A Friend in Need…
By: Tezza1502
Disclaimer: Ken Akamatsu owns 'Love Hina'. I own the series on DVD. This should make eminently clear the direction in which the copyright and royalties flow. Story will be removed with considerable ill grace if asked to by the holders of the aforementioned copyright. Any other copyrighted items mentioned in this story will be afforded the same treatment.
Notes: WARNING: drunken buffoonery ahead!
CHAPTER 3: Bar hopping P1:- Heading Out.
A young woman paces in her room from one corner to the other impatiently.
'Come on! I don't have all night. Times a wasting!' She fumes as she checks her watch for the umpteenth time. 'Damnit! Are they actually managing to get some studying done up there? What's the hold-up?' She glares towards the upper-right area of her wall.
FWUMP
"PERVERT!"
CRACK
"ACK! What ever I did, I'm sorry-"
CRUNCH
"…ouch"
'About damn time!' Mitsune lets out an impatient breath. 'Yup, nine o'clock on the dot. Time for Keitaro to screw up again.' Listening to the semi-regular chain of events playing out in Naru's room, she wonders why her best friend continues to study with the two-time ronin. 'Every time they try to study together, something happens and she dumps him head first down the hole into his room. Without fail!' She shakes her head at their antics. 'I guess she DOES care for him in some small way. Pity she'd rather run through the centre of Toudai butt-naked than admit it. Ah well, her loss.' Giving her outfit for the night one last glance in the mirror, she turns to face the door, waiting for the soft knock she knows will not be long in coming. '5.4.3.2.1.'
Tap-tap-tap "Kitsune? Are you in there?" A voice asks timidly.
'Bingo!' "Yeah. Come in, Kei."
The door to her room opens cautiously, just in case. Keitaro throws a quick glance around the interior, before letting his eyes rest on the sole occupant standing in the centre of the room. "I wish I could figure out why Naru's been so twitchy lately. I don't fall over as much. I'm knocking before I enter the hot springs. I…" Keitaro trails off as he notices what Mitsune is wearing.
"Wow! You look great! Going out for a night on the town?" He enquires as he gives her a quick ocular once-over. She is wearing an outfit not much different to what she usually wears around the house, but more upmarket. The long sleeved white shirt is a bit more pinched at the waist, to accentuate her natural curves. The pinstriped slacks are a bit tighter than usual, to show off her toned legs while covering them completely. Moreover, the heels bring her almost to his eye-level.
"Thanks, Kei-kun!" Mitsune gives him a brief but genuine smile. "And yes, I am." Chewing her bottom lip for a moment, she presses ahead before she can think about the consequences of what she may be setting in motion. "Um, do you want to come with me?" She offers.
"Huh? Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude on your fun, or anything." He answers, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Besides, I should really be studying, y'know. The practise exams are coming up soon, and I-" He stops as a hand is lightly placed over his mouth.
"Hush." She gives him an impatient smile. "With all the studying and repairs and stuff you've been doing lately, I figure you are allowed a night off once in a while to relax. Besides, it's a Friday night!" Seeing him hesitate, she presses on. "Come on! It'll be fun! Plus, you get to enjoy the exclusive company of one of the hottest chicks in the city for a whole night. What do you say?" She bats her eyelashes at him coyly.
Seeing him look towards Naru's room longingly for a moment almost makes Mitsune growl out loud. However, when he shakes his head slightly in resignation she knows that she has won, even before he opens his mouth to answer her a minute later.
"Yeah, sure. Why not."
"Attaboy!" She reaches out and pushes him towards the hallway. "Now, get changed into something nice. Pronto! Alcohol with our names on it is being served to other, less deserving people!" Giving him a last shove in the direction of his room, she quickly checks that she has everything she needs for a night of barhopping, and then closes her door. Sticking a note on it at eye level, she heads down to the main entrance.
Ten minutes later, she is just about to charge back up the stairs and demand to know why Keitaro is taking so long to get ready, when she hears a soft apology from the bottom step. Looking up, she is surprised to see him dressed halfway decently. The long sleeved shirt catches her attention in particular. "That's nice. How long have you had it?"
"Oh, for a while. I just haven't worn it out before." He smiles nervously at the compliment.
As he walks closer to her, Mitsune notices a subtle pattern woven into the right shoulder of the midnight blue shirt. "Hey. What's that?" She runs her fingers across the dark thread lightly, trying to work out the design.
Lifting his arm, he twists about, making it sparkle as it catches the light.
"Oh wow! It's a dragon!" She exclaims. As he continues to move, she sees that the head and upper body of the dragon is hanging onto his shoulder, while the lower body drapes across his upper back and the tail winds itself around his arm, ending just above the cuff. "That's an awesome shirt. How come you don't wear it more often?"
Looking sheepish, he explains that since most -well, all- of his dates end up with him being punched into the stratosphere, he did not want to wear an expensive shirt until he could be sure it would survive the night in one piece.
"Fair enough." She nods in understanding. Turning to grab her purse, she stops when she hears a surprised laugh from Keitaro. "What's so funny?"
"I just noticed." He chuckles and points to the back of her top. "You have little angel wings embroidered onto the back of your shirt. Very kawaii!"
"Yup. It's angelic! Just like the rest of me." She replies in an airy voice.
Keitaro smirks at that. "I can't believe you just said that with a straight face."
Mitsune pokes her tongue out at him. "Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's get going." Grabbing his arm, she leads him out into the night.
The first two bars she takes him to are small, local affairs that she regularly frequents. The bartenders knew her by name and made sure she did not have to wait long to be served, even with all the other customers around. They stayed to the corners and made small talk while Keitaro slowly relaxed as he drank and got used to spending time alone in Mitsune's company away from Hinata-Sou. A couple of hours passed in a pleasant haze when she suddenly straightened up in her seat as an idea occurred. Bouncing to her feet, she grabbed Keitaro by the arm and led him outside. "Come on!"
"What?"
"I just remembered. There's a new karaoke bar that opened a couple of streets over." She grinned over her shoulder as she led him along. "They've got all these weird competition categories and you can win bar vouchers as prizes. Come on! It'll be fun!" He bleated weakly in protest as they weaved through the late evening crowds towards their destination.
After ten minutes of almost random turns, Keitaro bumped into Mitsune's back as she stopped suddenly before a doorway. Re-adjusting his glasses, he looked up to read the neon sign above their heads.
--KARAZY KARAOKE!--
"I have a bad feeling about this", was all that passed through his lips as Mitsune looped her arm through his and dragged him inside. Stopping in the foyer, she peered at the list of prizes and catagories briefly before once again taking Keitaro in hand. Heading for the stage, Mitsune felt Keitaro pulling back suddenly.
"You don't mean to get up there straight away, do you?" He asked fearfully.
She gave him a grin. "Nope!" She let him breathe a sigh of relief before continuing. "WE are gonna get up there straight away." Her grin turned evil as he wimpered. "Oh, stop that. You've gotten up and sung before."
"Yes. But I had a lot more alcohol in me than I do now." He complained. Ignoring this, she turned and put their names down on the list, then led him away before he could attempt anything silly. Like removing them.
"Oh come on, ya big sook. Lemme buy you a courage promoter." Shoving her way to the bar, she ordered some Tequila shots with some salt and lemon wedges. "Time for a bit of the old 'lick-sip-suck'."
After handing Keitaro some tissues to stop the nosebleed when he got the wrong idea from her statement, Mitsune proceeded to show him what to do.
After going through the routine four times, they both noticed someone was calling out their names. Following the voice, they reached the stage and found that their names had reached the top of the list. Stepping up, they were given a small range of choice as to what song they could sing.
"Hey, they've got your theme song here Kei-kun." Mitsune said when she spotted 'Fly Me to the Moon' among their list of choices. She snickered and mimed an uppercut at Keitaro before picking 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and turning to the tele-prompter. Biting back a retort, Keitaro did the same.
After it was all over, the audience was left to vote on whether they deserved a prize or not. After much shouting, and not a little suggestive incentive from Mitsune, it was decided to award them both the 'Sound of Two Cats Mating' tee-shirt for the worst duet so far that night, plus a free jug of beer to ease the pain. Mitsune pouted until it was pointed out that they may have done a lot better if she had not kept pinching Keitaro on the bum every time he needed to hit a high note.
Taking their hard-sung spoils and retreating to the back of the club, Mitsune poured them both a glass of the amber liquid and watched with amusement as Keitaro made a show of easing his tender bits onto a barstool. "Would it help if I kissed it better?" She offered with a snigger at his antics.
Keitaro gave her a snarky look, as he finally got comfortable. "Funny you should put it like that, Kitsune. I was going to tell you to do something along the same lines if you tried to get me up there again."
Mitsune blinked at him for a few seconds, before bursting out laughing. "A-ha-ha! That was brilliant! Kei lets fly with an insult. Finally!"
"What do you mean, 'finally'?" He asks, scratching the back of his head in confusion.
"I mean, that's the first time I have ever heard you talk back to one of us girls." Reaching across the small table, she pats him condescendingly on the head. "Well done! You should do it more often."
Keitaro gives her a horrified look. "Are you nuts! I get put through the wall for farting too loud! If I dared talk back to any of you, I would either end up being the first ronin on the moon, or Shinobu would be cleaning my entrails off the walls for weeks."
Mitsune gets a hurt expression on her face. "Hey! I wouldn't do that."
"You wouldn't have to." He grimaces. "The pervert patrol would hear me and do it for you."
"Oh, those two aren't that bad!" Mitsune states, defending her friends automatically. Seeing the raised eyebrow he was giving her, she sighed and retracted her statement. "No, your right. They are that bad."
He nods in agreement. "Hence the tongue-biting within the confines of Hinata-Sou."
"Dunno what you're worried about. You'd survive it." She slurred. Propping her head on one hand, she looked at him with curiosity. "How do you do that, anyway?"
"What?"
"Survive all the crap Su and those two put you through." She mimes a flying motion with her other hand.
"Oh. I'm an Urashima." He says proudly, as if no further explanation was needed.
"Which means?" Mitsune asks, not sure whether she had blanked out for a moment and missed part of the conversation.
"Not telling." He answers in a smug tone.
"Why not?"
Keitaro leans in. Mitsune does likewise. "It's a secret." He stage whispers.
Mitsune gets a determined look on her face. "Tell me!"
"No."
Now she's pouting. "Tell me or else!"
"Or else what? You'll seduce it out of me?" He looks vaguely interested in this possibility.
"Nah." She smirks. "If I tried that you'd just swoon and keel over, blood spurting out of your nose like a fountain. I need you conscious to get the answers I want."
"Humph!" He sulks at this accurate reading of his probable reaction. "Then what you gonna do?"
"Keep feeding you drinks until you feel like talking."
He thinks about it. "That might work." A thought slowly surfaces. "Um, are you sure you have enough money for that? Aren't you usually broke?"
"I'm good for it! I've been busy with a side-project lately, so I haven't had the time to hit the sake like I usually do." She looks proud of herself. "So, I'm cashed up tonight!"
Keitaro nods at this statement. "Cool! Your shout, then."
Several drinks later, Mitsune tries again. Scooting around the table until she is beside him, she drapes an arm across his shoulder and leans in. "C'mon Kei-kun. I won't tell anyone." She breathes seductively into his ear.
Shivering as her breath tickles his neck, he relents. "Okay. But keep it to yourself."
"Yup!"
"I mean it! I could get into a lot of trouble for telling you this." He stresses in a serious tone.
"Why?"
"Because it's usually not spoken of, outside the Urashima family." He clears his throat nervously. "Basically, my family has its own open-handed martial arts style." She gives him a sceptical look. "It's true! It entails the channelling of Ki, much the same way that Motoko does. But instead of channelling it through objects, such as Katana's and the like, it's focused more inwards. And it's only taught to those inside the family and those who marry us. It doesn't have an official name, but it's been passed down from oldest to youngest for over a millennia. Granny Hina was in charge of training us since we could walk. Once we had a solid grounding, it was up to our parents to continue teaching us. Unfortunately, I was only really comfortable with learning the defensive aspects of our style. I'm just not an aggressive person. And when I started studying full-time to get into Toudai, over five years ago, I stopped practicing altogether." He releases a sigh that seems to deflate his entire body. "That's part of why I was kicked out of home. But since I have been living at Hinata-Sou, bits and pieces of my training have been coming back to me." He concludes wryly.
"That still doesn't explain how you can survive being knocked through the roof, or punched across town."
"That's the secret bit. If you can focus your own Ki the right way, you can heal yourself of most physical injuries very quickly. As you've probably guessed by now, I'm really good at that."
A disturbing thought occurs to her. "Doesn't it hurt, healing that fast?"
"Like you wouldn't believe!"
"But-"
"Why do I put up with it?"
"Yeah."
"I guess…some part of me thinks I deserve it. Also, if I defend myself, those two will probably take it as some kind of challenge and try harder."
Looking at him in shock, Mitsune puts her head on his shoulder and embraces him suddenly. "Don't ever say that, Kei-kun. No-one deserves what you have to put up with."
Keitaro gives her an uncertain look. "Maybe."
"Definitely!" She asserts. "So, who else knows this style? Haruka?"
"Yup! Granny Hina says she's very good at it. That's why even Motoko backs down to her. She can sense her power. Kanako is almost as adept at it, even though she started learning a bit later in life." He states with a hint of pride. "Granny Hina even invited her to train some more with her. I was kinda surprised that she wasn't at Hinata-Sou when I showed up, actually. I guess Granny took her on her trip around the world." He shrugs.
It took a moment for the unfamiliar name to sink into her alcohol-soaked brain. "Huh? What's a Kanako?"
"My little sister."
"YOUR WHAT!" She shouted at full volume. Keitaro took a moment to let the ringing in his ears subside before responding to her impatient gaze.
"Well, kinda. Mom and Dad adopted her when I was about seven. But I still consider her to be my real sister."
"You have a sister." The Kanrinin nodded. Mitsune wished that Keitaro would wait until she was sober before dropping bombshells like that into the conversation. "Why don't we know about this?!"
He gives her a sad look. "Because no-one's really interested."
Withdrawing her arm and putting both hands in her lap, Mitsune slumps down in her seat. "Why the hell do you put up with us, Keitaro?" She sniffles. "We are, hands down, the biggest pack of bitches to ever be collected under one roof! Why haven't you booted our butts out on the street yet?"
Keitaro was confused at her tone and shocked at her language. "Um, wheres this coming from, Kitsune?"
She faces him with shiny eyes. ""We girls all know about each other's lives. We talk to each other all the time. But when it comes to someone as important to us as you are, we can't be bothered finding out a damn thing about you. Your past, your dreams, your family. We've known you for over a year and we know about as much as we did when you first arrived. You treat us like goddesses and we treat you like shit!"
"But it's gotten better recently-" He started.
"There are reasons for that." Taking a deep breath, Mitsune prepares to do something she has been dreading. Unfortunately, it was necessary if she wanted to keep on the path she had chosen for herself. "Keitaro Urashima, I hereby apologise for any and all times I have acted in such a way as to cause you pain." She holds up a hand when he tries to speak, indicating that she is not finished. "For the longest time, I acted the way I did simply because…I was bored." Guilt was pouring off her in waves. "Recently I came to understand what effect this was having on you personally, and I found myself deeply ashamed of my own contribution to your pain. So I tried to correct this by helping you where I could. In doing so, I discovered something." She gives him a weak smile. "I care for you." Keitaro's eyes went wide at this admission. "I already consider you a friend, and that I like you. Those feelings have become something…stronger in the time I have spent with you recently"Anticipating his next question, she continues. "And no, I'm not just saying this because we have been drinking for a few hours straight! I care for you. I just…wanted you to know that, Keitaro. To know that someone at Hinata-Sou cares about you, and thinks you are very special. Because I think that you don't hear that enough."
Notes: Oooohh, Kitsune drops her heart on the table. How will Keitaro react to that?! Tune in next week to find out.