he had gotten together with the other residents to throw her a farewell party.
Remembering all of this and his recent act of concern nearly sends her into another crying bout, but she manages to keep it in. She walks on over to the table and picks up a piece of buttered toast and takes a small bite out of it. She then turns and begins to walks away when she stops.
"….Thank you Sempai." she manages to say just barely over a whisper. She then walks out of Hinata Sou down the steps to the bus stop just down below, all the while eating the piece of toast.
Keitaro's heart also aches. He hates seeing her like this. Although he's not in love with her he can't help but feel her pain also. Shinobu somehow has a talent for making the other people around her feel the same way she does…most of the time.
He wants to help her so badly but not knowing what to do to help her is killing him. He knows everyone else feels the same way. "We've got to do something. Shinobu won't last like this. That's it! Later Today we're going to have a group meeting to see what we can do!" he says determined.
Meanwhile Shinobu glances over and sees the bus coming, and right at that moment Su arrives. Su always seems to have an uncanny knack of getting somewhere just at the last possible moment. Su doesn't say anything as they both board the bus. The 20 minute bus ride seems to get longer everyday for Shinobu. The only thing she does is stare blankly out the window.
25 minutes later Shinobu has arrived at school and is slowly walking down the hallway, still with her blank look, to her locker to get her books. As she walks to it she notices most of the other students look at her with varied looks.
In the 3 days since the announcement, the news of her arranged marriage has spread quickly in her school, as would most news like this, and so everyone can't help but stare at her as she walks by.
Some people look at her with grins on their faces. Most of them are girls who are a bit jealous of her because in a couple of weeks she's going to be rich. Still others look at her with evil smirks and piercing glares and still most of them are girls who are extremely envious of her. Some boys are also giving her the same looks. But still, there are others who give her looks of concern. They know that learning that you're going to be married to someone you barely even know can be very upsetting.
Every look that she gets makes her feel more and more depressed. After all being the 1st girl in her grade level to be married soon is very upsetting. Finally she reaches her locker.
She opens it up and sticks her head in for a momentary reprieve from all the stares. She grabs a few of her books and turns to walk to her class. She reaches around to close her locker when it suddenly gets slammed in her face.
She glances over and sees a slightly cubby girl with 2 (Akiko style) brown ponytails giving her an evil grin. "Well. Well. If it isn't Miss Maehara the lucky little bitch who gets to marry before any of us girls do." says a voice from behind Shinobu.
Shinobu turns around to see a tall blonde girl stand behind her. The blonde girl is Rei Shina from the senior class; the snobbiest and probably the most "developed" girl in school. And the brown head is Yotuba Muyo also from the senior class and Rei's "right hand" girl. Shinobu only lowers her head.
"Tell me. What gives you the right to marry before any of us womanly developed girls do?" says Rei sarcastically. Shinobu doesn't say a thing. She stands there for a moment in silence and then tries to calmly walk by. Yotuba grabs her by her shoulder and slams her into her locker. "Hold it bitch! You haven't answered my question yet!" orders Rei.
Shinobu only stays silent. "Answer me BITCH!" yells Rei. She then slaps Shinobu's books out of her hands. Her books, notebooks and a couple of pencils scatter across the floor. Everyone by now is looking right at them. Some with arrogant smirks and still others with just curiosity on their faces. Shinobu only stays silence but is now trembling in fear a little.
"Easy there Rei, she probably doesn't know the answer to a question like that. After all as poorly underdeveloped as she is she probably doesn't know how fully developed women, such as us, feel." says Yotuba.
"You're probably right Yotuba." Rei grabs Shinobu's right breast hard. Shinobu lets out a small squeak of pain as Rei squeezes her right breast painfully. "After all with these small things I don't think she would ever be able to attract a man. EVER! I think that her parents wised up to that fact. They were pretty lucky to find a nice rich young man to take her as his wife." says Rei harshly.
Rei then uses her other hand and grabs Shinobu by her chin lifts her face up. "I will tell you 1 thing. You do have a cute face, but I doubt any man would settle for that." she adds.
"But I still fell sorry for your fiancée. After all he's not getting much. Heh. She probably won't even be able to please him either! And then he'll cheat on her with another woman just so he can get something." says Rei evilly while smiling still squeezing Shinobu's breast hard.
Shinobu wants to cry so badly right now. But she knows if she does it would only add fuel to their harassment. Rei sees this. "What this? The little slut thinks she's too good to talk to us now." says Rei harshly.
"Is that right Miss Maehara? You're too good for us now?" says Yotuba sarcastically. Shinobu still stays silent. "So you think that since you're going to be rich you can ignore us?" asks Rei. Shinobu still says nothing. Rei is now getting more irritated. "ANSWER YOU BITCH!" SLAP! Rei yells and slaps Shinobu across the face.
Rei slaps Shinobu right across her face right over the bruise her mother left her with. A hot sharp pain from the slap mixes with the dull throbbing pain of the bruise as the slap aggravates the bruise. Shinobu's eyes are now beginning to whelp up with tears as the emotional pain and physical pain are about to make her break. But still she remains silent.
"Still no answer huh? Well maybe I should slap some more scene into you, you bitch!" yells Rei as she brings her hand up once again to slap Shinobu again. Suddenly someone grabs Rei's hand from behind. "Ok beat it you 2!" says a male voice.
They turn around and see one of the taller senior boys stopping Rei's hand. "Humph. Oh look it goodie goodie Yuske coming to help. Fine we'll leave for now." says Rei. She turns to face Shinobu. "You got off easy this time slut. But this isn't over." says Rei arrogantly. "That's enough!" shouts Yuske.
Rei and Yotuba turn and walk away not giving a care in the world at what they just did. The hallway stays silent for a moment before going back to its usual pre-morning day. Shinobu stays silent a bit longer before she squats down and begins to pick up her things.
Yuske also bends down and helps pick up. When they're done they both stand up. Yuske hands over the stuff he picked up to Shinobu. "You ok? I'm sorry I couldn't stop them before." says Yuske.
Shinobu only nods her head slightly and turns to walk away. "Thank you." is all she manages to mumble before she starts walking to her 1st class. Yuske stands there for a second a bit stunned at Shinobu's lack of gratitude. But he just shrugs it off. But in reality Shinobu is glad the he helped her out of that situation.
She reaches her 1st class and just sits there staring blankly into her desk for the entire class period. She does this for all her classes for the rest of the day. Amazingly her teachers have taken note of this but understand her position right now. They have decided to let her off for a few days to clear her mind before asking her to please continue her work.
When the school day ends Shinobu walks slowly to the bus stop and gets onto the bus along with Su when it arrives.
The ride back to Hinata Sou is also filled with pain. Unlike the early morning bus ride when there are a few students on the bus, the ride back is full. Other students look at her with the same looks as in the school and some even talk behind her back. Little do they realize that she can hear a few of them.
The ride back seems even longer than the morning ride but when she and Su finally arrive back at Hinata Sou Shinobu doesn't feel any relief. Instead she still feels the same sorrow. She slowly makes her way up the long flight of steps up to Hinata Sou.
Su has already run up them and is already inside when Shinobu reaches the top. When she goes inside she hears someone call to her. "Hey Shinobu! Could you come into the den please?" calls out Keitaro. Shinobu only ignores him, probably not meaning to, and just walks right to her room and she shuts the door behind her.
Keitaro only stands there a bit surprised at Shinobu's actions. "So what is it you needed to talk to us about Keitaro?" asks Kitsune from the couch. Keitaro only sighs loudly. "It's about Shinobu. We need to figure out a way to help her." he explains.
Meanwhile Shinobu walks over to her bed and just flops down onto her pillow. She can hear everyone else in the den talking to each other, but she can't tell what they're saying.
She thinks back to what happened earlier in the morning at what Rei and Yotuba said to her. And finally she lets the tears come again and she begins to cry silently once more so the others won't hear her.
She cries a sobs silently to herself for about an hour before she hears fast paced foot steps out side her door. Suddenly her door gets flung open. She looks over and sees Keitaro standing there with a look of urgency on his face. "Shinobu. We needs to tell you something in the den." says Keitaro urgently. Shinobu only turns her head away from him.
Keitaro runs up and grabs her hand and yanks her off her bed. Shinobu finally stands up and is lead back to the den. When she finally arrives everyone just looks at her as she still has her head down. The she hears Keitaro clear his throat a bit.
"Shinobu. We have been talking about your situation for the past hour trying to find a way for you to get out of this arranged marriage." says Keitaro. Shinobu only keeps her head down. She thinks that there is no possible way for her to get out and that's what they were going to tell her; that they tried their best but couldn't find a way.
"Shinobu we tried hard to find a way for you to get out. And….. I think I have found one." says Keitaro. Everyone else in the room looks a bit shock. Shinobu instantly shoots her head up in surprise. "But I have to tell you it is a bit radical but it's the only thing I could find." says Keitaro. Shinobu nods as if to say to continue.
Keitaro then gets down on 1 knee and he takes a deep breath. "Shinobu….Will you marry me?"
End of Chapter 3
To be Continued in Chapter 4: The Counter Plan
Author: Note: Started off a bit slow but as I pushed on the story just seemed to flow. You guys are anxious to see Shin right? Well he'll come a little later. I hope I didn't go overboard with the depressed feelings. But I really wanted to show how devastated Shinobu was. If it's a bit too much please tell me.
Story Hint: Rei, Yotuba, and Yuske are all made up characters I created.