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Interlude:

Grand Theft Autumn, Acoustic Version

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"Hiken Zaankutsen! Zan Gan Ken! Kami Nari Ken!"

Three successive strikes met three successive boulders. Though only one held the title to cleave stones into two, all three had devastating effects on the massive rocks. All three were shattered, charred, or turned completely into dust.

Motoko's countenance only revealed immense focus and concentration. She held her bokken at arm's length, her breathing even and rhythmic. At first, she had been amazed at the strength of her art. Now, she only thought of improving it, to advancing it further, to push it to the realm of perfection.

Tsuruko clapped her hands together, thoroughly impressed. Motoko had taken to her instruction like a fish to water. Not only had she fully grasped her teachings, she had absorbed them, surpassing the elder sister's expectations.

"Well done, Motoko-han. Three strikes without hesitation, and yet there is hardly pause to your breath." Tsuruko exclaimed. Tsuruko was not one to give out compliments, but her sister's focus and skill was worthy of her praise.

"Thank you, Aneue." Motoko replied, lowering the wooden sword, though her aura still permeated deadly concentration and intensity. It was as if nothing but her sword and the feeling she held mattered. It was euphoric, like a controlled runner's high.

"Indeed, it was a marked improvement from your performance a year before." Tsuruko commented from her seat on the garden stones. The back lot, as it had no official name, of the Shinmei Ryuu dojo was just littered with enormous boulders, ranging from the mossy, chair sized ones Tsuruko rested on, to the giant rocks that looked more like obelisks and menhirs than natural geological formations.

"Really? Something must have held me back then. I feel no different than I did when I first awoke in the hospital." Motoko said, joining her sister on an adjacent rock. She set her bokken to her side as Tsuruko nodded, looking as if she was debating on telling her something of importance.

"Hmm. A year ago, you did seem to have a slight obsession with the art..." Tsuruko recounted, looking to the clouds.

"Why would that be a hindrance to my skill, Aneue?" Motoko asked. She knew that fanaticism towards anything was unhealthy, but she held a normal enthusiasm, towards her art, at least in her opinion.

"No, no. Let me rephrase that. You had an obsession towards the state of our school." Tsuruko said cryptically.

"Now why would that be, Tsuruko?" Motoko said. Maybe it was the amnesia talking, but Motoko didn't see anything wrong with the school.

Tsuruko looked uneasy for a moment. She fingered the hilt of her sword, trying to find the words to explain the situation to her sister, and they were not coming to her very easily.

"You remember the conversation we had with mother, the one about you and your stance with men..." Tsuruko said, looking Motoko straight in the eye.

Motoko slowly nodded, not really seeing how this was going anywhere. She remembered her mother and sister saying something about her being uncomfortable around the opposite sex, and they seemed to rush the subject when they touched upon it, but, she didn't really see a problem in that. She was, if Keitaro was to be believed, a very attractive, strong, independent young woman. Of course she would be a little wary of boys around her age.

Right?

"... You had more than just a problem with men. You see you were a very aggressive man-hater, for lack of a better term..." Tsuruko paused, waiting for Motoko's reaction.

"I... disliked men?" Motoko said, with a disbelieving and slightly shocked expression.

"That would be putting it in the gentlest of terms." Tsuruko added with a slight chuckle.

"How 'aggressive' was I, Aneue?" Motoko queried, still not quite getting her sister's approximation.

"To the point where half of your purpose on studying our style was for the purpose of punishing said males." Tsuruko said, knowing that the only way through this would be through gut-wrenching honesty.

"But... but that is such a petty reason for practicing the art, Aneue!" Motoko protested as she slammed (Well, not slammed. Maybe just putting her hand very harshly.) on the stone she sat on, not liking the notion that she only studied what seemed to be her greatest skill out of pure spite towards men.

Tsuruko did not like the sudden turn of her sister's emotions, and gave Motoko a disapproving glare. Motoko instantly sobered up, the look of an elder sibling's displeasure spanning the gap of her memory loss.

"As I was saying, you were not particularly as predisposed towards men as you are now." Tsuruko once again paused, wanting her words to sink in this time instead of being interrupted.

Motoko slowly digested this new piece of information. Her? A sexist revenge warrior? She was starting to question her past more thoroughly now, almost as if she were learning about an evil twin sister or something along those lines.

"I know that this may be a little difficult to digest, Motoko-han, but I speak the truth. You had your reasons, as did I at one point, and I do not blame you for thinking the way you did. You have made exceptional progress since then, Keitaro being the prime example." Tsuruko said, smiling reassuringly to her sister.

Motoko nodded glumly, but perked at the mention of her husband's name.

"I must have. To feel the way I do for my Anata, and to feel it so strongly..." Motoko began, trailing off as she placed her hand on her heart.

"... If there was ever an ill thought in my mind, I know that Keitaro has quelled it with his love..." Motoko whispered, feeling at peace with that thought.

"Spare me your feelings, Motoko-han. As much as I am happy for your marriage, that does not mean I will put up with your poetry as well." Tsuruko teased with a good-natured laugh.

"Yes, I suppose that was a bit much, was it not?" Motoko smiled in reply. She did lay it on a bit thickly. A thought struck her, though, as she and her sister were discussing the past.

"Aneue..." Motoko began, with curious eyes.

"Yes, Motoko-han." Tsuruko replied, still in a good mood after sharing with her sister.

"You seem to know a lot about me and my Anata, at least more familiar than mother. Tell me, do you know how we were married?" Motoko asked in pure interest.

Tsuruko audibly gulped, no matter how out of character that may have been.

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TBC

Author's Notes:

Well, that's another interlude. I wonder what you guys have to say about this? Anyway, I still don't know whether Keitaro is going to study Shinmei Ryuu or not, but I noticed something. Ken Akamatsu seems to like to switch roles a lot in his comics, and I was just speculating that since Kanako studies the art of the halberd (pike, staff, zanbatou, etc.), then that would be the Urashima family art, correct?

Well, not taking the manga in account due to the fact that Keitaro wields a sword against Motoko in the later issues, he would probably be studying the halberd like his sister, if you guys are following my line of thought. Anyway, the halberd is the female counterpart of the katana in Japan, and has a history equal to the sword in almost all aspects, even if it isn't as popularized overseas as the samurai blade.

Anyway, it is rather funny to me if Keitaro did practice the halberd like his sister. I mean, Motoko with the outspoken, straight to the point 'manly' swordsmanship while Keitaro was a master of the halberd, more feminine in it's handling and bearing, or so I am told. Just a funny picture, if you dabble in martial arts history like me.

For purposes of the story, I chose to ignore Akamatsu's description. I haven't read that far in Negima, seeing as they are shrink wrapped and I don't have any money at the present, so I wouldn't really know the 'Akamatsu' history of Shinmei Ryuu. However, I get the feeling it isn't as flattering as I made it out to be.

The consummation thing. They are doing it a lot. In the closet, in the baths, in the garden behind the rock, on top of Komainu-san... well, maybe not... or maybe so. Anyway, I like the idea that Motoko's repressed sexuality comes to fore after she loses her prejudices. We've seen that in the second chapter, with the whole her thinking about it while Keitaro isn't. Still, it's up to you guys to think how open Motoko and Keitaro are in their relationship. If you're like me, you'd like the whole horny bunny point of view. Still, I plan on them having more exploits in the story, and they are useful little plot devices in their own right.

Well, that's about it for me.

Keep reviewing

Lexmarker