Hi, and welcome to Chapter Four.
This chapter, prepare for - developments.
And now, on with the show!
-:-:-:-:-:-
LOVE HINA: FLIGHT OF THE HORNET – THE AFTERMATH
CHAPTER FOUR
By Doctor-T
-:-:-:-:-:-
In the secure confines of Room 204, the slim, twin-antennaed figure of a very attractive honey brunette sat despondently beside the wooden table in the center of the room, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, lost deep in somber thought. For once, Naru Narusegawa didn't have a clue as to what she should do for the best.
Before Kanako had captured her, and then had her way with her, Naru had been absolutely sure of what she wanted to do, now that she had irrefutable proof that her marriage wasn't invalid, after all. All she had to do was to wait here in the landlord's room until Keitaro had come back from the hospital, with or without Turtle-slut Mutsumi in tow. Then, on his arrival back in his room, her desired course of action had been so very clear to her.
Firstly, she would have shown Keitaro the official receipt that Seta had given her from his lodgment of their Registration of Marriage form, and informed him that they actually were, in fact, legally married. Then, if the turtle lady had been present at the time, Naru would have demanded that Mutsumi leave the room so that she could have some privacy with her once-again husband. Once that husband-stealing traitor had been evicted from their presence, she would have sat down with the no-doubt shocked Keitaro, and then tried to work things out with him so that they could be a happily married couple, once again.
And she would have done her very, very best to ensure that her new and happy life with her husband-once-more would have lasted for good, this time around.
Of course, once she was safely back with Keitaro, Mutsumi would have had to go. Completely out of their lives, and preferably out of Hinata Hot Springs, altogether. That was going to be Naru's bottom line demand to him. She could forgive everything else Keitaro had done, except for that. As for her false friend, Mutsumi, she had betrayed her solemn trust. And she certainly didn't want the turtle lady hanging around them any more, to remind her husband of his indiscretion, and to maybe even lure him away from her for a second time.
At least, that had been her plan…
But, now-?
Now that she was alone in Keitaro's room, Naru was only too aware of how warm and satisfied she had felt, wrapped up in the strong arms of the Goth girl after they had finished making love…
For the first time in her life, she had felt completely fulfilled…body and mind.
Reflecting back, Naru realized that she had never, ever felt that fulfilled with Keitaro before. But then again, she had never, ever had sex with her long-suffering boyfriend-then-husband, either.
No, I never did, did I? The melancholic young woman moodily told herself. In all the years that I've known him…not even once…
…That being the case, how do I know that Keitaro won't make me feel that way, too, if and when we finally do it?
But, now that I've had my first ever experience with Kanako…I just…don't know what to do anymore…
Ah, shoot!
Kanako…?
-:-:-:-:-:-
Meanwhile, the now much more cheery pair of Keitaro Urashima and Mutsumi Otohime were at that very moment riding on a trolley bus heading on its usual route back from town towards the bus stop outside the Hinata Tea Rooms. The smiling turtle lady had taken a seat near the exit, Keitaro, for obvious reasons, much preferred to remain on his feet. He was standing in the aisle next to her, his right hand grasping one of the safety straps that hung from the ceiling of their ancient conveyance.
As they traveled along the asphalt road towards their destination, Keitaro glanced down with a nervous look on his face, yet again, at the smiling figure of the turtle girl on the seat beside him. He had something very important and life changing on his mind that he wanted to ask her. But at the same time, he was far from sure that right now on the bus was the best time to bring it up.
"Oh, what the hell? 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained,' I guess," the young landlord then mumbled to himself, having at long last made up his mind on what best to do. "I'm pretty sure that Mutsumi will say 'yes' to me, right now, anyway, so I'll just go for it!"
"Huh? What was that, Kei-kun," Mutsumi then asked him, looking up at her lover with a puzzled look in her soft brown eyes. "Did you say something to me?"
Keitaro blushed at her words and slapped his left hand to his sweating forehead, as his right one was still occupied with holding the ceiling-mounted safety strap.
Crap! Did I just say that out loud? Oh, never mind! Just do it!
"Um, Mutsumi?"
"Yes, Kei-kun?"
"Look, I've got something really important that I want to ask you. Er, and I want to do it right now. So – um – give me a moment to get ready, and into the proper position…"
Mutsumi's eyes were huge with surprise and anticipation as Keitaro released the strap and took her right hand in both of his. Then, wincing slightly from the pain in his sore backside, Keitaro managed to go down onto one knee on the metal floor of the trolley bus.
As she realized what Keitaro's actions must mean, Mutsumi's free hand flew to her mouth in shock. "K-Kei-kun? Oh my goodness," she cried out with astonishment and delight. "Are – are you going to-?"
"Yes," Keitaro replied, looking directly up into her wide eyes with a look of love and sincerety in his own. "'Ahem!' Mutsumi Otohime, I love you, and I want you to be my wife. So, um, will - will you…like to become engaged to marry me?"
As his out-of-the-blue proposal registered in her mind, Mutsumi's face lit up with an expression of overwhelming joy at yet another of her lifelong dreams now about to be realized.
"Oh, Kei-Kun! Yes," She gasped out, both of her hands now clutching tightly together over his own. "Yes, oh, yes, I will!"
"Oh, yeah!" the ecstatic Tokyo U graduate yelled out, jumping back to his feet again in triumph, his quite understandable action drawing started looks from the few other passengers on board the trolley bus at that time. The laughing, crying Mutsumi immediately flew into his arms, and they spun each other wildly about in the center of the aisle, before collapsing back down together in a laughing heap onto the side seat, once again.
"Hnnnk!" Keitaro gritted out, flinching with pain as his sensitive right buttock impacted with the far-from-soft seat. "Oh, that smarts…! But I don't care! Not now that I have you, Mutsumi!"
Mutsumi's expression of delight immediately turned to one of loving concern. "Oh, Kei-kun! Your poor bottom!" she wailed.
"Forget that, I'll live," he assured her as they hugged tightly again, reveling in the warmth and comfort of each other's bodies. "I'm far too happy right now to waste my precious time with you being distracted by pain."
As they lay happily back on the backrest of their seat, still in each other's arms, a curious look appeared on Mutsumi's beaming face as she asked Keitaro a question.
"So, Kei-kun? What made you decide to propose to me right now on the bus? Not that I'm unhappy about you doing so, of course," she hastened to add. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I have been praying that you would ask me this, ever since I've known you!"
"Ah-heh-heh! Thanks." Keitaro scratched at the back of his head, a sheepish grin on his face. "Well, about the proposal, I was going to pop the question to you, anyway, Mutsumi, only at a more suitable time. Like after a dinner date, or something like that."
"Fu, fu, fu. That would have been nice, too, Kei-kun. So…why right now?" Mutsumi giggled.
"Well, after nearly dying from that hornet sting earlier on today, I got to thinking," he answered. "I realized that there's no time like the present. Who knows what may happen tomorrow, or the next day, or even in the next few minutes? Now, you and I are here, together on this bus, right now. I love you, and I want us to be together for the rest of our lives. So I took my opportunity to ask you to be mine while I could, just in case something else unforeseen is going to happen soon and I never get the chance to do so again."
"Oh, my? That is smart thinking, Kei-kun! And I'm so very glad that you did!"
"Me, too," Keitaro grinned back. "I was a little worried about what you'd say – me asking you on a bus, and all. Thank you for loving me enough to say 'yes'."
"I would have said 'yes' to you, even if you'd asked me in a mud puddle at the Hinata dump, Kei-kun," the turtle lady declared, lovingly resting her twin-antennaed head down onto his near shoulder. "I love you, and I always will. Always."
"I love you, too, Mutsumi. With all of my heart."
They then kissed in a rather passionate manner for a public place, drawing several more surprised, and in some cases, jealous, glances their way from their fellow travellers. Afterwards, Mutsumi leaned back onto Keitaro's shoulder again with a very contented sigh of complete bliss.
"Say, Kei-kun? Would all of our friends be back at the apartments by now, do you think?" she then asked him in a thoughtful tone.
"Um, I guess so, Mutsumi? Ema's due back from her high school any time now, I think? And no one else had any classes at all today, if I remember correctly. Why do you ask?"
"Well, now's as good a time as any to tell everyone about us getting engaged, Kei-kun," the happy turtle lady pointed out to him. "We're almost back at the Hinata Apartments now, so we could call everyone into the common room for a special meeting tonight. Right after I've finished my shift at the tea rooms, if you like?"
"Yeah, actually that's not a bad idea, Mutsumi," the twenty-seven year old landlord thoughtfully agreed as he stood up again. He then held out his right hand to help Mutsumi rise to her feet as well, in preparation for their imminent disembarkment from the old, electric powered vehicle. "But I think that having the meeting straight after dinner, not just before it, would be the best time to break the good news to them. What do you think of that idea, then?"
"All right. That sounds fine to me, Kei-kun." The smiling Mutsumi then eagerly gripped his right hand even tighter, and began to pull him towards the doorway to the trolley bus as it clanged to a halt at the bus stop outside the Hinata Tea Rooms. "Fu, fu, fu! Come on, let's go! First, we'll go and tell Mrs. Haruka and Kitsune at the Tea Rooms about the meeting, and then you can tell the others up at the apartments! But promise me that you won't say a word to them, or anyone else, about our engagement until the meeting tonight. We'll surprise them with it, okay?"
Keitaro laughed again at her request. "Sounds good to me," he agreed, as Mutsumi towed him down the steps of the bus and out onto the pavement. "Whoa, slow down! I'm coming, I'm coming!"
As he and Mutsumi ran across the pedestrian crossing, and then across the sidewalk and up the steps towards the front entrance to the Hinata Tea Rooms, Keitaro felt a stab of anxiety in his heart as he recalled a possible pair of flies-in-the-ointment to his and Mutsumi's plans for later on tonight.
I really don't know how Naru is going to take our news that I'm now engaged to Mutsumi, though. Or Kanako, for that matter! My sister did tell me she's accepted that Mutsumi and I are now together, but has she really, truly done that? Things could get real hot at our meeting, tonight, if either or both of them decide to object to our engagement!
-:-:-:-:-:-
On the subject of Naru, just then, in the landlord's room on the second floor of the Hinata Apartments…
Brriiiing! Briiiing!
The still-depressed Naru jumped involuntarily as the sudden, jarring sound of Keitaro's phone ringing, gatecrashed her melancholy thoughts, snapping her back to the here-and-now.
Oh? Who could that be, I wonder? God, I hope it's not Mutsumi! But…I guess I'd best answer it, just in case it's Keitaro calling for me. Maybe he heard from someone that I'm looking for him?
'Gulp!'
Gritting her teeth, the anxious Naru picked up the corded handset from its base, and spoke nervously into the microphone.
"Um, hello. This is the Hinata Apartments, Naru Narusegawa speaking."
"Naru, hi. This is Shinobu, down in reception. I have a phone call for you from the Hinata City Municipal Office. Are you all right to take it up there?"
"The Hinata City Municipal Office? Yeah, sure," the surprised young woman agreed, a puzzled frown appearing on her forehead. "I got it. Thanks, Shinobu. Bye."
Why would the government office be calling me now? Naru silently wondered, as Shinobu transferred the call up to her phone in Keitaro's room. This must be about our marriage form Seta lodged for us. Maybe they're calling to remind us to pick up our 'Certificate of Acceptance of Notification of Marriage', or something?
"Hello, this is Naru Narusegawa – I mean, 'Urashima', sorry - speaking... Yes, I'm she. Sorry, Keitaro Urashima isn't here at the moment. Yes, I'm free to talk to you right now…"
"Okay, wait a moment, I'll just get a pen so I can write all of this down…got it! Okay, what was the message, please-?"
"Uh-huh...uh-huh…what? What do you mean that our Registration of Marriage form is invalid? It was returned by the due date, wasn't it?"
"Oh? I – I see? Oh, shit! Whoops, sorry! I'm so sorry, that just slipped out-!"
"…Yes, yes, I see…? But can't I just go in and sign it, right now? Please? Surely you can accept that since it's already been lodged-?"
"Oh, god! So you're telling me that there's no way…?"
"We'd have to do the whole thing all over again for it to be valid? The paperwork and the whole marriage ceremony? Ohmygod! But - but that's not…?"
"But-?"
"Oh…? All right. I understand. Dammit-all! Thank you for phoning to tell us. Yes, yes, I'll be fine. Thank you. Bye…!"
Click!
Naru hung up the receiver of the phone on Keitaro's desk, then clenched her fists and brandished them in frustration high above her head.
"Oh, shit!" she cried out in disbelief, clutching at her hair. "I just can't believe that I could have been so stupid? I forgot to sign my own god-damned marriage form at our wedding!"
THUMP!
"Naru! What was that I just heard?"
Naru jumped with shock as the Goth girl landed right next to her, having dropped down through the open hole in the ceiling from her own room.
"Yikes - Kanako! You were listening in-?"
"Yeah," the Goth girl breathlessly replied from Naru's side, her eyes wide open with astonishment, and something else, as well. "The hole in the ceiling was open, so I heard every word. So…that phone call was to inform you that you and Oniichan aren't married, after all?" She seized the front of Naru's top with both hands, and demanded, "Tell me everything, Naru! Now!"
"Um, yes. You see, it's like this," Naru explained in a timid tone, her eyes flickering towards the floor. "I've just found out that Seta, being the Marriage Celebrant at our wedding, was supposed to sign our Registration of Marriage form after the ceremony, along with Keitaro and I. Well, he - ah-heh-heh – he forgot to do so at the time, as – um – did I…"
Flop!
"He what? And you forgot to do it, too? You forgot to sign your own Kon-in-Todoke wedding form?" Kanako yelled from the floor, her eyes huge with total disbelief after face-faulting at the idiocy now being admitted to her by the red-faced and fidgety young woman she was confronting. She climbed back to her feet again, and pointed an accusatory finger at Naru's mortified face. "Are you on crack?"
"No! And, well, I was going to sign the form, right after our wedding ceremony had finished," the sweating Naru explained in a defensive tone. "But, when the ceremony was over, with everyone crowding around to congratulate us, and all, I…didn't find time to do it, right then. Keitaro did remind me about it before we left in Seta's van on our honeymoon, but then he stepped on my wedding dress, and…oh, you know the rest. After that, well, I was so mad at him, I clean forgot all about doing it…!"
"And then you both lost the Kon-in-Todoke form, so it never got signed by you, at all. And now, even though it was accidentally postdated by an entire damn month by some idiot clerk at the government office when they issued it to you, it really is past that later expiry date now, too, isn't it?" the astounded Kanako finished for her, still unable to quite believe what she had heard from the older girl – or in her own incredible stroke of good luck that such an implausible thing could have indeed happened.
If Naru and Oniichan still really aren't married, after all, then that means-?
"Er, yes," the totally embarrassed Naru confessed, twiddling self-consciously with her index fingers as she stared shame-faced at the floor. "The last valid day for our Registration of Marriage form was last Saturday, on the day when Seta dropped it off for us at the municipal government office in Hinata City."
"Which means, even if you and Seta go to the municipal office right now, today, and you both sign the form, it's still too late," the Goth girl excitedly pressed her. "It won't make a bit of difference to the end result, will it…?"
"That's right," Naru unhappily admitted. "And so it's a waste of time me going to the municipal office, at all. There's no way they'll give me my 'Certificate of Acceptance of Notification of Marriage', now, is there? Whether I like it or not, my marriage to Keitaro was never, ever valid, even after what Seta did for us…"
So, I really still am 'Narusegawa', not 'Urashima', after all…
The ecstatic Kanako pumped her fist in gleeful triumph. Yesss! There is a god, after all! Oniichan is safe again! And also-?
Then the Goth girl sprang into action. Without warning, she scooped the startled Naru Narusegawa up in her arms, and in a continuation of the move, leapt directly upwards through the open hole in the ceiling, landing lightly on her feet back in her own room.
Wow! Naru thought, clinging tightly to the lithe Goth girl, a huge bead of perspiration on her forehead. That was unexpected…!
"Kanako? Wh-what's going on? Why did you just grab me and-?"
"What's going on, you ask?" Kanako smirked. "I'll tell you. Since you and Oniichan now really are through for good, that means you and I are free to go out with each other, right? Just like we previously discussed up here in my room, earlier on today."
"Well – um – y-yes, I guess so," Naru conceded, more than a little taken aback by this sudden change of topic. But then the startled look on her face changed back to one of despondency, and her gaze dropped to the floor as she thought back once more on what she had now irrevocably lost.
"I've lost him, Kanako, so I've got nothing to lose by dating you, now, have I? Because of my own stupidity, my wedding to Keitaro was nothing but a sham," she forlornly murmured. "And after what I did to poor Keitaro when we split up, there's…no way in hell he's going to take me back, now – or ever. Especially now that he's with Mutsumi. So…I've got no choice but to give up on him. I never thought that it would ever come to this, but…but it's really over between Keitaro and I…for good."
"I'm glad you've finally accepted that, Narusegawa," Kanako said, a sober look on her pale face, and more than satisfied inside at the repentant look on Naru's own one. "Now, back to us. I want to know if we're together, as a couple, as of right now?"
"'Gulp!' Um – oh-okay. Why not…?"
"Then it's settled. You are, as of this moment, now officially mine, Naru. Agreed?"
"…Yes."
"Good! That being so, we should tell the others about us at the dorm meeting Oniichan wants to have with us all, after dinner tonight. Auntie Haruka phoned me a few minutes before you got your phone call to inform me about it."
"Tell them about us? What, already?" the shocked Naru squawked, tensing with anxiety even more in Kanako's strong arms. "Um, I don't know about that? I mean, we've only just gotten together, and it's so sudden, and-mmmmmm?"
Twenty seconds later, the for-once smiling Goth girl removed her mouth from Naru's own, and stared directly into the flushed face of her brand new girlfriend.
"So, what about it?" she prompted the gasping, trembling, older girl. "There's no use wasting time and beating around the bush with this. You're either my girlfriend, or you're not. If you are, we're going to have to tell other people about us. What's it going to be?"
"I – I'm in," Naru breathlessly answered, her heart thumping with excitement and anticipation in her curvaceous chest after feeling the soft lips of the Goth girl moving against her own, in the forceful but passionate way that she had been dreaming about all afternoon. "We'll…tell them. Tonight."
As her eager lips met those of the Goth girl again, Naru's mind filled with jumbled thoughts and a profound sense of regret, mixed with a newfound hope for the future.
Oh, Kanako… I may not have Keitaro any more, but at least I've now got you. I may have screwed up one relationship, but I'm damned if I'm going to do it to my brand new one with you, as well!
I never thought that I'd ever think this about you, of all people, Kanako, but you're all that I've got left, now…
And I'm so sorry, Keitaro, for everything I've done to hurt you for so many years. And now, because of my own stupidity, our short life together as man and wife is over.
But, after all that's happened to us over the last month, I see now that…we were never meant to be, were we? I'm sure now that you were always meant to be with Mutsumi, and not me. And, as for just who I'm truly destined to be with…well, I still don't know that, yet, do I? But, hopefully, being with Kanako will help me - at long last - work that out.
Goodbye, my old love. Hello to – hopefully - my new one.
Kanako.
-:-:-:-:-:-
Author's Note:
All righty! One more chapter to go - where ALL will be revealed.
Can you feel the anticipation?
