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LOVE HINA: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
CHAPTER TEN

By Doctor-T

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It was now just after eight o'clock on Sunday night. Darkness had fallen, and the second floor hallway that Motoko was pacing fretfully back and forth along seemed to have been caught in an area of stopped time. What on earth was Urashima doing? Surely he would be coming back this way from his bath soon? But then, just as the agitated Motoko was about to give it up and run back upstairs to the comfort and security of her room, her somewhat less than masculine target finally hove into view.

At the sight of Keitaro strolling along the hallway in her direction, his towel around his neck and humming contently to himself, the now nearly petrified kendo girl found that her heart was inexplicably hammering so hard inside her chest that she felt almost physically ill.

Was this really…what love felt like, her anxious mind wondered. It feels more like…sickness…

Motoko knew that if she was going to give Keitaro her confession, it had to be right now, tonight. Despite the warrant of arrest predicted by Su having been issued that day, by some miracle the police hadn't come around to the Hinata Apartments yet to enforce it. But her luck couldn't last. Tonight was in all probability going to be her last night there as a free woman – as of tomorrow she was probably either going to be locked in a jail or her resolve to stay and face her punishment would break and she would be on the run.

I have to confess to Keitaro right now - I just have to! I can't bear to leave him without letting him know of how I feel. And I know that both Su and Shinobu have already done so – and Kitsune probably did a lot more with Urashima than just confess to him, too!

Damn my cowardice! If I had been braver, I could have got with Urashima first. Now I'm last in line, and by now he's probably already attracted to one of the others, instead of me. But – but I have to try – and hope…!

Steeling her faltering courage, the tall swordswoman raised a slightly trembling hand in greeting as he neared her.

"Hello, Urashima. Uh, can we talk? I, um, have something of great importance to discuss with you. If – if you don't mind doing it now, that is?"

"Hi, Motoko," Keitaro replied, smiling warmly at her, having been in a noticeably good mood all day because of what had happened between him and Kitsune on Friday night, and then Kaolla last night. His smile made Motoko feel even more flustered than what she already was – it seemed to burn into her, weakening her resolve even more than it was already, and turning her legs into nervous jelly. "That's good, because I'd like to have a word with you, too," he then added. "Is this a good time for us to talk, right now?"

"Ye-yes, Urashima," she stammered back to him, fighting hard against her panicky urge to turn and flee. "Could – could you come this way with me, then? We can…chat…on the roof, or…n-next to my room?"

"The roof will be fine, Motoko," her young landlord agreed. "It's more private up there. Please, after you?"

He's after me! Oh…w-wait? Ahah? Ahah-ha-ha! That's just a figure of speech Urashima's using. C-calm down…!

As the pair walked out onto the wide, spacious deck, breathing deep of the fresh, clean, twilight air, Motoko felt as if she was about to faint with nervous tension. The combination of the newly-set sun and the bright moonlight pouring down from the clear sky made it almost as bright as daylight up there. They were both alone on the deck, and the moment of her confession had finally arrived. She knew that she couldn't put it off any longer; it was now, or never!

"Hey, Motoko," Keitaro nervously began, fiddling with his glasses, and very conscious of the fact that now he was alone with her, and she was capable of taking him out in an eye-blink with her sword if he was to put even one teensy foot wrong. "Well – um - I guess that I should say my piece first. I just wanted to let you know that-"

"Urashima, stop."

"Huh? What's-?"

Motoko clenched and unclenched her hands nervously as she turned to face her startled landlord, a huge bead of sweat on her forehead from the stress she was feeling at this moment. "No, I should speak first, okay? Just listen to me, please? I have to say this to you right now, or else – I won't be able to."

"Okay, Motoko. You go first, then. But you look a little nervous, for some reason. Are you sure that you're okay?" Keitaro asked her, staring at the jumpy-looking girl in front of him with a concerned frown on his face.

"I – I'm perfectly fine. Really!"

"Okay, then. Just take your time."

"Thank you, Urashima…Keitaro." Motoko sucked in a deep breath, and forced herself to continue. "Please, I first need you to understand something, okay? I need you to realize that I'm not saying what I'm about to say to you out of some deceitful, self-serving attempt to get you to forgive me for all of my sins against you. I neither want nor expect you to forgive me for the deplorable way that I have treated you since you moved in as the manager of the Hinata Apartments. I know now that I was totally and utterly wrong about both you as a person, and as to your character."

Then Motoko began to tremble and her eyes filled with tears of contrition. "So I am now giving you my full, unreserved apology for my actions," she continued, her gaze dropping in shame from her companion's face towards the deck of the laundry platform. "I'm sorry, Keitaro. I am truly, honestly and unreservedly sorry for hurting you! Furthermore, I promise that I will never, ever knowingly do it to you again. On that, you have my word of honor."

"Wha-what? Really? Wow! Motoko, I accept your apology," Keitaro exclaimed, surprise and delighted relief on his face at her heartfelt words. And this moment was doubly special to him for a second reason, as well - this was probably the first time that Motoko had ever put emphasis on his first name! "And it is certainly big of you to do this, considering that I don't actually feel that I deserve it. But, since you have, I'm telling you right now that I am going to forgive you for not only that, but also everything else that you may feel you need to apologize to me about, as well."

Now it was Motoko's turn to be surprised. "You are?" She gasped out, her eyes flickering back up to Keitaro's face as she leaned forward in wide-eyed astonishment. "But-?!"

"Actually, this is the topic that I wanted to talk to you about," Keitaro continued in an eager tone, taking his chance to say what was on his own mind and to reassure the contrite kendo girl at the same time. "Even though you hit me and yelled at me a lot, I never did bear you any grudges for it – especially since a lot of the incidents in question were the fault of my own stupid actions, anyway. And there are no strings attached to my forgiveness of you, either, so relax! I just want to move on now, and forget that any of that ever happened. And I want you to do the same, okay?"

"Keitaro, I can't! I can't just forget what I did to you! I don't deserve your forgiveness! I don't-!"

Once again, Keitaro smiled warmly at Motoko's distraught face, his expression sending a jolt through her already pounding heart. "That's for me to decide, not you," he declared. "I say that I forgive you, and if everything that you just told me is really true, then you will accept my decision, Motoko, and believe it, okay?"

"Ah! I-? Y-yes, Keitaro. I will."

"Good. Now let's just forget about it," the ronin told her in a tone of finality. He glanced down at his watch. "Well, now that I've said my piece, I'd better g-?"

"No, please, Keitaro, don't go!" Motoko clutched at the startled student's arm with a sudden urgency. "L-let let me finish what I have to say to you. I have something more to tell you…while I still have the strength to admit my feelings to you." After receiving the surprised Keitaro's nod of permission to go ahead, Motoko took another deep breath, and then in a shaky voice, finally confessed what was in her heart to the young man of her dreams.

"Urashima, I - I am offering you my…myself…right now, for the sole and truthful reason that I…that I have discovered that I'm totally, unbelievingly…in love with you. I have been for some time, now, but it took Kitsune and her detective-class questioning for me to finally realise that fact, myself. But since I'm totally new at this love and romance business, please don't expect too much of me at first, okay?"

At the kendo girl's totally unexpected confession to him, Keitaro's eyes almost bugged out of his head. "Motoko?" he gasped in disbelief, absolutely sure that he must have heard her wrong. "Are you trying to tell me that you want me as your-?"

Motoko blushed furiously, both at her young landlord's reaction and because of her own boldness in being so forward with him.

"Yes, Keitaro. I love you," she repeated, her words now bursting out of her mouth in an uncontrollable flood. "Please… please accept my confession, and my true love for you? I…want you to be my boyfriend, I do! Keitaro, I need you! Oh, Kami-sama, I - I'm feeling…weak...for some reason. Please...hold me?"

Motoko looked like she would collapse at any second. Instinctively, Keitaro jumped forward and took the tall, shivering girl into his arms, hugging her tightly against him, his own mind in turmoil. Was this really, actually happening to him? Had he suddenly and mysteriously changed into a famous idol, or something? First the declaration of her love for him from Shinobu, then Kitsune's rather-less-innocent tryst, followed by Kaolla Su's bondage confession last night, and now, of all people – MOTOKO as well?!

Tears of joy flew from the corners of Keitaro's eyes, and it was all he could do to stop himself from dancing a jig at the unbelievably good fortune he was inexplicably having with every single girl at the Hinata Apartments that weekend.

I'm dreaming, I must be! This is all some, wild, erotic, totally spaced out dream I'm having, that's it! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Oh, man, I don't ever, ever want to wake up again back into my old mundane, boring, loveless life! Please let me stay here in this fantasy forever?

"Urashima? Why have you got that strange grin on your face?"

"Oh? Oh, I'm sorry, Motoko! I was just…just, um? Oh, never mind! Wow, this is a surprise! I…ah-?"

Despite his fluster, Keitaro managed to remember some of the things that Kitsune had taught him when he had spent that first, unforgettable night in her room. One of the things she had advised him to do was to be more confident about himself and his latent attractiveness to women. Creating attraction within a girl was the key to her heart, Kit had claimed, and once she was attracted to him, little else mattered…not height, not looks, not anything.

'Use what Ah've taught you,' Kit had urged him. 'Be a man, boy! Take the first step with a girl and then follow through. Girls like a strong, confident man, not an uncertain, apologetic weakling. If you want to, take what you've learnt from me, and use it with Motoko. Y'all really impress her, Ah think? But don't say that any of this came from me, y'hear? Let her think that it's all from you! 'Kay?'

'And you're sure that you don't mind me attempting this on her, Kitsune?' He had replied, more than a little hesitant at the very real risk of serious injury to himself if he was to blow it. 'You don't mind at all even after what we have – done?'

'No, Ah don't mind. Ah'm tryin' to make your life safer here, remember? Let her apologize to you, and then make ya move! At the very least, y'all won't be in any worse position than you already are with Motoko, since she already likes ya. But if you can pull it off? Well, just think of the very real benefits of having her as your friend – or even more. Especially if Naru eventually comes back with a grudge against you for being the reason that she was put away in the slammer. Isn't that worth a little risk, Sugah?'

'It is,' Keitaro had decided. 'I don't want to live in fear of that kendo girl or Naru anymore. So if Motoko does confess to me, I'll do as you say.'

"I don't expect you to make up your mind about me that quickly, Keitaro," Motoko told him, lowering her eyes with humiliation at his obvious hesitation in accepting her offer to him of her love. "I know that you still like Naru. She is much prettier than me in every way. But still, I had hoped-?"

Then huge tears rolled down Motoko's cheeks, the suddenness of them catching both her and Keitaro totally by surprise. "Keitaro, I love you," she cried out. "I love you so much, even though I've got no right to even think that I'm worthy of receiving your love back to me! I'm so sorry! I know that I'm too tall, and I'm not too good-looking, like Naru, or Kitsune, or Kaolla, or Shinobu are! I'm a freak, Keitaro, a freak-!"

"Motoko, no, you're not!" Keitaro shouted back in consternation, taking a step towards her anguished, weeping figure, tears of misery now streaming out from between her trembling fingers that were clutched tightly over her face. "You're just as good looking as anyone here – Naru included! You must believe that!"

"But I'm too tall, Keitaro," Motoko sobbed, her heart breaking in her sorrow. "I'm a full four centimetres taller than you are! Girls as tall as me can't be sexy. I'm too lanky, too self-conscious; I'm totally unschooled in how to love a man-!"

Quickly Keitaro stepped forward, cupping his hand under her chin and turning her tearful face towards him, cutting off her anguished words of self-blame. "Motoko," he stated gently. "None of what you are saying is true. None of it. I can't believe that you actually think that you aren't beautiful? Motoko, you are-!" He took a deep breath. "You are one of the most beautiful, elegant, attractive girls that I've ever met. So stop torturing your mind with thoughts that aren't true. Your impression of yourself is a lie!"

Motoko's eyes erupted in tears again, this time of surging happiness warring with disbelief. "Oh, Keitaro…Keitaro, do you actually mean that? I've always believed that I – I was-? No! You're lying to me! I'm not feminine, I'm not beautiful-!"

"Motoko, you are! Don't you remember the way that all of the people on the street looked at you when we got you to wear that mini-skirt with your hair tied up a few months ago? You were beautiful to them, then, and you're beautiful to me, right now! So, stop lying to yourself! Right now!"

Motoko jumped, her tears cutting off in her shock. Never before had Keitaro dared to speak this way to her. But now, he looked to be - different. His appearance, the way that he stood up straight and looked directly at her with determination in his eyes…there seemed to be a new strength about him. And then her heart began to pound wildly in her chest as she realized that he really did think she was beautiful - the truth of it was right there, reflected in his caring eyes!

"That's better. Now just calm yourself and relax. And believe me."

As she stared at Keitaro Urashima, his eyes locked with hers, not looking away or flinching from her teary gaze, something clicked in Motoko's confused mind. It was as if an invisible switch was thrown, and she now suddenly saw Keitaro in a whole new light. A better, stronger, determined man now stood before her – a man she now knew that she had unknowingly loved even before this amazing transformation had occurred. She had fought against even the possibility of consciously loving Urashima before, but now…she was in the grip of this strange new power of his – she had no choice!

"Urashima? Keitaro, I…I don't know what to say to you. You, you're the first man that I've ever…ever loved, you see? B-but I…I believe you. I believe you!"

"That's good, Motoko, because it's true," he firmly emphasized back to her.

"Keitaro, I'm – Keitaro!" Motoko's legs crumpled, the strain had finally become too much for her to bear. She slumped forward into his arms, nearly sending them both tumbling down onto the hardwood boards of the laundry platform.

"Motoko? Motoko!"

"I'm…alright," she whispered, feeling as if she was only seconds away from passing out – which she actually was as she felt the strangely comforting warmth of Keitaro's arms around her, holding her tight. "Please…will you take me to my room? I need to lie down for a little while…to recover."

"Sure, I will. Look, we'll be there in less than a minute. Hold on a few moments more, Motoko. Everything is going to be just fine."

He's so caring towards me. Even after all that I did to him; he's still concerned about my welfare! I…can't hold myself back any longer! I want him – now! Tears of contrition and love poured from Motoko's eyes as her long-repressed emotions burst forth.

And I – I have a secret that I should tell him about…about what I've been doing with…our friend. But, but right now, I've got to have Keitaro holding me – touching me. I need his love right now, this very minute!

Motoko's arms crept up around Keitaro and she rested her head upon his shoulder, helping him to support her weight as he released one arm and struggled to get her door open. Once they were safely inside with the door closed, the light on, and their uwabaki indoor sandals removed, Keitaro lowered the almost swooning girl gently down onto her futon, and then knelt down at her side.

Is this how my sister, Tsuruko, felt when she left the dojo and our 'Shinmei-ryū' tradition for her man? Now, at long last, I understand what she must have felt. Oh, I was so wrong about her…!

"There, you just rest now, Motoko," Keitaro told her, breaking into the love-struck girl's thoughts. "Before I go, is there anything else that I can get for you? A glass of water maybe?"

"…Yes…" she whispered up to him, slowly undoing the bowknot of her hakama. "There is-!"

What…am I doing? But…I want this…! I want it…

"Ah? Um? And what is that, M-Motoko?" the suddenly tense ronin replied in a quivery voice, cheeks reddening, only too aware of what her hands were doing with her clothing.

She's not…? Motoko's not doing what I think that she's doing…is she? Okay, she did just confess her love to me, but – she wants this, too? With me?! No way!

"I need…you…!" Motoko's shaking right hand gripped the edge of her white kimono, and then she slowly pulled it open. Keitaro's heart began to jackhammer against his ribs and his labored breath caught in his suddenly dry throat with anticipation. Unconsciously, he leaned forward, his wide-open eyes bugging out of his head as the kimono fell away to reveal-!

Underneath her kimono, Motoko wasn't wrapped up like she usually was. Instead, she was wearing absolutely nothing…nothing at all!

Steam flew from Keitaro's ears and his glasses cracked at the sight of her firm, round, caramel-nippled right breast and the soft curve of her smooth stomach and hip, to where it flowed under her now-untied red hakama.

Oh my god! She's so – fine! And she – Motoko – wants me? Me?! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that this day would come, when Motoko would take me to bed with her!

As if in a dream, Keitaro found his own hands moving across Motoko's silky smooth body, divesting the feverishly shivering girl of every last stitch of her clothing, and then of his own. Once they were both totally naked, he reached for her and Motoko grabbed him, pulling his unresisting body down on top of her, her mouth eagerly seeking his. Giving up all thoughts of protest, Keitaro closed his eyes and revelled in the warmth and sweetness of Motoko's marvellously soft lips.

After a frantic few minutes of kissing and awkward foreplay, Motoko suddenly leaned back, and her long, slender legs moved open beneath the flushed and panting student whom was embracing her so tightly.

"Keitaro…? I'm - I'm ready! I'm ready for you – right now! Please, just do it to me, before I-! I need you in…please?!"

"But, but what about protection?" the overheated Keitaro gasped back to her, vividly remembering the mistake that he had made with Kitsune two nights ago. "I don't want you to get – um – you know, in that way by mistake! I should at least put on a – ah – condom, or something-"

"It's – all right," Motoko breathed back, her eyes wide and pleading. "I…borrowed…some of Kitsune's tablets when she was out of her room. I'm safe, so just – do it!"

On hearing of Motoko's wise precaution, Keitaro's last lingering doubt instantly vanished and he obeyed her request with uninhibited enthusiasm. The feel of her firm-breasted young body moving against his own no-less eager one had keyed his frantic desire for her to fever pitch as well. Motoko gasped out as he slid into her, her body shuddered, and then she quickly began to rock him back and forth – the sight of the pure desire now etched on Keitaro's face giving the pleasure-wracked kendo girl added incentive to continue her instinctive movements.

Oh, Kami-sama! Urashima's…thing…it's so hard…! And it's so far inside me! Motoko's over-stimulated mind told her as she writhed beneath her passion-filled lover. But what is this…sensation that I'm feeling…? It – it's overpowering…!

"Keitaro, stop," Motoko panted, her eyes glassy with ecstasy. "Please? Just for a moment. The sensation is...it's getting just a little too much for me."

"Motoko? Am I hurting you?" Keitaro puffed back to her in anxious concern, quickly pausing with his rhythmic exertions. "I'm sorry, I'll-!"

"No! Stay in me…please? But…Keitaro? I think that…you'd better tie my hands firmly. Tie them tightly to the legs of that heavy dresser just above my head. For your own safety. A lot of my martial arts training has reached the instinctive stage, you see. And I'm scared that if my…if my feelings get too much, I might…lose control of myself and accidentally hurt you."

"That might be a good idea," Keitaro agreed with alacrity, gulping uneasily at the thought of being taken out by mistake. "But to do that, I'll have to – get up."

"Oh – okay! Please, Keitaro – hurry!"

After Keitaro had carried out her wishes, using two of her hakama straps to bind each of her wrists firmly to two different legs of the dresser, he stared down with a new, dawning comprehension on his wide-eyed face at the totally naked, slender and gorgeous figure of his former enemy below him. Motoko's flushed face, sprawled out body and open mouth – all radiated a formerly hidden and suppressed passion that was now desperately trying to break free from its hidden chains. He knew then, for sure, that Motoko wanted him, needed desperately for him to free her and make of her a real woman, with real, open emotions that she could express freely.

Oboy, oboy! Quickly, but carefully, the ecstatic Keitaro remounted her, sliding back inside Motoko with ease, such was her readiness for him at that very moment.

Motoko is so – so tight and wet! Keitaro realized, his left hand tightly gripping the gasping kendo girl's left shoulder, his right one squeezing and fondling her right breast as they rocked frantically back and forth once again. I can't believe just how good this feels! Ohmygod, I feel like I'm melting inside of her…I – I can't hold it in! I – I'm gonna-!

Motoko gasped with a sudden realization of her own, as sweat poured from her straining brow at the intensity of their efforts. After the blinding flash of insight she had just experienced, the astonished kendo girl now knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that she actually liked being bound and helpless under Urashima, her splayed-out, naked body openly displayed to his gaze and totally at his mercy.

If – doing this with Urashima is g-giving us both this much pleasure, then – uhh! My actions tonight must be right-!

Oh, Kami-sama! I am a woman, after all! I-I want to be submissive to my man…to Keitaro-!

"Oh, Keitaro! Take meeee…! Ahh-Ahhhh!"

Then Motoko had her release – the very first one that she had ever experienced with a man in her whole regimented life of training and self-control. Keitaro had to put his hand over her mouth to muffle her wide-eyed scream of disbelieving pleasure as she lost total control of her body and her mind. Never before had Motoko experienced – or even imagined that she could experience – such overwhelming ecstasy inside her body at the hands of a hated man. All of her stress, her bitter regret at what she had done to the unbelievably good man now rhythmically thrusting deep inside of her, her worry about what could happen to her at the hands of the police, all exploded out of her with the sudden, overpowering release of her built-up tension. She writhed under Keitaro, everything forgotten in her ecstatic bliss. Her whimpering cries of pleasure set Keitaro's release off as well, which in turn triggered Motoko's second orgasm. As her lover's seed burnt within her, the waves of euphoria engulfed her slim body over and over again.

Then, as the rapturous waves washing through their trembling, sweat-soaked bodies finally subsided, both young lovers collapsed onto each other, mindful of nothing else but the pleasure that they had experienced together. A few minutes later, once he had regained sufficient energy to actually move again, Keitaro stirred and then crawled forward to untie the straps that tightly bound the still-gasping Motoko's wrists to the heavy piece of furniture.

I should go, his mind told him as he worked on the now-tight knots. Before Motoko comes to her senses and regrets doing this with me. That could be lethal! But after what just happened between us, I don't want to leave her-

"Keitaro?" Motoko's soft and pleading voice came to the now extremely nervous student. "Please? Please don't leave me? I need you with me tonight. Won't you please stay…?"

Oh, what the heck? Keitaro grinned in heartfelt relief, feeling his understandable anxiety ebbing away again as fast as it had arisen. She's actually happy at what we've just done! That means I'm safe! And I sure don't want this fantastic night to end just yet, either.

Hurriedly he jumped back onto Motoko's futon, pulled the blankets over them both, and collapsed back down next to her warm, inviting body. They both kissed and then promptly fell asleep, snug and safe in each other's arms.

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Monday morning dawned all too soon, the sun shining and birds chirping in the tall trees surrounding the Hinata Apartments. Motoko awoke before Keitaro did, before the sun had even risen properly. She was used to early starts because of her vigorous training regimen.

Oh? The kendo girl thought sleepily to herself, her eyes still closed, feeling a warm body pressed tightly against her side. Su's here in bed with me again. I should just lie back and let her hold me, but I have to get up and – hey, wait a minute? Didn't Kaolla leave to go home on Saturday night?! This is Monday morning-!

Motoko's eyes snapped open, and she jumped in shock as her disbelieving gaze fell upon the still shape snoring peacefully on the bed next to her naked body, a big bubble expanding and contracting out of his left nostril.

Urashima?! What the hell-?!

Leaping out of bed, her mind a jumble of confused thoughts, the totally nude Motoko almost grabbed for her sword before her bewildered mind finally pierced together what he and she had done last night. As she remembered, Motoko blushed furiously, and then a slow smile spread across her pretty face. Relaxing, she sat back down on the edge of her futon, and stared with contented happiness at the slumbering shape it contained. To her surprise and pleasure, she discovered that she was feeling absolutely no regrets whatsoever for what she and Urashima had done together and at great length last night.

Oh, I love you so much, my Keitaro. The way you treated me last night – even though I in no way deserved your forgiveness, let alone your love. And you've made me into a proper woman! Only you, Keitaro – well, out of all the men that I've ever known - only you had the right to do that with me!

Even as she watched him, Keitaro finally stirred, throwing an arm over his face, and twisted over onto his side on the bed.

Oh! He's waking up! What shall I do? What-?

Keitaro finally sat up, rubbing his eyes and reaching for his glasses. Then he nearly hit the ceiling with surprise as he realized exactly where he was, and what he was now seeing in that room!

Before his confused and disbelieving gaze, Motoko was kneeling there totally naked in front of him, her head bowed to the floor in joyous submission to her wonderful new lover. Keitaro blushed furiously at her state of undress and her strange actions, then rolled forward and pulled her to her feet, totally heedless for once of his own total lack of clothing.

"Motoko!" he gasped out in a mortified tone. "Stop that right now! A girl like you shouldn't humble yourself before anyone – least of all me!" He hurriedly averted his eyes from her very seductive shape as he grabbed her clothes and thrust them into her arms. "Here, put these back on before you catch a cold!"

"I – I'm sorry, Keitaro, you're right," Motoko murmured happily back to him. "But I – if I do bow to anyone - um? I mean, any man, anyway - it should be you. And only you."

"Huh? What exactly are you saying, Motoko?"

"After what you showed me – taught me to experience last night with you - I owe you both my new-found sense of worth around men, and my new confidence in my femininity," Motoko explained. "I love you, Keitaro Urashima!"

"Th-thank you - aaargh!" Keitaro had just realized what he was wearing at that very moment – exactly nothing! Blushing like a red fountain and completely forgetting how Kitsune had told him to behave in his embarrassment, he grabbed for his own pants, diving headlong back under the covers as he did so. "I'm sorry!"

Just then, there came an interruption – to be specific, a loud knocking on the door. Keitaro's eyes peered towards the doorway with fright, the bedcovers heaving like storm-tossed waves as he hurriedly re-dressed under their thankfully total concealment of his current nudity!

"Knock, knock!" Mitsune Konno's Osaka accent, accompanied by a loud rapping sound of knuckles on wood, came from the far side of Motoko's luckily closed door. "Y'all right in there? Rise 'n shine, you two lil' ol' lovebirds. It's dang near afternoon already!"

"K-Kit? Hold on a second!" Motoko shouted, throwing on her clothes in a blur of motion. "Urashima, hide!"

"Where?!" he hissed back, also in panic mode. "The furnishings in here are so sparse, even a lizard couldn't find a place of refuge!"

"Get into my suit of armor, then! You might need it!"

"And don't bother tryin' to smuggle Keitaro out while Ah'm not lookin', Kendo girl," Kitsune laughed knowingly. "Ah already know that he's stashed away in there with ya! But don't worry, kids, Ah'm only here for the details. So, how'd it go, you two elopers, you?"

"Ah? Um, okay. W-we shall both surrender gracefully," Motoko stammered, knowing that the game was up. "We give up!"

Yeah. And just why in the heck am I panicking, anyway? Keitaro asked himself, coming to his senses at last as he finally realized that he was in no danger whatsoever from anyone at all this particular morning. Naru's not here anymore, Kit's pretty mellow – and so far she doesn't seem to be too upset that I've just slept with Motoko only a couple of days after doing it with her. And Motoko sure as hell isn't going to hit me again, now, is she?

Still, when they finally emerged from Motoko's room, both Keitaro and Motoko looked to be a mite hot under the collar and had suspiciously guilty expressions on their blushing faces. Kitsune took one quick look at them and instantly began to laugh again.

"Say no more," the fox girl chuckled. "Your faces just told me everything that Ah need to know, kids! C'mon, Shinobu's got our breakfast all ready and waitin' for us. But ya best not let her know what you two got up to last night – she might pass out on the spot!"

"Probably," Keitaro mumbled self-consciously. But then his head jerked upwards and a horrified expression crossed his face as he suddenly recalled just what day of the week it now was.

"Oh, no! It's Monday morning," he cried out in panic. "I'm going to miss the bus to my cram school! I gotta go, right now!"

Kitsune burst into laughter again at her young landlord's pale-faced expression of horror at having overslept on such an important date as this.

"Classic! Just hold your horses there, Stud. Today and tomorrow are Public Holidays, remember," she smugly pointed out to him.

But then a frown appeared on her face, and she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm? Or maybe ya don't know that? You've been pretty busy chasin' after us girls ever since ya got back here to think about anything else, haven't ya? Eheh, heh, heh!"

"Oh? That's right, Urashima," Motoko stated, a surprised expression crossing her own face as she abruptly realized that the older girl was correct with what she was saying. "I had forgotten all about it, too. It is a holiday today. So cease your panicky fidgeting. Your school and mine will be closed for the next two days."

Motoko and Kit are right! I've got to calm down, and stop overreacting to bad news, Keitaro reminded himself, curbing his emotional response with an effort of will. He was helped immensely in doing so by their assurance that today was in fact a holiday. Remember what Kit told you to do in situations like this one, you idiot. I've got to be calm and collected at all times. So take a deep breath and relax...

Despite his efforts to compose himself, he still breathed out a huge sigh of relief at the definitely-timely stroke of good fortune of today not being a school day after all. It would've looked very bad for him if he had arrived late on his first day back at his cram school, after a prolonged absence of nearly a whole month!

"Oh, thank god for that." Keitaro scratched at his tousled hair as he forced himself to lighten up and grin sheepishly at the two smiling girls. "Well, now that I'm not in a hurry to get to school, I'd best be off to wash up, I guess? Um, well, I'll see you both later in the dining hall, Motoko, Kitsune."

"Yup. Heheh! And don't forget to wash all over, Loverboy," the fox girl merrily replied, unable to resist a parting dig at him. "Includin' those hard to reach places! Unless kendo girl here wants to go and lend you a hand, that is?"

The bright red pair of Motoko and Keitaro exchanged embarrassed looks with each other, and then Keitaro turned and scuttled off down the passageway before Kitsune could say any more. Despite Kit's teasing, he was reasonably happy. It looked like things would work out just fine for him and Motoko, now, after all?

However, Motoko's face fell after Keitaro had vanished from her sight. Keitaro might be fine, but she certainly wasn't. Not with the warrant for her arrest due to be served at any time.

Motoko was now living here on borrowed time, and she knew it.