Chapter 4

In the event that you do not know by the fourth installment of my written exploits that Ken Akamatsu gracefully constructed the entire Love Hina universe, not me, the only thing that belongs to me is the little old man.

Red light flashes in and out of Keitaro's vision. Perhaps he was in a state of shock. Perhaps he simply did not want to be there, that maybe, it never truly happened, and like so many other books and movies he would wake up from this terrible, terrible, and unlikely situation. If only for one moment he couldn't worry anymore. It was the day after everything else in his life went to hell in a hand basket. After the paramedics left and the police decided no foul play was involved, Motoko's body was sent to Kyoto, and once the formalities had been exchanged between her sister's family and Keitaro, he was left to sit on the steps and muse his fate. Keitaro felt a nudge upon his shoulder.

"Keitaro, hey, you there?" It was Kitsune, she too, looked put out, tired of life even."There was a letter for you in Motoko's personal effects, do you want it?"

Ordinarily Keitaro liked receiving mail other than bills, but this letter, it no doubt withheld Motoko's last testament to his pervertedness, however, he did not wish to disrespect any of his tenants.

"Thank you Kitsune, I'll take it" Keitaro reached out to take the letter, once it was in his hand he continued to open it, Kitsune though, had other ideas. She wrapped her arms around the young man from behind.

Keitaro looked up at the ashen haired girl who was most likely trying to weasel her way out of another month's rent. What she said next skewed Keitaro's vision of her entirely.

"Keitaro, I know that you think that every time I do this I'm trying to manipulate you into something rash, or stupid, and usually your right." Kitsune turned Keitaro around so that he was looking right at her," But right now I stand as Mitsune Konno, journalist extraordinaire and your friend, you understand?"

Keitaro nodded his understanding, talking simply took too much effort nowadays.

"If you ever, ever need any help, you know where to find me all you have to do is ask, OK Keitaro?" Kitsune released her embrace and walked back into the dorm, but not before giving Keitaro a lecherous wink…all natural Kitsune, even in the throes of depression she could met out some serious flirtation.

'Well…that was interesting.' Keitaro looked at the letter 'I suppose I should read this though.'

Dear Keitaro,

If you are reading this then you know of what has occurred. Naru was my mentor in all things educational, however, my reasons for doing this are my own. I would like to at least share this with you. I will not lie, when I first met you I could not stand to even think about you. Naru was my ally, and then, things happened. In retrospect I suppose I fell in love. Of course my honor would never allow such a blasphemous thing, and so I punished you all the more. I am ashamed that it took the death of one of our own for me to reflect on how I treated you, and for this I apologize and I blame myself. Please do not worry about me; I do not deserve your thoughts or wishes, which is why I decided to commit seppuku in order to restore my honor. Keitaro, please take care of the others, I know Naru would want the same.

, Love Motoko

It was a simple heart wrought letter that only Motoko would write, well, except the love part. 'Motoko loved me…?' Keitaro simply couldn't wrap his head around it, it was an anomaly of epic proportions, three girls loved him, Keitaro Urashima. Pervert mastermind, and human target practice. The fact that 2 of the girls were dead put him in an extremely depressed mood. Speaking of death…"Oh shit, the old man!" Keitaro yelled aloud.

Backstreets of Hinata City: 1930

"Hmm, I guess the little sumbitch isn't gonna show after all, knew I shouldnta trusted that rotten Jap." The little old man turned into an alleyway to his home; after all, he had just been stood up.

"TACHO…HEY…TACHOOO!!!" Keitaro bounded down the street after the geezer.

Tacho looked up "Ah, I see you did make it, I've been waiting."

"Well I've been quite busy today…one of my tena…friends died yesterday…" Keitaro's face flickered with shadow for a moment.

"Oh…I see…losing friends is always hard on the young…" Tacho's face softened a little, "I have outlived all of my friends…some when I was younger, others just by old age, I am one of the last from an era quickly becoming myth."

Keitaro perked up a little at the last bit, "Exactly what era was that?"

Tacho's face regained its wizened look "Weren't you paying attention yesterday?"

"Err, not exactly…"

"Well sumbitch, see, this is what is wrong with kids these days, not just the Japs either, all of'em, nobody listens to the old stories that thrilled my kid and my grandkids and even my grandnephew, but not anyone else is interested in an old man's tales in his final years."

Keitaro could sympathize with the old man, after all, none of the girls paid any attention to him, much less listen.

"Hey look, I know how you feel, but not everybody is the same." Keitaro explained, hoping to clear up any misunderstandings, it had the exact opposite effect.

Tacho gave him a once over and let loose. "You're young and stupid, it's hardwired into every young man in this world, this age period causes you to lose your head and you won't find it until you're my age if you're lucky." He looked Keitaro straight in the eye, "Enough beating around the bush, I know all about the fire and your friends "honorable" suicide, all I've got to tell you is this, don't you ever, ever give up."

Tacho placed his hand upon Keitaro's shoulder "Trust me, I've seen more than enough broken men in my time, what happened to those girls is nobody's fault but their own…once you give up only you can help yourself…I believe you've seen the results of those without the willpower to carry on.

Keitaro looked up at Tacho, "Thanks Tacho, you're not so bad for an old guy after all." Keitaro smiled at him.

"Well, you whippersnapper, I believe you have a young lady to attend to."

Keitaro straightened up, his face gaining a confused look, "Wait, what are you talking about?"

"If I'm not mistaken a certain Miss Otohime has told me all about you, Keitaro Urashima." Tacho huffed and leaned against the wall, "If your thinking of abandoning that little girl you've got another thing comin' ya hear?"

Keitaro backed away, frightened of receiving a beating (not to mention the humility of such an event). "You're her grandfather…but…you're American!"

"I didn't say by blood you ritard." The old man grumbled at him, "I've known her since she arrived in this godforsaken city, and half that time she's been crying to me about your sorry ass."

Tacho walked up to a fear paralyzed Keitaro and poked his chest with his walking stick, "If you think you're going to take away that girls innocence and break her heart I swear to god with Jesus as my witness I will whip your ass until your six feet under, you got that?"

"Y-yes sir." Keitaro stammered out, nervous as all hell.

"Don't call me sir, I worked for a living." Tacho took a step back and breathed in deeply. "Now after saying all this I don't want you thinking I'm a hard ass 24/7, here's some advice : go out there and take her somewhere nice to eat, treat her well, she deserves more than what this damnable world has given her. Just talk to her, that's all she needs…a companion, ok?'

"Oh, uh, y-yes si-…what do I call you?"

"Just call me sergeant."

"Y-yes sergeant Tacho."

"Leave out the Tacho part, makes me sound old."

"Ok sergeant."

"Then get the hell outta here ya little punk."

"O-ok."

With those last parting words Keitaro headed back up the alleyway, with more or less a renewed view on life and its workings, while the thoughts of Naru and Motoko still weighed heavily on his mind he did not allow them to control him any longer. There was only one major problem to deal with, Shinobu.

'If I remember correctly, she hasn't been out of her room since the night after Naru…and with the situation with Motoko this may end up a pretty tough scenario.' Keitaro's thoughts on the matter brought him to the front entrance of the dorm.

It was a beautiful early summer day, one which had everyone out of the house; this made it all the harder for Keitaro, without support Shinobu might not come out for hours.

Keitaro made his way up to Shinobu's room to convince her to come out after isolating herself for such a long while, along the way Keitaro began to think. 'Damn these girls and their strangeness…you'd think now that Shinobu hasn't come out for days they would be worried, I suppose not…how could she have stayed so long in there, she's had to at least use the bathroom……Ah Christ!'

"SHINOBU!!!" Keitaro began yelling and screaming, all the while running at a dead sprint, crashing into walls and busting his glasses before making it to Shinobu's room where it took him all of three minutes to attempt to open the door until he simply threw himself through it. As soon as Keitaro pulled himself up he looked around, expecting yet another grisly scene as the others before, what he found was the complete opposite of what his brain had invented.

Shinobu's head jerked up and she nearly fell out of her chair, she had clearly just missed a heart attack, "S-sempai, what are you doing!?"

"Shinobu…you're all right." Keitaro took a gasp of air, he was really wheezing, it seems all that running from the pervert Gestapo didn't do any good, "I was so worried…*gasp* thought you decided to…*gasp* off yourself…*gasp* like Motoko…." Keitaro wheezed for more air and as soon as he could he gripped her into an airtight embrace.

She wasn't completely uncomfortable though, this was the closest she'd been to her beloved sempai since her date with him all that time ago…she was in heaven…if heaven came without oxygen that is.

"Sempai, I can't breathe."

Keitaro let go, blushing all the while, "O-oh I'm sorry Shinobu…I just thought…"

"I-its ok sempai."

Keitaro backed up a couple steps and gave her a once over, "How did you manage to get food without us knowing?

"Shinobu avoided Keitaro's gaze, "Well, it wasn't exactly an amazing feat, people don't notice much when their depressed, and no one noticed me, as usual."

"I'm sorry Shinobu…I didn't mean to ignore you, it's just that with everything going on I haven't gotten anything straight for days, I can't sleep, can't eat, it's all one big dream to me, none of anything seems real."Keitaro sat down on the floor.

"I don't mind sempai, I think everybody needs to be alone right now to sort out things, it always seems to work for me."Shinobu resumed her perch on her chair.

Keitaro stood up and walked to the door, "You know, I think you just might be right Shinobu, but I have other business to take care of, I'm glad you're ok, if you need anything just talk to me ok?"

"I will sempai…"Shinobu averted her eyes upon her diary. "Thank you…"

Keitaro exited the young girls with a small smile on his face, for once within this debilitating and exasperating few days something good happened. And while it was a small victory it made him appreciate what he did have left, the dorm, Shinobu, Kitsune, Su, Haruka…and Mutsumi.

'Mutsumi…what should I do with you?'

Authors note: HOOAH!! Hello fellow literary soldiers, I'm guessing that if you've read this far into my story you have enjoyed it. Thank you for reading this, come June 6th I will be at Oklahoma for BCT (Basic Combat Training) and I will be on hiatus until this coming fall. With that said I will try to post at least a couple chapters before I leave. I will, however, be able contact the masses in the months of August and September. If you would like to contact me please send an E-mail to . and I will try to get back to you as soon as humanly possible, and again, thank you.

Oh, and a major thanks to major mike Powell the 3rd, for his commentary and inspiration through his own stories. Thanks buddy. Z6don out.