Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, nor am I making money from this.
WARNING: Exceptionally awesome, proceed with caution.
Authors Note: Well, I basically skipped the entirety of Book 8 of the manga, which puts us at Book 9 which has a rather interesting plot involving Motoko in it. I'll give you a hint: it involves Tsuruko. Then, there's the tournament I mentioned in the last chapter, so I'll have to take care of that at some point too… hm… let's see how this chapter turns out, shall we?
Love Hina: All-Girls Dorm Edition
Chapter 10: A Step Above
Motoko was waiting somewhat patiently in the living room, along with the other non-Toudai testing students. The party supplies were ready to go, and the banners were set up. The only thing missing from the congratulations party was the, hopefully now, Toudai students. By Motoko's count, they should be arriving home any time-
Then the door was blown across the room, forcing Su, Shinobu, and Sara to dodge out of the way as the door continued down the length of the hallway. Motoko of course was up and ready with blade in hand, but that proved unnecessary given that the person who kicked in the door was also the person Motoko most wanted to see. By the smiling, utterly elated look on Keika's face, Motoko was beyond sure that the woman had passed.
"I PASSED!!" Keika shouted at the top of her lungs "I ACTUALLY PASSED!!"
Then, faster than she had ever moved in one of her sparring matches, Keika was in a deep, somewhat forceful lip lock with Motoko, who hadn't even seen Keika move. That ended a moment later when Keika began to jump around like a madwoman, putting on quite the spectacle for all to see.
"I finally made it! I'm finally a Toudai student!" Keika continued to shout as she leapt about without a care "I'm in! No fourth year ronin study-fest for me! I'm finally off to bigger-ACH!"
Keika, in her blatantly inattentive state, failed to notice the slight spill that had resulted from Sara having do dodge the door that had previously flown down the hallway. As such, she landed in the spill, slipped, and immediately launched herself face first into the hard wood that the floor was composed of. The loud, echoing crack of the floor breaking beneath Keika's face resounded for some time before the dent, mild head trauma, and broken glasses were the only things left to show what had happened. Most of the girls simply sweatdropped, but Motoko also held her face in her hand in embarrassment.
"Hey, what happened to the door?" Naru asked as she stepped in with Mutsumi to see the scene at hand "…do I want to know why-"
"No." was the collective answer.
Keika couldn't be happier at the moment. She had just gotten back from the Toudai freshman ceremony, she had already taken care of all of her classes, her relationship with Motoko was the best it had ever been, and she hadn't had any problem involving 'that blonde bitch' since she had taken care of that hitman back on Christmas. Her life, in her mind, couldn't get much better at the moment. Now she had nothing but free time before classes began in a week, which gave her time to plan things with Motoko, like going on a date at that new restaurant near Toudai, or maybe that new movie theater near that love hotel…
And that was the end of Keika's psyche, for then the love hotel idea came to the forefront of Keika's mind, along with some… interesting images.
'Oh my lord! How can I be thinking that about Motoko-chan!' Keika found herself thinking as she stood at the top of the stairs 'Gah! I've been hanging around Shirai and Haitani too much!'
'It's only natural to seek physical pleasure with the one you love…'
Keika was shocked that her own mind had said something like that. Oddly enough though, it did make some sense… but she wasn't going to admit that right now. First she had to get to her room to change into something more comfortable, then she'd wait for Motoko to get out of class and then the weekend was officially theirs.
"Keika." the voice of Haruka called out from the side steps leading to her tea shop "Hold up a moment."
Keika turned to see just what Haruka wanted, and her jaw nearly dropped when she saw what it was. In Haruka's hands was a soft katana case, the same one she had got for Motoko as a gift at Christmas. However, because of everything that had happened… she'd completely forgotten about it.
"Where did you-?"
"It's been down at the tea house since we went down there with the police." Haruka explained, lit cigarette hanging limply in her mouth all the while "I figured there's a certain 'kendo girl' you planned on giving this to at some point."
Haruka then tossed the weapon over to Keika, who caught it carefully.
"It might have to wait until the two of you get back though." Haruka said nonchalantly as she began to head down the steps to her tea house once more.
"Huh? Get back from where?"
"You don't remember?" Haruka asked, stopping to turn and face Keika with a quirked brow "The budokai you and Motoko got yourselves entered into?"
Keika held a blank expression for a few seconds, then began to panic as she checked her phone to see what time it is (she doesn't wear a watch).
"That's this weekend?!" Keika yelped as she ran into the house (through the new door she had to buy after she destroyed the first one) "The final registrations start in three hours!"
Haruka simply laughed, tapping away some of the ash from her cigarette as she continued to make her way back down to her tea house.
"Wow… this… this is a large tournament, isn't it?" Keika asked as she and Motoko attempted to weave their way through the large crowd of people.
"Not really; this is only an minor championship." Motoko explained "Even still, there appears to be some big name fighters here."
"Oh? Like who?" Keika asked as she literally ducked under the arm of a man that towered over her.
"Urashima Keika." Motoko said with a grin, bringing a brilliant blush to Keika's face.
Their final registrations, as well as waiver signings, were complete, so now they simply waited for the tournament to begin. There were more than a hundred people there, all hailing from nearly every art in existence. Judoka, muay thai fighters, boxers, wrestlers, fencers, kendoka… there was literally everyone there. As for Motoko and Keika, they were signed in under Shinmei-ryu, which said it all then and there. Both received numbers, and both had received the number 'one'. Basically, the idea was that they would be in one of a specialized series of matches to eliminate all but eight fighters, who would go on to the actual one on one fighting rounds. Luckily, it appeared as if Motoko and Keika would be in the same test group, and as there were four test groups, there would be two 'winners' from each group.
That thought had sent another though through both their minds more than once. What would happen if it came down to the two of them fighting? They had resolved to fight as opponents, not as master and student… but even then…
"May I have everyone's attention!" the comm system blared from above in the stadium they were in "The preliminary rounds will begin in fifteen minutes! Participants in group one need to be ready by then! As a final reminder, remember that 'live' weapons are not allowed under any circumstances!"
"Well… here goes nothing…" Keika muttered as she and Motoko quickly found the women's locker room so they could change into their uniforms.
'Wow… this might be harder than I thought…' Keika thought as she stood in the far corner of the ring.
Her combat outfit now consisted of a black, sleeveless athletic shirt (once again, think Underarmor) with baggy shorts that extended to about midway down her shins. Her shoes remained (as they allowed them, just as they allowed weapons), but the black gloves she wore only extended to the first joint of her fingers and thumb, revealing a bit of the spiraling scar on her left hand's ring finger. Also, her glasses were missing; she wore contacts instead (though she hated having to put them in, and was really going to hate having to take them out).
However, that wasn't her main concern. What was her major concern were the ten men in the oversized ring with her, each one a skilled martial artist in some fashion. Two even wielded bokken, while a third one held a staff. In order to 'win' the preliminary round for her section, everyone but two people had to be knocked out of the ring, knocked unconscious, or forced to submit. Luckily Motoko was there, so she knew who the other person was going to be, so all she had to do was make sure she was the other one.
"All contestants in Group 1; the preliminary round will be a free for all battle. Winners of this match will move on to the Quarter Finals. As a final reminder: any shots done with the intent of permanent injury will result in immediate disqualification, as will any cheap shots, such as eye pokes, hair pulling, groin shots, and finger breaks."
The fact that the announcer had to specify that did nothing to put Keika at ease.
"All fighters, ready yourselves!" the announcer finally said, and Keika, along with the eleven other fighters, took their proper stances "On my mark… FIGHT!!"
No sooner had the word left the announcer's mouth that the place turned into a warzone. It was but a moment later that Keika heard something she'd heard all too often in her training with Motoko.
"Hiken: Jakuzankuusen!"
Keika immediately ducked under the wave of ki set about chest height, but the other fighters were not so lucky. Each of the ten male fighters was literally blown several meters away, with some flying further till the wall stopped them. After the various bodies had landed, Keika and Motoko remained the only one's standing, and Motoko appeared to have note even moved. Keika thought she looked stupid; like she was kissing the ground out of overwhelming relief.
"Good… good kami-sama… the match is over… and it didn't even take a second for that highschool girl to knock all but one opponent out of the ring… with one strike!"
'That's Motoko for you…' Keika thought with a grin, though it rapidly faded 'Oh lord… I have to fight her in the quarter finals!'
The ring was now smaller, Keika noticed, but the major difference was that there was now a crowd… a very, very large crowd. Keika quickly realized that being in front of such a large crowd was a bit disheartening. Glancing over at Motoko on the other side of the ring, Keika noticed that she was calm, almost oblivious to the world around her. Keika figured that that was inevitably a bad thing for her. Keika was so lost in thought that she didn't even register the com system until the crowd began to roar in response to something.
"…Then let us get the quarterfinals underway! In the red and white on the north side we have a seventeen-year-young (1) mistress of the secret art of Shinmei-ryu standing in at one-hundred seventy-three centimeters, a weight of… um… unknown… and wielding both beauty and a blade. Let's hear it for Aoyama Motoko!
A mixture of displeasure and approval roared throughout the stadium, but once more it appeared as if Motoko did not hear a word of it. Keika honestly wondered how she did it.
"In the street clothes on the south side we have a twenty year young… wait, this can't be right! Ladies and gentlemen, both fighters hail from the secret art of Shinmei-ryu!"
Murmurs began to spread throughout the crowd, but that didn't stop the announcer.
"However, the fighter on the south side, who stands at one-hundred seventy-one centimers, has a weight that is also unknown, and wields nothing but that which the gods have so generously blessed her with, practices the famed sword style without the use of a weapon! Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Urashima Keika!"
Just like with Motoko, Keika found herself hailed by a evidently mixed view. It was all she could to not panic and do something stupid in front of all these people.
"Wait a moment, we've just received an anonymous bit of information about the contestants…"
Motoko and Keika both heard this part, and both were blushing a brilliant shade of crimson.
"…it appears that this battle is not just between fighters of the same art, but also between master and student! Aoyama Motoko happens to be Urashima Keika's sensei!"
Both Motoko and Keika sighed in relief as the crowd began to cheer louder than they had earlier for either of them. Motoko assumed her dissociation from the sound, while Keika simply tried her best to remain still.
"Well then, as it appears that I've gone on long enough, let us move on to the actual match with our referee Hamada!"
Keika and Motoko were both surprised at the name, and even more surprised when they found that it was the same Hamada whom they knew from the sword museum. The man simply chuckled as he moved toward them, motioning for them to meet in the center of the ring.
"Well, fancy meeting you two here." Hamada said with a grin "Small world, eh girls?"
Neither said anything, but both nodded.
"Now, as I am the referee for this fight, you will listen to me when I tell you to stop or break up. You win by submission, ring out, 10-count out, or knockout. Do I need to cover the other rules?" Hamada began, in a strong tone, and thus received a shake of the head from both younger women "Good, then bow and head to your sides. You fight on my go."
Keika and Motoko bowed fully to one another, showing the utmost respect for each other before heading to their sides. They stood waiting as Hamada made his way to his spot at the east edge of the ring, turning to face them a moment later.
"Ready?" Hamada asked loudly, and he was met with the two women quickly dropping into their stances, which brought a grin to his face "Begin!"
Immediately the two women fired off a ranged ki blast, not bothering to shout the attack in the process of fighting to their utmost. In their case, their utmost consisted of speed, speed, and a lot of ki. After the two initial ki attacks met and culminated in a small, but harmless, explosion of ki, they met in the radiant ki that was rapidly dissipating, a large crack echoing from their location as fist and wood struck against each other. Keika's hand was protected by her ki so that she could parry Keika's strike, but she was having a time of physically holding Motoko's strike back with both her hands.
"Not a bad start, Keika-san." Motoko said, straining a bit to push Keika's guard down.
"Arigatou, Motoko-chan." Keika replied through grit teeth, her legs beginning to shake a bit under the force Motoko was putting her under.
Eventually the floor of the ring began to crack, and Keika found that if things kept up, she'd be forced into the ground and rapidly lose her mobility. She quickly let Motoko gain a bit of movement with her blade, then redirected it to the side away from her. This gave her a brief opening, in which she threw a Gurenken strike straight at Motoko's exposed stomach. Motoko was faster though and managed to knock Keika's strike away with her blade before going for a strike herself. Keika deflected Motoko's strike as well before firing her own barrage of punches and kicks off.
Motoko matched her strikes with blocks, launching her own strikes to be met with blocks and deflections. Both women's strikes, blocks, and subtle movements became faster and faster. The crowd was going wild as the movements of their arms and weapons neared a blur, and even more so when Motoko managed to knock one of Keika's arms out of her defensive area, moving in with a ki flooded strike that struck true.
Keika flew backward, bits of the cloth around her stomach flying off along with the minimal amount of blood the ki had loosed from her body. She caught her landing though, landing on one hand that helped her put her feet on the ground to slow her backwards motion. Although she was now in a relatively defensive crouch, that wasn't enough to stop Motoko from rushing her with another strike, another influx of ki surrounding the blade. Keika had barely enough time to roll out of the way of the strike as it came crashing down, taking a rather potent chunk out of the hard floor of the ring and kicking it up as dust.
From her roll she managed to get to her feet, and from there she was able to attempt an effective counter to Motoko's vertical slash. She stepped in and grabbed Motoko at her wrists, pulled her to one side and down, and then tried to trip her using her leg. Motoko, being the one to teach Keika such a throw, didn't allow it to happen. She intentionally moved her forward leg out farther to keep her balance, which also put her arms in an opportune position. Before Keika knew what exactly had happened, she had Motoko's legs clamp down on either side of her, her arms forced in another direction, and her face shoved mercilessly into the hard ground with the rest of her body following not long after.
Motoko released her hold and got to her feet as Keika slowly got out of her daze and wiped some of the blood from her nose off. It would heal a moment later, but it still didn't look that good to have blood trickling from your nose so early in the fight. As Keika was standing up, Motoko had the point of her bokken pointed against Keika's throat, a serious frown on her face as the crowd was screaming for a submission.
"What do you think this is, Urashima?" Motoko said in a low growl "This is not a sparring match; this is a battle! If you think I will pull any punches here, you are sadly mistaken! If you pull any, or hesitate in the slightest, you will lose!"
Keika, who had begun to sweat a bit due to the 'blade' pressed against her throat, was slowly going through what was being said. Soon the blade was being pulled away from Keika's throat, with Motoko's face softening a bit. This was a great displeasure to the crowd, but Motoko didn't seem to care.
"That was your only freebie, Keika-san." Motoko said simply "I will not give you another break."
Keika nodded in understanding before Motoko took several steps back before dropping down in her stance once more. Keika quickly dropped into hers as well, taking a few deep breaths as she sought to focus herself once more. Soon, her hands were alight with the Gurenken technique, and both women's eyes were set for battle. About the time the crowd was beginning to get into an uproar, there was a shattering of stone as the floor of the ring cracked in two spots where there had previously been two female fighters hailing from Shinmei-ryu.
In the center of them there stood the two ki empowered figures with their blows caught in the other's. Neither was moving, nor was either one being pressed into the ground like their first stalemate of strikes. Both pulled back at the same time and threw their next strikes, with Motoko's vertical strike connecting with Keika's high kick. Unfortunately for Keika, Motoko swept her other leg and sent into a spin that kept her in the air for a split second.
'Oh shit…' Keika thought as Motoko's blade lay above her, glowing with ki moments before it came crashing down across Keika's body.
Luckily, Keika had managed to throw up a guard to prevent a full strike along the median of her body, but that didn't stop her from landing on the ring floor and cracking it with the full backside of her body. Keika didn't move for a time, her eyes open staring into the ceiling above her. Unknown to her, the count had begun though, so Motoko had stopped her assault, albeit with a disappointment that she had overestimated her girlfriend and student.
'I've been going all out since the start, but she knows my moves better than I do!' Keika thought, the count reaching three by this point 'I'm basically playing her at her own game! How do I defeat the person who taught me one of the martial…'
By the time the count had hit six, Keika's eyes shot open fully.
'Rule number one: never play to your opponents advantage.' Keika though at the count of eight 'Including their style.'
"9!"
Keika grinned right as she shot to her feet, stopping the count just as the announcer was about to shout the last fateful number. Motoko let a small smile of relief grace her features, but quickly took up her stance. Keika, whom had quickly stifled her grin in favor of a pseudo-serious expression, took up her stance as well. Like the last time they finished getting into their stances, Keika and Motoko met in the middle between them, their ki enhanced strikes holding of one another's.
However, unlike last time, Keika grinned, which put Motoko a bit off.
"Hiken:…" Keika said as the ki around her hand began to change from it's previous form.
Motoko was shocked to see what was happening, which slowed her response to the impending attack.
"…Zankoushou!" Keika shouted as the ki from her hand erupted outward, engulfing Motoko's entire left arm in what could only be described as a torrent or beam of ki. (2)
The blast of ki only extended for about a meter and a half, and lasted for just over a second, but it was more than enough to do some damage. After pulling out from the attack, Motoko found that her entire left sleeve was entirely gone, with her exposed arm covered in a variety of ki based cuts and abrasions. The crowd was going wild by this point, and the smiling Keika felt a massive boost in her confidence, having finally landed an effective strike against her master. Motoko, though hurting a bit, was also smiling.
'So… she's got a few tricks up her sleeve, huh?' Motoko thought as she prepared herself for another assault 'So have I."
Motoko rushed at Keika, her ki wrapping around her blade in an unusual fashion.
"Ougi: Raimeiken!" Motoko shouted as she swung her blade down as fast as the lightning that was crackling about it.
She met Keika's guard and cut through it, striking the ground and literally shattering the ring from that point outward as the power in the attack dispersed. Now standing in a pile of rubble, Motoko was confused to note that Keika's form was nowhere to be found. Her senses alerted her to an impending attack from behind though, and Motoko flipped her blade around to parry the axe kick that nearly struck her on the top of the head. Unfortunately, there was a nasty surprise waiting for her.
"Hiken: Zankoushou Kai!" Motoko heard from Keika's mouth, and given her position she was effectively powerless as the explosion of ki ripped downwards across her crouched form.
The attack was actually powerful enough to launch a backlash two meters into the air after decimating the ring further, though it was not powerful enough to do damage to Keika as she leapt back several meters and got into her stance. Due to the massive influx of ki throughout her body, and combined with her heightened emotional and combative state, her eyes had been warped into a more feral, beastlike appearance. (3)
After the dust and residual ki dissipated, what remained amidst the crater in the ground was a battle torn Motoko, standing in a passive stance whilst facing Keika. Her gi and hakama were obviously ruined beyond repair, and ki induced damage was apparent across her entire form. However, the fact that she was standing was proof enough that she was still able to fight.
"…this is getting interesting!" Motoko began in a normal voice, though she was shouting at the end as she looked up to catch Keika's eyes.
Motoko's eyes looked damn near demonic, and the flare up of ki across her entire body was more than enough to scare any normal fighter. What happened next was a utterly awe inspiring, as both fighters began to tear into each other worse than they had been at any point during the fight. Keika's ki bursts alone were destroying the ring around them, but Motoko's lightning variant attacks were making the landscape look like the cracked floor of a dried lakebed. Once or twice it was evident that one of them had landed a devastating attack on the other, but it was more often than not that they were parrying, blocking, or outright dodging and countering the attack being thrown at them.
Unfortunately, at the rate they were using up ki, combined with the speed with which they were throwing such devastating blows, all the while trying to heal the damage done to them, and anyone could come to the conclusion that neither fighter could keep up such a heightened state of attack for too long. Indeed, after a final series of ki attacks the two fighters slowed to a stop within three meters of one another. Keika was bleeding from every limb, with blood flowing out from her mouth as well. Her clothes were hanging on by a thread, and the only undamaged thing on her was her hands and gloves because of the constant stream of protective ki that had been flowing around them. Motoko was in a similar state, her body bloody and torn to hell, with her gi completely missing to expose her chest wraps while her hakama had been turned into a skirt shorter than the one she wore to school.
Both fighters were breathing heavily, and both of them had completely dropped their guards.
"You… you've gotten better… than I thought…" Motoko gasped out between breaths.
"Ar… arigatou… Mo…Mo… Mo-chan…" Keika managed, only being able to remember the first syllable of Motoko's name in her drained state "…I… I don't think…I can…"
Motoko didn't seem to be hearing her as she approached her student slowly, lifting her blade into a ready position for a strike. With the last bit of her ki, she dashed at Keika, who didn't appear to be able to move. As Motoko swung though, her bokken passed through Keika entirely, revealing that it was simply an afterimage. An instant later Motoko felt an arm wrap around her neck loosely, then felt a fist lightly tap where her left kidney was. (4) Something then leaned into her, and the only thing she could manage was to keep standing with her ki.
"Did… did I…?" Keika tried to ask incoherently, moments before she passed out on Motoko's back.
"…Hai…" was Motoko's response as she collapsed to her knees under Keika's weight, the world around her eventually fading out.
Motoko soon found herself coming to facing a white light, and for a moment, Motoko wondered if maybe she had expended so much ki that she had died. This was dispelled when she noticed the machine to her left that was making a beeping sound that sounded distinctly like the rhythm of her heart.
'Oh… I'm in a hospital.' Motoko realized as she looked around in her clearing vision 'I must have lost the fight…'
She was smiling after she thought that. Though she had lost, she was happy that Keika had grown so strong. As her sensei, she was happy that her student had surpassed ehr. As her girlfriend, she had to admit that she found Keika's strength very attractive… and a big turn on (though she'd never admit that). Because of these, she was confused to find the woman of her thoughts and dreams in a chair nearby, smiling back at her.
"Good afternoon, Motoko-chan." Keika said with a pleasant smile, having gone back to her normal style of dress, complete with glasses "Glad to see you're awake."
Motoko, who had shot up after she heard Keika's voice, was staring at her with the utmost confusion.
"Wha…? Keika-san? What are you doing here?" Motoko asked in a surprised tone "Aren't you supposed to be at the tournament?"
Keika blushed and began to nervously scratch her head.
"Actually… the tournament ended yesterday." Keika explained "Today's Sunday."
Motoko was now a mixture of confusion and elation.
"So… who won?"
"I don't know his name, but some guy from Thailand who practices Muay Thai." Keika said with a shrug "I wasn't even there for it; I woke up about two hours ago."
Motoko immediately deadpanned.
"…so… we both… lost?" Motoko asked, still feeling a bit numb after just waking up.
"Well… technically it was a tie, since we both passed out during the match." Keika said as she rubbed her head nervously again "Personally, I like to think that we both won…"
Motoko, though still feeling a bit numb from having just woke up, actually started laughing somewhat. Keika found the odd burst amusement from the younger girl to be a bit weird, especially given how Motoko was.
"Ah… to think that we both got eliminated in the first round…" Motoko said with a grin "Against any other opponent, I would feel ashamed, but instead I feel proud that you've become more my equal."
Keika blushed a bit at this, as it was a compliment that she actually felt proud of her in a master-student sense. Keika was then reminded of the match, and then of the surprise she had for her girlfriend, which was set next to her.
"Oh, Motoko-chan, we made the headlines." Keika said as she stood and moved over next to Motoko, holding out the front page of the newspaper "See?"
Motoko, though silently dreading what was going to be put in front of her, read over the title of the article
Budokai Begins With It's Most Destructive Match On Record-Female masters of Shinmei-ryu engaged in an almost supernatural fight destroy the budokai ring beyond 'normal' repair
By this pointing, Motoko had stopped reading and let out a sigh. On the paper was a picture of Motoko and Keika, with the latter blowing a huge crater in the ground with one of her ki attacks.
"It could be worse, you know." Keika said as she put the paper back where she found it on a nearby table "They could have put the one of us bleeding and bruised when we passed out."
"I just hope anue doesn't see this…" Motoko muttered as she lay back down on her bed "…do you know when we can leave?"
"Well, the doctor's cleared me to go, but given the time, they'll probably let you go tomorrow morning." Keika explained as she took a seat in the nearby chair "I don't know if you'll be able to make it to school though."
"Will you be leaving?"
"No, I'll be here all night," Keika said with a smile "so just rest, and thank kami-sama that you and I both heal better than the average person."
'If we didn't, we'd both be in here for a week at least.'
"Well, home sweet home." Keika said as she and Motoko both finished ascending the steps "It'll be quiet for a while."
"Unless Konno-san decides to mess with us." Motoko muttered under her breath as she shifted her gear on her back "It's already too late to bother heading to school."
"Yeah… and we won't be doing anything on the first day anyway." Keika rationalized as she and Motoko headed inside "Hm… that's odd."
"What is?"
"If I remember right, now is when the horse races take place." Keika explained as she moved to get a look at the couch, noticing that something was not there "Kitsune's normally here watching the races now…"
"Do you think she's here?" Motoko asked as she set her gear nearby, planning on taking it up later.
"Well, I would think not; she doesn't not watch the races when she's here." Keika responded as she went and took a look down the hall towards the kitchen "Unless she's hiding somewhere, we've got the place all to ourselves."
"Hm… alright then. So what should we do now?"
"Well…" Keika began as she took a seat on the empty couch "…I think we should lay off the sparring for today…"
"…agreed." Motoko said after a moment as she leaned against a wall "As much as I'd hate to miss another day of training, our bodies are still recovering from our fight two days ago."
"Well… yours is." Keika said with a grin as she looked back to see her girlfriend "I've always recovered more quickly."
Motoko simply frowned, though the blush let Keika know she was right.
"Anyway, what should we do now that we've eliminated our two main activities?" Motoko asked, trying to change the subject "Should we pay Hamada-san a visit and apologize for our rather dangerous match?"
That's when it hit Keika: the katana she'd planned to give Motoko when they had gotten back. The brunette shot up from the couch in an instant, then leaped over the couch to grab Motoko by the hand.
"Come with me-oof!" Keika said as she tried to drag Motoko up the stairs, but the younger swordswoman roughly yanked her back.
"First: I can walk, Keika-san. Second: where are we heading so we can walk there?" Motoko said with a mildly irritated expression.
"Uh… my room so I can give you something." Keika answered as calmly as possible.
"What is this 'something'?"
"An exceptionally late Christmas present that I'd forgotten about." Keika answered honestly.
"A…Christmas present?" Motoko reiterated, looking at Keika oddly.
"…just come upstairs so I can give it to you."
"Fine." Motoko responded, motioning for the older woman to lead the way, which was readily and excitedly accepted.
After arriving in the room, Motoko was 'forced' to seat herself on the floor of the room as Keika went to her closet and pulled grabbed the present. Motoko soon heard Keika unzipping something, then watched as Keika came out of the closet (AN: sorry, I had to say it, lol) with her present. Needless to say, she was not expecting a present quite like this.
(AN: Use this site, www(dot)/descriptionofthepartsofaka.htm , for reference to the parts in the next few sections, if you are unfamiliar with the parts of a katana)
Clearly, the gift was a katana, and clearly the katana looked beautiful in it's saya. The saya itself was red, as was the ito of the tsuka. On the contrasting side, the sageo and same were both a brilliant shade of white free of any dirt. From where she sat, the tsuba appeared to be made of a silver colored metal and was designed to look like a lotus flower, with the fuchi and menuki being designed to reinforce this observation. Though she could not see it, the kashira most likely had the same lotus flower design on it.
To say Motoko was awestruck would have been far beyond an understatement.
"Merry Christmas!" Keika said with a brilliant grin and blush combination "You like?"
Motoko failed to respond for several long moments, and Keika was wondering if she was still awake.
"Uh… Motoko-chan? You in there?" Keika asked as she waved a hand in Motoko's face, eliciting no response "Are you alright?"
"…fine…" Motoko said softly, still staring, now somewhat open mouthed, at the sword before her.
"…do you… want to take it?" Keika asked, positioning the blade so it was facing towards her with the handle on her left with both her hands on the saya. (5)
Motoko nodded, reaching out to take the katana, one hand on the saya and the other on the tsuka. As she held the weapon before her, she noticed that it was lightweight, which was either a sign of good construction or cheap materials. Given the balance though, it was more likely a sign of an exceptional weapon. Motoko almost autonomously began to remove the blade from it's housing. It shown brilliantly in the light, and by the look of things, the blade was perfect in most every sense; unmarred, unafflicted, and not a single visible impurity.
Motoko was further at a loss for words as she resheathed the blade. She simply sat the blade down on the ground softly before returning to her sitting position, staring onward at Keika with an expression that was rather obvious. As Keika awaited Motoko's response regarding the blade, she began to feel awkward being stared at as she was. Finally, after swallowing hard a couple of times, Motoko did indeed begin to speak.
"…Keika-san… I…" Motoko tried to say, but kept finding herself that lost for words.
"That good?" Keika asked with a grin, glad that she, with Hamada's help, had found a blade so impressive that Motoko was struggling for words "I had a bit of help from an old friend who told me you'd like it, to be honest."
Motoko still didn't seem to be quite hearing Keika. Instead she was still staring at Keika in a bit of a trance. Now Keika was beginning to become a bit creeped out; Motoko's dumb expression was beyond odd for her.
"Um… Motoko-chan?" Keika said a bit nervously "Ano… are you-"
"Keika-san," Motoko finally said as she leaned forward a bit "I… arigato. This blade appears to be of excellent quality. It is… more than you should have gotten for me as a simple gift."
"Heh, with everything you've done for me, I don't think I got you enough." Keika said in all honestly, though she bowed respectively at the compliment she'd been given "Really, I don't think I'd ever be able to repay you for everything."
Motoko wasn't blushing by this point, instead she moved the katana to the side, which Keika found odd. Motoko then leaned forward, closing the distance between them and holding herself up by placing her hands on the ground. Keika seemed to get where Motoko was going with this, so she leaned forward and met Motoko in another of their soft kisses. Immediately their lips parted, and immediately the two began loosing their passions and love for one another. Motoko moved closer to her loved one, with her arms being freed to move to Keika's sides as the older woman's arms moved to their position around Motoko's neck. Their kissing intensified as Motoko's hands began to trail upward on Keika's abdomen, which sent subtle, pleasurable sensations through the older woman.
Eventually, one of Motoko's hands came to grip her left breast, somewhat surprising the other woman and forcing a low moan that allowed Motoko to further deepen their kiss. As Motoko's left hand began to massage the soft flesh beneath it, her other hand began to trail around to the small of Keika's back, with one of Keika's hands moving down Motoko's own back. With her right hand now at Keika's lower back, she began to move the older woman to the side, with Keika adjusting so that Motoko could manage to set the older woman on her back against the floor. With her right hand remaining in place, her left one was removed from Keika's breast as she slowly moved to straddle the older woman.
That hand then began to make it's way down, moving to the bottom of Keika's shirt as the two continued their passionately intense kissing. However, Keika broke the heated kiss the moment Motoko's hand began to lift her shirt.
"Motoko-chan… are you… are you sure?" Keika hurriedly asked "You've… I've… we've never-"
"Hai, as sure as I've ever been." Motoko cooed softly as she moved to the side of Keika's ear, biting the lobe for emphasis and drawing a gasp-like moan from the older woman "Please, Kei-chan… I love you… I want you…"
"I love you too…" Keika whispered back before the two both locked lips once more.
With those needing, loving words, any last hint of inhibitions or doubt died in them. What moved to replace it was something truly, truly beautiful (AN: which you won't get to read, because it's a T-rated fic. Sorry to disappoint).
End Chapter 10
Author's Note: Footnotes…
(1) It's a joke of mine: I don't say women are X years old, I say they are X years young (When it's spoken, at least).
(2) If you want an idea of what I'm talking about, read up on Mahou Sensei Negima and look at how Takamichi attacks with his 'special' ability, then divide the size and strength in half and make it so that it also does more than blunt damage.
(3) In one of the volumes, when Haruka got extremely angry, her eye turned into a cat's eye. When Tsuruko, and later Motoko, were in 'combat mode', their eyes would turn black with a white iris and pupil to give them a demonic look. Given that Keika's an Urashima, I decided the cat's eye look was more fitting for her 'combat mode'
(4) Remember how Motoko won their first fight back in chapter 3? Hint: it might make this one seem familiar.
(5) That is the proper way to hand a katana to someone, though it is more typical for it to be down with you sitting/kneeling and the other person standing. Why is it that way? To show trust and respect, as it is very difficult for you to draw the blade in that position, but it is very easy for them to draw the blade in their position.
Well, there ya go! Now the only step that's left in their relationship is to get married or whatnot… well, let's just see what happens shall we? I'm personally worried that last scene wasn't quite T-rated, though I don't think anyone will complain (given that they've read this far and know what they're getting into). Oh, and before anyone asks: next chapter will begin the 'interesting' event of book nine, so there should be a bit of 'fun' to be had there.
Oh, and before anyone asks… NO, KEIKA IS NOT BEING TURNED INTO A MARY SUE-ISH CHARACTER WHO'S UNBEATABLE! SHE DIDN'T REALLY BEAT MOTOKO IN A FIGHT; THEY TIED! THAT'S ALSO ONLY BECAUSE MOTOKO WASN'T EXPECTING HER 'NEW' ABILITIES; SHE WAS CAUGHT OFF GUARD!
Thank you, and have a wonderful time till my next posting.