Falling For the First Time
By Andrew J. Talon
Disclaimer: I own neither Love Hina nor Ranma 1/2, and I'm not writing this for profit.
Author's Note: I've been enjoying Nan Desu Kan '10 for the last two days, so my updates are for once slow because of other stuff happening and not because I'm too tired, distracted or lazy to do them. Of course, if anyone reading this is as Nan Desu Kan, I'm going as Dr. Insano so I shouldn't be too hard to spot.
Naru's own thoughts were turning frequently to Keitaro. All the effort she'd had to put into keeping him out of trouble, out of the filthy claws of women she'd used to consider friends. Now they were all rivals. She couldn't lose, she wouldn't lose, but it would be so much easier to convince herself of this if Keitaro didn't keep ending up in compromising situations!
It wasn't as though she hadn't tried to…. To confess… To get Keitaro to focus on her, and only her. She really had! But the others… It was all their fault!
"Listen, Keitaro, we need to talk," Naru said. She took a deep breath. "The thing is, um... Ya know... If you wanted to... I mean, if we were to..."
She waved her hands vaguely, which was no help at all to Keitaro.
"Hum? Something up Narusegawa-san?"
"Narusegawa-san?" Naru asked flatly. "Why are you being so formal, Keitaro?"
"Ehehehe, no reason." Keitaro laughed feebly, feeling like a bug on a windshield. "You seemed upset the last time I called you by your first name."
"I was upset for different reasons," she said. "Please, just... Call me Naru, all right? We've known eachother long enough, haven't we?"
I'm not the one who keeps flipping back and forth. He wisely didn't say. "I suppose so, uh, Naru..."
"Look, Keitaro... We've known eachother a long time, and we've been through a lot, and well... I know it can be, um... Frustrating... This thing... But uh..."
Oh come on, say it, say it already! Part of Naru's mind shouted.
"You're not feeling sick are you? Shinobu-chan came down with a nasty cold last week." He felt her forehead, more to distract his mind from what she was trying to say. No sense getting his hopes up.
Naru blushed at his touch, and managed to resist her first inclination to hit him. "No! Why can't I talk kindly with you without you thinking I'm ill?"
"I dunno, it doesn't seem like you." He pulled his hand back, not wanting to mention all the times she treated him kindly when she couldn't see it was him. It would just make him look like he was whining about it.
"Anyway... Look... Um... You know all those dates we've gone on, and things we've done together?" Naru tried. "The times we did things together that didn't involve me punching you? Night in Osaka..."
"Yeah?" He asked, not sure what she was hinting at.
"We're, uh, you'd say we're... Close, right?" Naru tried. "I mean, friends certainly... Been through a lot... Um..." Naru rubbed her cheeks. "Look! The point is, um... You like me... I... Kind of... Sort of... Like you," Naru tried. "In a way that is not remotely romantic at all, maybe, but possibly in that way that cannot possibly be."
"...Huh?" Keitaro looked confused as Naru recursively chased her tail before him. "I don't get what you're getting at."
"Damnit Keitaro! What I'm SAYING is that-!"
"Oh Sempai, there you are!" Shinobu bodily pushed past Naru with a plate of riceballs. "I thought you might be hungry so I made you a quick snack."
"Ah, thank you Shinobu-chan." Keitaro graciously accepted the plate and looked at the shape. Funny, they almost look like someone's head. Oh well, he was hungry. Unminding of the implications, he popped the ball into his mouth and devoured it. "Mmm, sweet bean paste, very good." He smiled at the younger girl, who recieved the compliment with a shy smile.
"Oh don't worry Sempai, but don't eat too many, there's still dinner later." Shinobu skipped away, brushing past Naru again with the slightest hint of a smirk.
Naru shot a glare after Shinobu, and then glared back at Keitaro.
That girl has gotten worse and worse as time has gone on. Maybe I should start checking my food from now on…
"What, do you want one? They're really good."
"Later," Naru said flatly. "Look, Keitaro, um... I know I hit you... A lot... Because you deserve it... But just because of that doesn't mean I... Hate you," she said.
Keitaro, who was happily munching on the riceballs, only caught the last part of that.
"W-what do you mean you hate me?"
"I don't hate you!" Naru insisted. "I don't hate you! I said I DON'T hate you!"
"Oh, that's good," Keitaro said. Naru took another deep, calming breath.
"Okay, but uh, look, it's just... Kind of hard to say and all and-"
"KEITAROOO!" Su delivered a boot to Keitaro's head, in her usual playful way.
"Gebofu!" Luckily for the walls, he had finished the last rice ball he had been chewing on. Keitaro took a tumble, but protected the plate with the snacks on it. "Ow, hey Su. Want a riceball?"
"Sure!" Su said cheerfully. She popped it into her mouth and chewed it. "Mmm! Shinobu is very good cook, yes?"
"Yes, she's very good." He could at least talk to Su about food.
"Su, can't you go do that somewhere else?" Naru asked angrily.
"Do what elsewhere?" Keitaro asked.
"Su enjoys it though," Su said, bouncing up and down on Keitaro's lap happily as she chewed her food.
"Eating! I mean, we're trying to talk, it's very rude!"
"Sorry, Su, I'll come play with you here in a bit, alright?" He held out another riceball for her to take, and smiled.
"Awww! Thank you, Manager!" She held her riceball in her teeth and pressed her face close to Keitaro's. "Hmmngh smmgn?"
"Uh, sure?" Not sure what she said, but he decided to be nice and answer with an affirmative.
"Mmngh!" She pressed the riceball against his lips. From the right angle, it appeared like they were kissing. Naru's fists clenched and her cheeks turned red in anger.
He took it, gingerly so as not to make too much of a mess. He was of course, ignoring the rice already sticking to his face.
Su licked his lips playfully, collecting some of the rice. "Yum! Thank you, Keitaro! See you later!"
The blonde girl vaulted off happily, leaving a seething Naru. Keitaro wiped his lips carefully, oblivious to her rage.
"That girl, she just gets weirder everyday. But then, that's Su for you," he said.
"Yes. She does," Naru hissed. She took several deep breaths, eyes closed tightly. Just stay calm, stay calm, don't overreact, calm... "Look, Keitaro... I know I say a lot of things and call you a lot of things, and hit you a lot, but I don't despise you. We've been through a lot, and I'm very... Very happy to know you," Naru tried. "And um..."
"Really? You never seem that happy." Careless though the comment was, Keitaro wasn't complaining, merely presenting his viewpoint.
"I'm HAPPY when you're not being a perverted idiot!"
"That's hardly fair of you." He said, looking away from her. He stayed seated, liking the floor instead.
"Well maybe if you weren't like that, I wouldn't have to hit you!" Naru insisted. She took another deep breath, and counted to ten. "Look... Look, that isn't the point! The point is that we're... Close, and we've been through a lot, and I think we should-"
"Urashima!" Motoko called.
"Ah, yes Motoko-san." He stood up when the kendoist came into view, but oddly, not in fear.
"I... We are on for training tomorrow night, are we not?" Motoko asked.
Naru scowled at Keitaro. "More training? What about our studying?"
"I forgot about that. Well, we can train tonight instead if you want." He hated to cancel on her because he had made the request for this training session. He look down at the plate, there were still a few riceballs left. "Want one?"
"Certainly," Motoko said. "Thank you." She took one, and ate it. Slowly. With slightly exaggerated movements of her tongue and her lips while she looked straight at Keitaro.
Keitaro began to sweat, but not from the presence of Naru.
Naru began to develop a battle aura at this, but Motoko kept it up, her cheeks slightly red but her eyes defiant.
"Thank you, Urashima. That was very delicious. I'm afraid tonight will not work for me," she said. "Perhaps the weekend would work better?"
"Uh, sure. I don't want to put you in a bad spot."
"Not at all, Urashima," Motoko said. She nodded to him and Naru. "I will see you later, Narusegawa-sempai... Urashima," she said, giving him a warm look. Well, for her.
"Have a nice day, Motoko-san." Keitaro waved to her.
Naru punched a hole in the wall as she glared at Motoko with enough anger to make planets burst into flames. Motoko merely smiled serenely before she turned and walked away.
"Now I'll have to fix that too." He sighed, setting the plate off to the side. "Let me get the tool box, I need to fix this before I forget." He was used to Naru's anger, so he was doing his best not to make her feel ashamed for it. Directly anyways.
"Wait! Keitaro, look, I'm sorry," Naru said.
"It's fine, just doing my job around here." He called over his shoulder.
"KEITARO! Stop! Please!" Naru said, running in front of him and grabbing his shoulders. "Just wait, okay? Let me talk."
Now this, was new, and it caught him off guard.
"Eh, what?" He looked back at her, surprised a little. Naru took a few breaths, steeling her courage. She was unable to look him in the eyes, but damnit she was going to get this out!
"Look, Keitaro. The truth is that I-!"
"Hey, Keitaro!" Kitsune called, coming down the hall to talk to him about something.
"Ah, Kitsune, hello. Is there something you need?" He replied, doing his best to give her the benefit of the doubt first.
"There's a hole in the floor of my room I need fix." She wasn't going to say she bribed Motoko to put it there, but she was telling the truth about the hole.
"Ah, is that so? Sorry, Naru, I need to do some repair work. We can talk in a few minutes, right?"
Naru stared, and slowly nodded, her teeth grinding.
"Sure," she managed.
"Oh, I should come back and fix the wall too." He said, making mention of it to himself to keep it in mind. "Let me go get my toolkit."
Kitsune blithely ignored Naru's grinding teeth, just because she was trying not to grin like the cat that ate the world's fattest canary.
Naru rubbed her cheeks and took deep breaths.
Must not rage... Must not rage... Be calm, calm...
"Ah, Kitsune? Can you grab that plate for me? Shinobu-chan made them for me, and I don't want to waste any." Keitaro said, as he started down the hall.
"You got it Keitaro." She said, smiling towards his back where Naru couldn't see her. "Excuse me, I'll be taking this." She grabbed the plate up, and turned. "Don't worry too much, thanks to all of us; Keitaro has gotten good at home repair. He'll be done in a few minutes." She turned and grinned as she started after Keitaro. "Use that to grow some courage," she murmured to Naru.
Naru's response seemed to be in some demonic tongue due to her intense rage.
An exorcism later, Naru decided that subtlety wouldn't work. No, she'd have to bring out the big guns. With that in mind, she left a note for Keitaro on the hole in the wall, and waited in her room for him.
All right... No more hesitation. I don't have to say anything, I just have to kiss the stupid bastard! Naru thought to herself. And I'm in sexy lingerie too. The idiot can't get any wrong ideas about that!
She smirked to herself and leaned back against her konatsu, assuming a sexy pose. Her black satin bra, matching panties, and stockings all combined to make her look as good if not better than any model on the front of a magazine. She had worn a sheer robe as well to complete the effect.
Yes... Maybe I have to sacrifice my pride but it'll get me Keitaro... Confidence, don't fail me now. Naru nodded to herself with a smile. ... But what if he doesn't get it? What if I lose my temper? What if he's sick of me? Naru thought insecurely, curling up into a fetal position. No, no! It's me he's wanted, right? Right! He's so attached to me, we've been through so much, it'll be fine! Fine! As long as he doesn't piss me off, it will be fine, she thought, stretching herself out into a sexy position again.
... Where is he? She thought irritably. Her eyes widened. Oh God, what if he's fucking Kitsune right now? Or Motoko? Or Shinobu? Or Mutsumi?
A sharp knock came at the door, followed by, "Ara, Naru-chan? Are you feeling alright?"
"Ah! Mutsumi-chan?" Not now! "Uh, I-I'm fine! Fine! How are you?"
"I'm fine, I just saw the note you left in the wall, and thought I'd check up on you. Kei-kun suggested it while he worked on fixing the hole."
THAT IDIOT! "He, he got the note right?"
"Yeah, but he said he had to fix the wall, he'll be along in a minute or too. He seemed kinda tired though."
TIRED? "Tired? From what? Get in here!" Naru said.
Mutsumi entered the room, coming in all secretively.
"Look, how tired did he look? What kind of tired?" Naru asked quickly.
"Eh, oh, I think he may have been exasperated over the repairs he had to do. But he could have been tired from something else, I couldn't tell."
Naru held her hands over her eyes. "Okay... Okay..." Don't panic, don't panic.
"All right... That's... Okay," Naru sighed. "Look, Mutsumi, I really... I want to talk to Keitaro alone, about something important..."
"Ah, so you're finally telling him huh?" She smiled, waning like the last strands of the moon.
Naru flushed. "I... Um... Sort of..."
"You know, if you don't stop fumbling, he'll never get it." She lit up. "I know, until he gets here, you can practice with me!" Mutsumi sprung over to the bed, only to wobble and collapse short of her target.
Naru stared in disbelief, and blinked a few times before it hit her Mutsumi had fainted again.
"AH! Mutsumi-chan!" She turned her over and checked her vitals.
A knock came at the door.
"N-naru?"
"Ah! Um..." DAMNIT! "Keitaro! Uh, um..." WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO? Naru took a deep breath. Courage, courage!
"C-Come in!" Naru managed in a squeaky voice.
"I-if you say so." He opened the door and came through, eyes screwed firmly shut.
Naru sighed and held her head. "Keitaro, you don't have to close your eyes." This was not going remotely how she'd planned.
"Ah, alri-" He opened his eyes and froze in terror at Naru's state of dress.
"No no no! Calm down! Don't freak out!" Naru insisted. "Don't!"
"B-b-b-b-b-b-"
"Stop it and sit down!" Naru ordered.
He didn't move.
"Keitaro, sit down, please," Naru said in a softer tone of voice.
Keitaro flopped weirdly to the ground, still understandably terrified
"Look... I know I've said some dumb things and maybe... Made a few mistakes but that doesn't change the fact," she took a very deep breath, "that I... I...!"
"Ara, did I pass out again?"
Naru fell over, faceplanting right into the floor.
"MUTSUMI! I'm a little busy right now, can you please go?" Naru asked as politely as she could manage.
"Ah, sorry, sorry." Mutsumi got up and saw Keitaro. "Oh, you don't look so good Kei-kun."
Keitaro looked up at her and blinked for a second.
"M-Mutsumi-san?"
"Ara, I have to go now, we'll talk later."
Mutsumi got up, and tripped over apparently nothing right into Keitaro.
"Whoops, you okay?" She said, concerned for him first.
"I'm fine, are you?" Distracted, Keitaro could speak again.
He then noticed where his hands were.
"Ah, sorry! Sorry!" He jerked his hands back, slamming them painfully into the floor. "Ahhh!"
But it was too late.
"Kei... Tar... O!" Naru seethed. "YOU IDIOT!"
POW!
"Weren't you going to confess to him?" Mutsumi asked innocently, as Keitaro went through the wall.
"... FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-!"
Naru was knocked out of her flashback by the front doors opening, and a purple-haired girl in Chinese clothing bursting into the living room.
"Hot spring?" She asked eagerly in Japanese. The entire room collectively blinked. Kitsune pointed to the left.
"Shuh shuh!" The girl replied, and headed off to the hot springs.
"... Who was that?" Mutsumi asked.
"Uh... Um... Hey everyone."
"Oh, hello Keitaro!" Mutsumi said cheerfully.
"KEITARO?" Naru cried.
"KEITARO-SEMPAI!" Shinobu shouted.
"Keitaro!" Kitsune said.
"Keitaro! I-I mean, Urashima!" Motoko said.
"Manager!" A boot to the head followed, sending Keitaro down to the floor.
"Oof! Yep, I'm back home," Keitaro said.
"What happened? Where did you go? Are you all right? Who was that girl?" The questions came at him from all sides. Keitaro raised his hands.
"Okay, okay, hang on! Look, I just got back, let me-"
"Airen!"
The purple-haired girl was back, and wearing... Nothing. She happily went over to Keitaro and glomped him tightly.
"Uh... Um..."
"... Explain..." Kitsune said in the sudden tense silence.
Resigned, Keitaro sighed. "Shampoo, these are my tenants. Everyone? This is Shampoo..." He gulped. "My... Wife."
And the world explodes. Well not really, but Keitaro will probably wish it had. Until next time.
