Disclaimer: Love Hina belongs to Ken Akamatsu, and I am not he. I wish it did belong to me (particularly Mutsumi and Shinobu), but it doesn't.
The 'Fourth Wall' is the term used to describe the 'wall' between the 'real world' and the fictional world. Since a fictional character is not supposed to know about the 'real world', any time they interact with it, the Fourth Wall is broken. For a prime example of fourth-wall breaking, see the web comic 'One over zero' at //oneoverzero.keenspace.com/ . Since Keitaro has been launched through all the other walls (and the roof) of Hinata-sou, I figure there's only one he has left to break...
Set between Christmas and Spring specials, according to the anime. Apologies in advance for misspellings, and incorrect Japanese. This is my first FanFic, so be gentle with me (or not, as the case may be).
The story so far: Keitaro has been Naru-punched clean through the fourth wall, and has struck a bargain with the Author to get some extra assistance. Keitaro is now starting to realise just what he can achieve with this, although he also realises that the author is not 100% on his side...
Words in italics are thoughts.
Chapter Four: Naru loses her poise: CLUMSY!
As Keitaro slid open the door to Naru's room, he felt more confident than ever before. He also experienced another emotion that he could not immediately identify - possibly because previously it had been the sole preserve of his gothic sister.
Now, remember our agreement, he thought as he stepped forward - catching his foot on the threshold and tumbling forwards
...only to catch himself neatly before falling over. Naru stood up in surprise, but somehow tripped over the skirt of the kotatsu and fell forward towards Keitaro. She grabbed out wildly as she fell, but only managed to catch hold of Keitaro's pants before she landed in a heap. Looking up, she found herself with her nose mere inches from the front of Keitaro's boxer shorts.
Naru blushed in horror as she realised what had somehow just happened. Keitaro, meanwhile, tried not to think of the fact that Naru has just pulled down his pants and knelt in front of him as if she were about to... he quickly grabbed for his nose. Naru's features took on a familiar expression of anger, as she prepared her fist.
"Ara, ara... should I maybe give you two some privacy?" asked Mitsumi of Naru, suddenly appearing between them. "You seem very eager..."
"Ah! No! I mean...." shouted Naru in a panic, waving her arms wildly and scooting backwards at top speed. "Ah.. lets get back to studying! Weren't you going to explain this problem to me, Mutsumi-san?"
"Mmm? Oh... " said Mitsumi in a somewhat disappointed voice, looking at Keitaro's boxer shorts "If you don't want to do anything, then maybe I..."
"Mutsumi! This problem! Study!" shrieked Naru.
"Ara... Maybe Kei-kun can help you? Come on..."
"That baka?" Naru scoffed as the other two members of the group sat down at the kotatsu, Keitaro having first repositioned his clothing. "It's because of his stupidity that we had to call him up here so that we could help him! Really..." and with that, she looked back down at her work, and tried to ignore them.
Mutsumi flashed a sunny smile at Keitaro, offered him a slice of watermelon from a nearby plate, and then returned to her study. Finally, everything was quiet again apart from the sound of scratching pens and thoughtful murmurs.
A knock at the door made them look up, to see Shinobu nervously peering around the edge of the door. She was holding a small tray with tea and snacks.
"Ah... Sempais? Would... would you like some tea? It's alright if you don't, but I thought..."
"Oh, that's very kind, Shinobu-chan!" answered Naru, in relief at being given a chance to take a break from her intensive studying. Standing up, she walked over to help Shinobu with the tray
but somehow managed to catch her foot on the edge of the board covering the hole down to Keitaro's room. Falling forward, she crashed into Shinobu and ended up in a swirly-eyed heap by the door, covered in tea and cookies. Oh yes, and the tea soaked her top and made it go transparent.
"S...Sempai! I'm sorry! I'll go and get some more immediately!" wailed Shinobu, grabbing the tray and running away down the corridor in tears as Naru clambered groggily to her feet.
What has come over me today? she wondered to herself, turning back towards the kotatsu, and wondering why Keitaro was staring at her and groping wildly for tissues to halt his nosebleed. Then she noticed her soaked and nearly transparent top in horror.
"Augh! Don't look, you pervert!" she shouted, crimson with embarassment, while diving for her spare clothing. At the same time as she raced to deal with her clothing problem, she also wondered how she could possibly have become so soaked from three small cups of tea...
"Ara, ara... maybe we should stop studying for now, and give Naru-chan a bit of privacy. What do you think, Kei-kun?" asked Mutsumi, moving towards the door with Keitaro in tow. The two left quietly, as Naru angrily changed out of her tea-soaked clothing.
From the corridor, Mutsumi's voice echoed faintly, asking Keitaro if he wouldn't rather come and study in the hot-springs with her. Back in her room, Naru's mood was still swinging wildly between Embarassment, Confusion, and her old friend, Anger.
"There is no way I could have become so soaked from a few cups of tea!" she fumed to herself, "This is a stupid piece of fan-fiction! This..." Confusion covered her face as she stopped, puzzled.
"What in the world is a 'fan-fiction'?"
Keitaro walked along the path outside of Hinata-sou, humming the tune of "I'm a dreamer". He was in a very happy mood - experiencing a meeting with Naru that had not ended in a flight through the nearest wall and into the sky was a pleasant change. Being able to see Naru suffer from Keitaro-like clumsiness was merely icing on the cake, of course.
He sighed to himself, remembering Mutsumi's invitation to a shared bath in the hot springs, albeit for the purpose of study. His self-preservation instinct had caused him to quickly decline the opportunity, out of fear of the consequences should they be discovered by any of the other residents, but at the back of his mind he could not help but be a bit regretful. After all, he was now safe from anything that they could do, right?
Suddenly, he was jolted out of his inner monologue by a happy shout from behind him.
"Mecha-tama six! Missile lock achieved! Go go go!" shouted Kaolla Suu, jumping about and laughing in anticipation of the inevitable outcome as a salvo of missiles homed in on their hapless target.
No! Send them somewhere else! he quickly thought.
The missiles swerved in mid-flight, and changed direction. They circled Hinata-sou twice, before suddenly rocketing through an open window on the top floor. There was a loud explosion, and a shriek. A few seconds later, Naru landed in front of Kaolla, swirly-eyed and scorched.
"S..Suu-chan! What was that for?" gasped a dizzy Naru.
"Naaaru! Suu's toys don't work properly any more! What's going on?" pouted the Indian-looking girl, "Mecha-tama can't hit Keitaro at all!"
Kaolla Suu truned back to Keitaro, who was creeping away from the scene in case Naru decided she needed something to blame.
"Don't worry Keitaro! Mecha-tama seven will get you!" she shouted, and hyperactively bounced away, leaving Naru behind to dust herself off and return to what was left of her room.
"Something is defintely not right here," she said to herself as she painfully crawled back into the inn, "and I think Keitaro has something to do with it..."
Mmm, that was fun, giving Naru a bit of a kicking. Shame Keitaro turned down Mutsumi's offer of a bath - how easy do I have to make it for him?
So.. is Keitaro turning to the Dark Side? Is the lure of sweet revenge on the girls enough to crack his shell? And if he does give in to the taste of power, then will he reconsider about the Demon Clothes-Moths?
And what is happening to the fourth wall?
More in the next chapter.
Kotatsu - that sort of heated table witha skirt that is Mutsumi's secret revision technique.
Sempais - is this a valid plural?
Pants - I am using the AMERICAN word since that is how Love Hina is dubbed. For
all British-English speakers, I meant TROUSERS. He was still wearing his
underwear after the incident.
