Love Hina: Kenshin the Keeper
Hey there everybody, this is Arganaut with the latest chapter of Love Hina: Kenshin the Keeper. Man, last chapter was a fun one wasn't it? It wasn't a well reviewed chapter though, surprisingly, I hope to change that this chapter, cause I really would like to get more reviews out of you people. Speaking of reviews, I suppose I should get on with replying to the reviews from the last chapter:
Charles ho- Yeah well, I just took what opportunities I could, and went with them. And as for your suggestions, many of which I have already thought of. I will not reveal anymore of the future of this fic, as I would like to keep some of it secret.
The Bloody Shadow- Well he's not coming 'soon' but yeah he's coming… as far as who he'll be paired up with, I'm not telling.
Hinataresident- And its coming out right now.
Anyway, enough useless typing, its time to get to the next chapter of Love Hina: Kenshin the Keeper!!!
Chapter 11: The Center Exams, and Dreams
About Two Weeks Later
Kenshin POV
Well now, it has been about fourteen days since the New Years Celebration. Not too much has happened since then, things have been running smoothly… well as smoothly as things can go at Hinata Sou. Keitaro and Naru have been studying their brains out over the past couple weeks, in fact they're now studying so often now that its almost all they do all day! Probably because the exams are getting so close.
Sanosuke and I have actually been pretty busy, you see in order to give Keitaro more time to study, I volunteered Sanosuke and myself to do his chores before the Exam. Well, more like I kind of got Sanosuke to do it with one of my 'guilt' trips, which he's actually pretty vulnerable to… must have something to do with his sister. Anyway, I'm getting off subject. Like I was saying Sanosuke and I have been busy.
Well, I've been a bit busier than Sanosuke. You see, while he was good at repairing, laundry, and cleaning, he was terrible with cooking. When I say terrible, I mean terrible. The first, and only, night he cooked for us, not even Su could choke his food down. So we were all in agreement, Sanosuke would never cook for us, EVER AGAIN! Anyway, other than the chores, which there weren't that many of, Sanosuke and myself have been enjoying ourselves.
I've been taking more time to walk around Hinata Sou, trying to get a good feel for the place. Also, the fresh air that just seemed to fill this place was nice to take in as well. Sanosuke just seemed content on sitting around parts of the dorm he already knew like the back of his hand. When you really got to know Sanosuke, he's a pretty calm sort of guy. He won't do things unless they're absolutely needed (or if someone tells him to), and he basically has a 'don't fix what's not broken' kind of mentality.
Now, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, in fact it saves us a little bit of work sometimes, but sometimes the girls get a little annoyed with it. But, other than that, Sanosuke and I don't do too much to get ourselves in trouble… except for the occasional accident. Now then, currently we were all sitting around Naru and Keitaro, both of them answering rapid-fire questions from a test book Shinobu was currently holding.
"University entrance exam test question, "World History" last question. Who was the 4th President of the United States of America?" Shinobu asked, reading a question from the test book.
"Hmmm… James Madison!" Keitaro shouted after a little bit of thought.
"James Madison." Naru stated, after very little thought.
"Correct!" Shinobu said as Naru just shrugged and Keitaro let out a small sigh. Sanosuke sighed as he cracked his neck.
"Well isn't this a turn around? Keitaro here's actually gotten most of them right." Sanosuke said as he patted Keitaro's head. "Hell, maybe you'll even pass the Center Exam." Sanosuke said as we all nodded. Over the past couple days Naru and Keitaro had explained to us the importance of the Center Exams, saying that these are the Exams that tell you if you get to take the real thing… or if you have to be a ronin… again.
Keitaro was sobbing slightly as he looked at his high mark, I patted him on the shoulder while giving a small smile. "Such a high mark, I can't believe it!" Keitaro shouted as most of us sighed. Naru just shook her head when suddenly Keitaro looked up to the ceiling with a far off look on his face. "Oh yeah! I passed the Center Exam last year too! I forgot!" Keitaro said as Sanosuke and myself face vaulted while Kitsune, Motoko, and Naru just looked at him with a surprised look.
"Passing the Center Exams basically means that you meet Tokyo U's standards… right?" Motoko asked as Keitaro blushed lightly before rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Yeah… but I only passed because the test was multiple choice…" Keitaro said as we all just stared at him.
"You make it sound so easy." Naru muttered as Keitaro sighed as he walked over to the railing of the hallway and rested his arms on it while looking out over the city.
"I also probably only passed because I used all my luck on that test…" Keitaro muttered as Sanosuke waved a hand in front of his face. When he didn't respond Sanosuke looked at us while shaking his head.
"He's having a little bit of a flashback, just give it some time." Sanosuke said as we stared at him as if he had seen this often. But our staring stopped as suddenly Keitaro continued.
"After failing for the second time in a row I was really down on my luck." He said as the look on his face turned to one of utter defeat. "Then my grades started slipping, and they kept on slipping till they got under fifty percent. Then I got kicked out of my home by my own parents… the story of my life…" Keitaro said as we all sweat dropped, truly the thought that was going through my head was the one going through everyone's.
'His life really is a disaster…' I thought as I stared at him. Suddenly Kitsune's lips curved into a smirk as she gave a reassuring look to both Keitaro and Naru.
"But at this rate, getting through the Center won't be a problem for either of you, heck maybe you'll end up going to Tokyo U next year!" Kitsune said as Keitaro and Naru gave her mildly shocked looks. You see, it wasn't often that Kitsune just handed out such reassuring words… so rare in fact that I had never even gotten one.
Suddenly Naru and Keitaro clapped hands and gave each other brilliant smiles. "Good! Let's work together towards our common goal!" Naru shouted as Keitaro shook his head up and down vigorously.
"Yes! Let's get into Tokyo U together!" Keitaro shouted as suddenly Su ran up to them.
"But isn't the number of people getting in Tokyo U limited?" Su asked as we all looked at her with extremely shocked looks on our faces. No matter how rare it was for Kitsune to be reassuring, it was even rarer for Su to ask a pretty intelligent question. I snapped out of my shock first and nodded.
"Actually Su-chan, you're right, the number is limited." I said as Naru and Keitaro began sweating. Sanosuke shrugged a bit as he stepped forward.
"Yeah… and I suppose that means that two people trying to get into the same school are competitors, not collaborators…" Sanosuke said as the grip on Naru's and Keitaro's little hand shake was starting to loosen.
Then Motoko stepped forward with her hand on her chin. "That means that if one passes, chances are the other fails…" Motoko said as suddenly Naru and Keitaro began sweating as they looked at each other with nervous looks before mildly laughing.
"HAHAHA! Well if that's the case of course Naru-san will pass! Top in the nation on the Prep Exam right?" Keitaro said while chuckling light heartedly.
No, no, no, no! You failed twice already! You have to pass the third time!" Naru shouted as they both kept this up for a couple minutes before, finally stopping. It was then that they both sped off to their own rooms, and began studying like crazy, leaving us, the remaining tenants of Hinata Sou, to go about with the rest of the 'normal' day.
The Next Day, Night Before The Exam
Sano POV
Well yesterday was a bit odd… never seen two people who were trying to get into the same school act so friendly with each other… in all honesty I was expecting a rat race… but I guess the laws of the real world don't really apply here at Hinata Sou. Anyway, not really the point. After that little fit yesterday, both of them began studying separately. It's strange to me… but hey, I guess us high school drop outs don't understand the entire 'college bound' thing.
… It's all too confusing… I just don't really get some of the people here. But, anyway, that's not the point. All the tenants of Hinata Sou have planned a little surprise party for Keitaro and Naru. They even dragged me into it by promising me that good food and drink would be there. Even now I'm lying on the ground, waiting for Keitaro to show up so we can start this party… I didn't have lunch because I thought I would be getting tons of food… and I'm hungry.
I heard the door open as I sighed and began standing up. 'Speak of the devil and he will appear.' I thought to myself as Kitsune walked out the door to get Naru and Keitaro into this room so we can get this party started. Kenshin was standing off in the opposite corner, looking as happy and excited as he normally did… how he can manage to do so is just a complete and utter mystery to me. Meanwhile Motoko was standing over beside a drum.
Shinobu was standing beside the table with food on it getting ready for their arrival. I cracked my neck as I waited for them. Kitsune finally walked through the door, and ran over towards the table with the food on it, and sat beside Shinobu. We waited for a moment or two before Keitaro and Naru finally walked in on us. "Hey! Hope you two can pass!" They all shouted (I just said it quickly), as they looked at us with surprised looks.
"Err… what's this?" Keitaro asked point blank as Kenshin walked up to them and began dragging them towards the table.
"This is a party for you two, that it is." Kenshin said as we all nodded. "After all, neither of you two should be studying the night before a test." He said as I tapped my chin.
"Maybe that was my problem in school…" I muttered as everyone looked at me with raised eyebrows as I shrugged. "Whatever let's eat and drink!" I shouted as I stood up and began helping myself to the food and drink that was laid out for us. Everyone gave 'good luck's to Keitaro and Naru… they should just be giving it to Keitaro, he's the one who needs it. We were about five minutes into the party when suddenly Keitaro asked Naru something.
"Hey Naru, when did Napoleon blockade Europe?" Keitaro asked as Naru looked at him with a slightly confused look. "1806? Or, maybe it was 1808..." Keitaro said as Naru looked at him with a slightly confused and shocked look. Then suddenly Naru blushed as she began laughing slightly while rubbing the back of her head.
"Here, let me ask you an unrelated question. Who's Napoleon's wife?" Naru said, as suddenly the less intelligent Tokyo U aspirant looked at her with a confused look. Then suddenly both began running off to the restrooms, saying that they needed to use them. I sighed as I just shook my head.
"Now they just had to go and turn this party into a study party…" I said as I took a drink of Sake. Minutes later, Naru and Keitaro came back, both laughing light heartedly and rubbing the backs of their heads. After that was over… it was only a few seconds later when they got a serious look on their face before Naru punched her fist into the air.
"Pop quiz!" She shouted as everyone looked at her. "The graph of the function yf(x) is concaved downward over the interval A (X (B, A and B are points (A, F(A), B, (F(B)) respectively , the tangent of to yf (x) at any point P (X, F(X)), A(X (B, meets the line XA at Q and line XB at R! If the area bounded by the curve, the tangent at P, the line XA, and the line XB, is minimized! Prove that the X-Coordinate of point P is independent of the function F(X)!" Naru shouted as we all blinked for a second.
'The tangent of A equals B and P is the point of the curvy line and… bah bah bah bah bah bah…..' I thought as my brain slowly turned to mush. That was all too much for my high school drop out mind to handle. I looked over at Kenshin to find him with his mouth agape, and his left eye twitching.
"Oro?" He said as I sweat dropped as I even began twitching. It was too much for us… and by the looks of it, it was too much for Keitaro to answer… in thirty seconds. As the thirty seconds passed, Su jumped forward, and started forcing Keitaro's shirt off. We all stared as Kitsune suddenly began giggling.
"This must be a guessing game, the loser has to strip!" Kitsune shouted as she began giggling as she ran over to Keitaro and Naru.
"Next! Social question!" Kitsune shouted as we all sweat dropped. What's the name of the pop star, Misia's, first album?" Kitsune asked as Keitaro and Naru simply stared at the fox girl, before she and Su pounced on them. They both tore off Naru's and Keitaro's pants, leaving Naru mostly clothed, but Keitaro down to his boxers. Now then, at this point I knew that this was going to be a bit of trouble, so I picked up Kenshin, who still had his jaw agape.
"Oro?" He said again as I sighed, he was in an advanced state of shock… and though one of Naru's punches would probably serve as 'shock therapy', I don't think he'd appreciate it too much. Then, after Su asked Naru who was the actor for Skywalker in Star Wars Episode one… which is some kind of American movie, I don't know, but that's not the point, the point was that she began taking Naru's shirt off, which of course sparked a huge nose bleed from Keitaro.
Naru looked straight at Keitaro, as if trying to find out what to do. I just stood back, and hoped that nothing would happen to the poor guy. I waited before suddenly… she slugged the poor guy. 'Poor guy… I guess Naru still has that little tick…' I thought as I sighed… and then Naru turned to me. 'Uh oh…' I thought as she cracked her knuckles. I quickly threw Kenshin to the side as I began running around.
"Get back here!" Naru shouted as I began running around not really feeling like being sent through the wall… or otherwise. The rest of the party was everyone betting on if Naru would catch me, Kitsune taking bets and then announcing the positions of the 'race' as if she were one of the guys at the horse race track.
"And we got Angry Pervert Crusher following Scared As Hell Zanbato Boy, and its SAHZB in the lead, with APC staying on him like white on rice. And its still SAHZB in the lead and… OH! APC just caught up with him, and its an all out brawl in the living room… the good news is I just made one-hundred and fifty yen on my bet with Shinobu, Motoko, and Su!" Kitsune said as the other tenants handed her their money as I was knocked across the room like a rag doll…
The Next Morning
Kenshin POV
'Oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro.' …Oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro, oro… wait! I know the answer! Of course, it was so simple!
"The answer is!" I began as I shot up off the ground… and looked around to find everyone asleep on the floor. I looked at them all… and found most of them in very strange positions. Keitaro was very, very close to Naru's rear. Shinobu was asleep on a random part of the floor, while Shinobu was crushing Motoko… and Sanosuke's head was through the wall. I looked out to find it to be nice and sunny out… wait… nice and sunny… uh oh.
I quickly ran over to a clock that was situated close to Keitaro. I picked it up, and looked at the time for several seconds… until I completely froze. Keitaro woke up and, after moving away from Naru, looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Hey Kenshin-san, what's up?" He asked as he walked over… and froze as he got a good look at the clock. Naru woke up next, putting her glasses on as she yawned.
"(Yawn) What's up?" She asked as she walked over… and saw the same thing we did, and froze. It was then that she and Keitaro began running for the door, scrambling to get their coats and shoes on. I stared at them as they screamed, waking up Kitsune and Shinobu. Shinobu ran for Keitaro's bag, got it, and handed it to him before he was able to get out the door. We all stared for moments, until Motoko and Su woke up, and began going over the normal routine.
I stared for a while before Sanosuke finally pulled his head out of the hole in the wall. He had a huge bruise on his left cheek that was beginning to turn purple. He looked around before walking up to us, and yawning before cleaning out his ear. "So what did I miss?" He asked as we looked at him, sighed, and then began getting ready for breakfast.
Later That Night
It was later that night when Keitaro and Naru finally returned. "We're back!" Naru shouted as we all went to the entrance of the dorms to check on our two examinees.
"Oh, you're back!" Shinobu said as the door began to open.
"How's the first day of the Exam?" Kitsune shouted as the door opened… to reveal a very, very scary looking sight. Keitaro was absolutely pale, all of the color on him… even in his clothing was absolutely colorless. "I think I know the answer just by looking at you…" Kitsune said as we simply watched as Keitaro collapsed onto the floor… as the color only slowly drained back into his body. He stood back up, and began laughing lightly.
"It's not that bad! Its just I did poorly on English, World History, and Mathematics… but only those three subjects!" Keitaro shouted as we all sighed a slight sigh of relief.
Naru, however, looked at Keitaro with an estranged look. "Weren't those the three subjects for today's exam?" Naru asked as Keitaro sighed and we all face vaulted into the floor.
"Well I was short on time… so I had to use my sixth sense for a lot of the answers…" Keitaro said as we all sweat dropped as we laid on the floor.
"Well Keitaro… I hope you do better tomorrow… or else you'll end up being a Third Year Ronin…." Sanosuke said, putting extra emphasis on the last three words. Keitaro simply laughed while patting Sanosuke on the shoulder.
"Ahhh! Don't worry about it! My brain will kick in tomorrow!" Keitaro said as Sanosuke simple raised an eyebrow at him.
"You've been trying to get it running for the past two years… is now really such a good time to try to force it to run…" Sanosuke said as Keitaro began running.
"It shouldn't be a problem…" Keitaro said as he slipped on a banana peel. "OHHH NOO!" He shouted as he slipped and fell down the stairs. "AAAHHHH! SAVE ME! I'M FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS!!!" And so he did; he fell all the way down the stairs. I watched as poor Keitaro writhed in pain as we walked down the stairs to help him out.
Later the Next Night
Later the next night, Keitaro and Naru came home… and Keitaro was absolutely pale… once again. Apparently he wasn't quite confident in his answers… once again. We all walked up to the second floor, next to Keitaro's room. He sighed as he looked at us with a slight smile. "Wel-well later… I'm going to compute my score…hahahahaha…" Keitaro said as he walked in, and closed the door behind him as we all sweat dropped.
"Is he going to be okay?" Kitsune asked as she looked at Naru. "What are the scores he's getting?" She asked as she leaned towards Naru, a mild blush of embarrassment on her face. "And what is this exam? I don't get a thing about it…" Kitsune said as Naru sighed.
"Then why do you pretend that you do get it?" Naru asked as Kitsune laughed nervously and she sighed. Before she could explain Su suddenly jumped in.
"Wait Naru let me explain!" Su shouted as suddenly the background disappeared, and a new one dropped from the sky… causing me and Sanosuke to sweat drop and look at each other.
"Another one of the broken laws of physics?" He asked as I sighed and nodded. Su jumped up as she pointed to the backdrop… which was basically a giant web of events.
"First the examinees take the test!" Su shouted as she pointed to the first picture, one of her taking a test. "Then you show it to the teacher, completed of course, and then they send it off in the mail!" She shouted as the next picture was of her showing her test to a teacher, and then mailing it off. "And then you wait for the mail man to give it to you, and you compute the tests!" Su shouted as Motoko sighed before moving her out of the way.
"I'm taking it from here Su." Motoko said as Su just nodded and jumped out of the way. "The score you get determines if you can apply for the Entrance Exams for a certain college. This Center Exam is the first step. The next step is the actual college Entrance Exam." Motoko said as she tried to clear up Su's version. "The examination department won't tell you your score. So the student looks at the newspaper's answer key and computes the score themselves." Motoko said as everyone nodded.
"In the case of Keitaro, his score will determine whether or not he's allowed to enroll or not." Motoko said as everyone looked forward… except for us.
"Even after you explained it, I'm still don't get it… though considering I'm not taking the Exam it doesn't matter." Kitsune said as she blushed lightly.
"A Japanese student's life is so hard." Shinobu said as she rubbed the back of her head lightly.
"Good luck everybody!" Shinobu said as the backdrop rolled back up, and the 'real' background reappeared. Sanosuke and I just sweat dropped as we looked at each other with estranged looks.
"Please, Kenshin-san… just kill me now… I don't know how much more of this I can handle…." Sanosuke said as I patted him on the shoulder.
"It's over now Sanosuke-san… you don't have to worry about the weird old background change anymore…" I said as Sanosuke simply shuddered as he sighed and everyone looked at us as if we were the weirdoes. Suddenly Naru came back (she must have disappeared during the background change) with a paper in her hand.
"I'm finished computing my score!" Naru said as we all looked at her with an expectant look.
"What's the result?" Kitsune asked as Naru simply smiled and gave us all a thumbs up.
"It's great, I scored 766 points." Naru said as Motoko, Su and Shinobu started clapping. Kitsune walked up to her and looked a the paper.
"766 points, is that good?" Kitsune asked as Naru nodded.
"Yeah, I shouldn't have any problems at all." She said as I nodded.
"That's good news Naru-san." I said as Sanosuke shrugged.
"Whatever, it's not like it was some kind of surprise for you to pass. The one we really got to look at is Keitaro." Sanosuke said as Naru sweat dropped.
"He hasn't come back yet?" Naru asked as suddenly we all began sweating.
"I haven't heard from him yet." Kitsune said as everyone became a little jumpy.
"I hope he's okay." Shinobu said as suddenly we all began thinking a bit deeply.
"500 points is the cut off mark… but by the way he looked…" Naru said as Su jumped up.
"He didn't do well on the Exam?" She asked as Kitsune began sweating a little more.
"If he failed for a third time… it would really be a pretty big deal to him." Kitsune said as Shinobu became slightly more worried.
"He couldn't…. could he?" Shinobu asked as suddenly Motoko got a seriously nervous look on her face.
"Now that you mention it, I noticed that he looked very nervous a minute ago." She said as suddenly Kitsune jumped.
"Don't tell me he locked himself in his room to commit suicide!!!" Kitsune shouted. Suddenly, all of us paled as we began imagining Keitaro hanging himself, and then a newspaper headline, the headline being about Keitaro hanging himself over his grade. We all began panicking… well all of us besides Sanosuke, who simply stood there, a bored look on his face. We all stared at him, and it took Kitsune clearing her throat to bring Sanosuke back into the real world.
"What?" He asked as we all sweat dropped before his eyes snapped open. "Oh! OH NO THIS IS SO TERRIBLE! AHHHHHHHH!" Sanosuke said in a mock panicked voice as we all sweat dropped again. Was he seriously joking about Keitaro possibly committing suicide? Sanosuke sighed as he looked at all of was with his head tilted to the side. "Come on, it's Keitaro we're talking about. Now I may have only known him for a little while… but that happy-go-lucky dork probably wouldn't commit suicide unless he had gone insane." Sanosuke said as we all sighed in relief…
Well we were relieved until we began hearing Keitaro cackle in his room. He kept on laughing for several seconds. We all looked at Sanosuke with raised eyebrows as he stared at the room with slightly widened eyes. "Well, get the undertaker…" He said as we all sweat dropped as suddenly Keitaro slammed open the sliding door, and practically jumped out.
"Hey guys! Listen to what I have to say!" Keitaro shouted as suddenly most of us jumped out of our skin. "I actually…" Keitaro said as suddenly the idea of the news headline appeared back into my mind. I began walking down the hall as everyone looked at me.
"I gotta go and practice!" I shouted as I heard everyone slowly begin to follow me.
Sano POV
Keitaro and I watched as everyone left the hallway in front of his room. I stayed behind… and why you might ask. Hell, I've seen people commit suicide before, they did it so that they wouldn't get killed by me. I watched as Keitaro looked around very confused, before he noticed me and looked at me with a small smile. "Hey Sanosuke-san, you wanna know what I scored!?" Keitaro asked with a large smile as I sighed before putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Sure Keitaro, and don't worry. If you need to cry on my shoulder I'll let you just his once…" I said as he sweat dropped and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"What are you talking about, I got 600 points!" Keitaro said. my jaw dropped and my eyes went as wide as dinner plates. He passed…. this idiot passed! I can't believe it! It's a freaking miracle! He stared at me with a slightly worried look… before I put my arm around his neck and began giving him a well deserved noogie. "What the hell are you doing Sanosuke-san!?" Keitaro shouted as I continued.
"You little nerdy bastard! You passed!" I shouted as I began laughing out loud, and as he went slightly limp in my grip before suddenly he jumped up and began laughing along with me. We laughed for several seconds before he froze for a second and looked at me with an insulted look.
"Hey, what do you mean by 'little nerdy bastard'?" Keitaro asked me as I laughed before giving him another noogie.
"Ahh, don't worry about it." I said as he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Anyway, I'll be going now, see you later." I said as Keitaro once again tried to ask me why I called him 'little nerdy bastard' I simply sped up and lost him. I began looking around for the others, and only managed to find Kenshin. I smirked as I walked up to the little guy. "Yo, Kenshin, I have some good news." Sanosuke said as Kenshin nodded.
"As do I." He said as I shrugged, giving him permission to speak first. "Well, you see, the girls have set up a nice cheer up party for Keitaro in the hot springs." He said as I looked at him with widened eyes. "If you're wondering why I'm not there, they said they didn't want me seeing what hey were going to give to Keitaro, that they did." Kenshin said as I grabbed him by the shoulders and began shaking him.
"IDIOT!" I shouted as he looked at me with widened eyes. "KEITARO PASSED THE ING TEST! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS IF THEY FIND OUT!?" I shouted as Kenshin's eyes went slightly dull as his jaw dropped.
"Oro…" He said as I waited for a second. Then in the next instant his eyes went as wide as dinner plates, and went ablaze with panic. "OH MY GOD SANOSUKE-SAN, THEY'LL KILL HIM!" Kenshin shouted as I nodded. "We have to stop the party!" He shouted as I nodded and we both began running for the hot springs. We both ran past the dressing room, and rushed into the springs, not even bothering to look around.
"DON'T DO IT, HE PASSED!" We both shouted as we froze. Right in front of us… were Motoko, Kitsune, Shinobu, and Su in bathing suits, Keitaro in boxers… and Naru standing right beside him. We stared with mouths agape as Motoko drew her sword, and Naru began cracking her knuckles.
"Oh no…" Kenshin muttered as Naru turned towards Keitaro…. and punched him, sending him flying across the dorm. Then suddenly Motoko launched a Shinmeiryuu attack at Kenshin, sending him flying after Keitaro. I began chuckling as I looked at all of them with a small smirk.
"Ha! You ran out of ammo!" I said as suddenly I heard another crack.
"Is that so?" I heard coming from Kitsune as I looked at her… as she cracked her knuckles with a killer expression on her face. "Take this!" She shouted as she socked me a good one, sending me flying after Keitaro and Kenshin. As I flew, I saw Keitaro and Kenshin laying on the ground. They panicked as they saw me flying towards them, and they tried to move… sadly they didn't move fast enough to get away from my landing point... I landed on them… knocking all of us out cold.
Three Nights Later
It was three nights later and I was walking through Hinata Sou. I had a strange urge for a bit of drinking… though the reason for it wasn't entirely unclear. You see, earlier today we found Keitaro had indeed passed the Center Exams for Tokyo U. Now then, this time we threw a party for succeeding (for both Naru and Keitaro). We did clear up the event three days ago… so now we're off the hook… for now.
Now, I was happy for Keitaro… but it just made me realize something. This kid has the potential to make something of himself… an opportunity that really never was sent my way. It made me feel… oh I don't know, bad… well worse than I normally do. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't planning suicide, hell no. I've gotten past that; I stopped thinking suicide a long time ago… after I met Sozo…
But, once again, I'm rambling. I'm going down for a drink; see if I can't help speed up the process of getting this feeling off my chest. I finally reached the kitchen… when I saw the resident fox girl, once again drinking… oh hell I could use someone to talk to. I walked past her and opened the fridge. As I did she looked up from her own drink and smirked at me. "Hey there stud, what are you doing at this time of night." She asked, a cheesy grin on her face.
I grabbed a bottle of Sake, popped off the cork keeping the alcoholic drink in the bottle, and walked over to a chair in front of her. I sighed as I took a drink before looking her straight in the eye… well closed eye, but that doesn't make much of a difference. "Well… I just need a good drink right about now Kitsune…" I said as I took a deep drink. "It's just that damn test Keitaro passed." I said as she raised an eyebrow.
"What, the Center Exam thing? Why would you be all upset about that stud?" She said as I sighed at the nickname she coined me with when I first came to this dorm as a guest. I took another drink before sighing.
"Tell me… have you even seen someone else succeed at something you knew that you'd never have a chance at… and just feel… well a bit jealous about it… because you knew that even if you wanted to try thanks to screw ups you made it would be impossible…" I said as I took another drink and she tilted her head to the side.
"No…" She said as suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh don't tell me you're going all goth on us and you're thinking about killing yourself!" She said as she grabbed her head. "Man, why do all the goths come out to me!?" She shouted as I chuckled, catching her attention.
"Oh don't worry about that… just feeling a bit sorry for myself is all…" I said as she gave a sigh of relief before continuing drinking. When I finished off a drink I set it on the table before sighing. "All my thoughts of suicide have been long passed…" I muttered as suddenly she did a spit take and looked me straight in the eye.
"You! Actually considered killing yourself!?" She shouted as I nodded before taking another drink. "Man, I was joking earlier about the entire goth thing, but you really considered killing yourself!?!?!" She shouted as I nodded once again before putting my drink on the table. "I mean, Naru told me about the entire being given away thing… but was it that bad." She said as I sighed.
"Well, to answer your question… yeah." I said as my mind began wondering… probably being affected slightly by the alcohol. "The foster family that took me in were rather inattentive when it came to me… never really wanting to have much of a part in my life… one of the reasons I dropped out of high school was because I knew they wouldn't care…" I said as I saw Kitsune was listening intently.
"I guess… I just felt so unwanted in the world… there wasn't a person who cared… I mean my own family sent me off just because another member was on their way… how ed up is that huh?" I said as she nodded. "In fact… I probably would have gone through with it… if a certain man didn't stop me…" I said as she raised an eyebrow. I looked at her with a slight smirk. "You wanna know his name." I asked as she shook her head no.
"Oh no, I wouldn't touch this with a twenty foot pole!" She said as I chuckled… she doubled the length of the pole from the last talk. I smirked at her as I took a drink.
"Good, because if I told you I would have to kill you." I said as she froze before I began chuckling. She also began laughing shortly afterwards. We both finished our drinks before I got up and extended my hand. "Thanks for listening to the rant there, Kitsune… I really needed it." I said as she shook my hand.
"Ahhh. Don't sweat it, just call me Dr. Konno!" She shouted as we both chuckled before heading up to our own rooms… I really did feel just a bit better.
February 4th
Kenshin POV
It has been quite a few weeks since the Center Exams, and things have been going rather well here at Hinata Sou. Naru and Keitaro have been studying, as always, while Sanosuke and myself have been training. The other tenants… well nothing exciting has really happened for a while now… to anyone. It's just been an average couple weeks. But hey, maybe that'll change today. Anyway, Keitaro, Naru, and I were sitting on top of the roof, just enjoying the sights.
"Twenty days until the Entrance Exam…" Naru muttered as Keitaro lightly chuckled..
"Argh… the Entrance Exam… I'm worried…" He said as I simply smiled at him.
"I don't think you have too much to worry about Keitaro-san." I said as he smiled at me. "I think you'll do fine, that you will." I said as he nodded before getting a far off look in his eyes. We all sat there for a few seconds, lost in our own thoughts. I was busy thinking about how drastically my life had changed over the past few months… the thoughts would have continued had Keitaro not begun sneezing.
He sneezed quite a few times, his face slowly turning a red hue around his cheeks. As he stopped, Naru and I picked him up and began carrying him to his room… it was on the other side of the dorm. "Getting sick this time of year Keitaro…. how unfortunate… and it seemed to come out of nowhere…" I said… and it was true, he was fine a moment ago. Keitaro merely sneezed in response as we got into the halls of Hinata Sou.
As we walked, we suddenly heard moaning, and not a good moaning either… the bad kind, the sick kind. All of a sudden, Sanosuke stumbled out of one of the halls, his face almost completely red. He was sweating bullets as he held his stomach and moaned. We stared at him as he looked at us with slightly glazed eyes. "I don't feel so cool." He said as he practically collapsed onto the ground.
Naru and I ran over to him, Naru bending down to get a feel for his temperature. As she felt his forehead she yelped as she pulled her hand back. "Jeez, he's burning up!" She shouted as she looked at me expectantly. I sighed as I began picking up Sanosuke and carrying him, while Naru did the same for Keitaro. We continued walking, and we were just outside of mine, Keitaro's, and Sanosuke's room before my knees started shaking and I began coughing like there was no tomorrow.
"You now what Naru-san… I'm not feeling all that great myself… I think I'm gonna… lay down…" I said as I collapsed onto the floor, my head feeling like it was going to explode, and Sanosuke landed right beside me. I was still awake… but I was just so tired. Naru stared at us, a sweat drop forming on the back of her head.
"This could be a problem…" Naru said as she began the process of trying to get the three of us into our room. It was several minutes later when she was able to drag Sanosuke into our room, and put him onto a futon. She sighed as she ran out of the room, and came back a few minutes later with a few thermometers. She stuck one under each of our tongues, and after a minute she began checking them.
"99.8 degrees F…" She said as she checked Keitaro's temperature. She then moved over to mine and pulled it out. "101 degrees F…" She said as she then moved over to Sanosuke. I could tell she was considering getting oven-mitts for this one, but she pulled it out, shook it, and then checked it.. before her eyes practically bugged out of her head. "104 degrees F!" She shouted as Sanosuke 'shrugged' under the cover of his futon.
"Is that all… that's not even close… to my record…" He panted as we all sweat dropped (but with me and Keitaro you really couldn't tell) as we looked at him.
"What is your record?" Naru asked as Sanosuke thought for a moment before looking at her.
"How hot does the human body have to get for you to get heat stroke?" He asked as we all sweat dropped. Naru stood up and began walking out, before turning around to face us.
"I'm going to get the ice bags, you guys just stay there…" She said as we all sighed/sneezed/coughed as she left. Only a second after she left Keitaro suddenly began crawling out of his futon, and towards his desk. I would have stopped him… had I actually felt good enough to care… I felt terrible… and that feeling was magnified when Su suddenly fell ran in, and jumped onto Keitaro's back.
"Helloooooo guys! Are you still alive?!" She yelled as we looked up at her and moaned, Keitaro moaning from the now tremendous pain in his back. Suddenly Motoko and Kitsune came in the room as well, looking at us with looks of pity.
"What are you all doing here?" I asked as Motoko sighed, Su giggled, and Kitsune smirked. Su suddenly cracked an egg over her head while holding a glass of what appeared to be beer in her hand.
"I'm here to help you guys!" She said as she dropped the yolk of the egg into the beer… and then got out another glass and another egg. "Warm beer and egg is good for when you're sick! I mean, that tea worked for Motoko-chan, right Rurouni-kun!" She shouted as I sweat dropped slightly as she got out another egg, and another glass of beer. Meanwhile Motoko pulled out a few cooked lizards and frogs.
"Like she said, you cured me of my cold… and since it appears you're in no condition to do anything of the sort again, I'm repaying you." She said as she began grinding up the lizards and frogs in a cup. "This is an old family recipe for illnesses, it should help." She said as Su held up the beers.
"It's ready." They both said (well Su shouted) as they approached us. Motoko and Su did Keitaro first, giving him the ground up lizard and frog while Su poured the 'Special Eggnog' down his throat. They then did the same with myself and Sanosuke. The result of Keitaro was almost instantaneous, as he his nose erupted in a fountain of blood… looked like the beer was a bit strong for the poor guy.
The results for Sanosuke and myself… were less than great. We didn't show much sign of improvement… if anything Sanosuke was getting worse, as he was actually shivering, even at 104 degrees F! Suddenly Kitsune sauntered over to Sanosuke with a smug grin on her face. "Ahhh... look at stud… get him sick and he falls to pieces." She said as she got a blush on her face and giggled… yep she was drunk… again.
Sanosuke groaned as his glazed eyes made there way over to Kitsune. "Bi-bi-bite me Kitsune…" He said as Kitsune giggled more as he moaned, and Motoko merely shrugged in a 'eh, she had it coming' way, while Su just ran around the room saying 'bite me' over and over again.
"Ahhh… don't worry stud I'll help you get better, after all, all you have to do is warm up the body and it'll recover." She said with a slight slur as she unbuttoned her shirt and began tucking herself in with Sanosuke. "Here, body warmth!" She said with a giggle as the red on Sanosuke's face increased a few folds, Motoko, myself, and Keitaro sighed, and Su just commented on how it 'looked fun'.
We heard a dish crash to the floor as we looked towards the door to see Shinobu standing there in utter shock. Having apparently misinterpreted what was going on she ran off, yelling that she was sorry she interrupted. A few moments later Naru busted in with Shinobu right beside her, sporting a look of irritation. "Hey, are you all done fooling around!?" She shouted as they all looked at her with slightly shocked looks.
Moments later, Naru had them all sitting in a straight line in front of us, their heads bowed down as the young woman lectured them. "Get it? If you keep messing with these guys, they're not going to get any better. They're seriously sick, and the only thing other than letting them relax, only Kenshin knows how to make, and look at him." She said as she pointed to me… I assumed I must have looked pretty terrible because the three of them paled.
"And he's not even the worse, look at Sanosuke, he looks like he's about to kick the bucket at any moment!" She shouted as we all looked at Sanosuke… and her description was rather accurate if you asked me. He looked absolutely terrible… and I could imagine that right about now Kitsune's hoping that she doesn't catch whatever he has. "Just let them rest, alright?" Naru asked as all three of them apologized.
Suddenly Su pulled out a book and walked up to Naru. "Can I read them a bed time story?" She asked as Naru just sighed and nodded. Su walked up to us and smiled. "I found a book about Keitaro!" She said to us as we all looked… to see the book about a 'Tarou' Urashima. Sanosuke was the first to respond as he sighed.
"That's…. someone else…" He said, his eyes slowly starting to roll into the back of his head as he closed his eyes. As Su read, the other girls began reading as well…. I think I'll take Sanosuke's lead and go to sleep as well… after all… I'm exhausted…
Dream
I slowly began waking up in the middle of a sakura tree forest. The blossoms fell as suddenly the wind blew, leading the blossoms down a particular path. I raised my eyebrows as I began walking slowly down the path. I didn't feel sick anymore, and I was in my normal attire with my sword hanging at my waist. Before I could question much more, I was suddenly at a beach, the sun out and shining. On the beach… I saw Keitaro, just getting out of his futon and looking around.
"Keitaro-san? What are you doing here?" I asked as he looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
"I was about to ask you the same question…" He said as he kept on looking around. "I think we're in a dream…" He said as suddenly we heard something in the bushes.
"This couldn't be a dream." Sanosuke's voice said as he came out of the bushes, when he did I could see his Zanbato perched on his back. "If this were a dream of mine then there would be Sake… and beautiful women… and many other pleasures life has to offer…" He said as we sweat dropped before we heard crying. We looked around, and saw all little kid being pushed around by two kids close to his age. As we approached… we saw that it was Haitani and Shirai… and they were pushing a little Keitaro around.
We all stared for a moment before Keitaro came to his senses. "Why are you bullying him, you shouldn't do that!" Keitaro said as Shirai and Haitani looked at him.
"Because…" Haitani began saying before crossing his arms. "The idiot failed the entrance Exam twice and he still refuses to give up… and he's as slow as a turtle." He said as Keitaro vaulted into the ground, as little Shirai taunted little Keitaro with a trig question.
"Now, unless I am mistaken aren't the two of you still ronins just like Keitaro-san?" I asked as Haitani and Shirai flinched and Keitaro kicked both of them.
"Yeah so get out of here, and don't let me see you bullying him again!" Keitaro shouted as little Shirai and Haitani ran for the hills crying. Meanwhile Keitaro helped little Keitaro up and began brushing him up. "Don't worry the bad guys are gone." Keitaro said as his miniature self began smiling.
"Thanks mister." He said as he smiled at all of us. "And for helping me out, I'll take you to the Dragon Palace!" He said as he grabbed Keitaro by the wrist and began pulling him. As he dragged Keitaro off, Sanosuke and I looked at each other, shrugged, and began following them. We followed them towards the inside of what I now assume to be an island, and as he did… it began snowing.
"That's funny…" He said as we all looked at the snow. "It's not supposed to snow like this…" He said as we kept on walking… when suddenly a huddled up figure started to appear off in the distance. The figure had brown spiked hair that covered most of his face. The figure was a boy, about four feet tall, and about ten years old... and he looked oddly familiar. Sanosuke stopped when we got closer to the boy… and held us back.
"Wait here." He said as he began walking towards the boy. The boy looked up at Sanosuke with slightly watery eyes. Sanosuke looked down at the boy for several moments… before ruffling his hair and helping him off the ground. Sanosuke took off his jacket and gave it to the boy, who barely had any warm clothes on his at all. He even tore off a section of his own headband and tied it around the boy's head.
When he came back… we saw a miniature Sanosuke standing beside our Sanosuke. "Guys… meet me. Me, meet the guys." Sanosuke said as his smaller self looked at all of us. Little Keitaro walked up to him, looked at him for a little bit, and then extended his hand.
"Hi, my name's Keitaro, what's yours?" He asked as little Sanosuke slowly took his hand and shook it.
"My name's… Sanosuke Higashidani." Little Sanosuke said as Keitaro and I looked at Sanosuke with a slightly confused look as he sighed.
"So I changed my last name to Sagara. Does it really matter?" He asked as we shrugged.
"I guess not." Keitaro said as we all continued walking forward, the snow slowly starting to clear up once again, revealing the forest again. Though it was only a few minutes later when suddenly the entire area was taken in a thick fog. We all sighed as little Keitaro once again said how this kind of weather was really odd. Suddenly… off in the distance… another, smaller, figure appeared… running from something…
It was me… when I was younger…
Sano POV
We looked on to see a little spiked, red haired kid with a slash across his cheek that was still bleeding, running until he was forced up against a tree. He had big purple eyes, that shone with fear at the moment. He appeared to have been running from something… and that something appeared in the form of a pretty tall guy with a… oh my God… could that be… there's no mistaking it…
Its Enishi… one of the highest ranking thugs in the Yakuza, second only to the leader himself… the guy made my skin crawl. I had gone on a few hits with the guy myself… and despite how I killed people… the way he killed them scared me. He was so ruthless… so efficient in the way he killed… it just freaked me out in a way that nothing else really could. We watched as Enishi picked up the red haired kid by the shirt collar, and cut another mark onto the kid's cheek…
Making a cross mark… is this Kenshin? My question was swiftly answered when Kenshin, all of a sudden, rushed at Enishi, drawing his sword as he let loose a yell. I watched as he cut straight through Enishi, causing him to disappear. Kenshin took a few deep breathes as he looked at the child, and bent down to his level. Keitaro, his little self, myself, and my little self, watched in amazement as Kenshin helped his little self up, and began bringing him over here.
When they were close I saw that my guess was indeed correct. Standing in front of us was a little Kenshin, probably not even five years old… and despite what just happened… both of them were smiling lightly… yep they were Kenshin. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my little self." Kenshin said in such a normal tone that it surprised Keitaro and I to no end. However, our little selves weren't all that effected as they walked up to him.
"Hey, I'm Sanosuke! This is Keitaro, what's your name!" My little self asked as Kenshin's little self smiled.
"My name is Shinta!" He shouted with a big smile on his face. Keitaro looked at Kenshin with a raised eyebrow, but I really didn't care, after all I changed my own name. Suddenly little Keitaro began walking again, and we began following him again. As we walked, our little selves began talking to each other…
"Talk about communicating with your inner-child…" Kenshin said as both Keitaro and I sighed and shook our heads. Suddenly we heard the sound of giant footsteps behind us. We turned around to see Su, riding on top of a giant Ostrich.
"Heeey! You guys still alive!?" She shouted as we looked at her… and noticed that she had shrunk a considerable amount. But before any of us could think to ask her she got this huge smile on her face. "You guys are still sick right?!" She asked as suddenly the ostrich began laying eggs on top of us… and we dropped into a giant glass of beer. Su began stirring us, the eggs, and the beer as she giggled. "Eggnog is good for you!" She shouted as I surfaced.
"Guys, there's only one way to get out of this!" I shouted as they all shot up to the top.
"What!?" They, and their miniature selves, screamed as I pointed towards the eggnog.
"Drink! Drink like you've never done before!" I shouted as we all began taking huge gulps of the eggnog. We all drank until all of the eggnog was gone. Our little selves were very drunk at the moment, and all of ours stomachs were filled to the brim with eggnog… Keitaro even threw up a bit. Su then bent down in front of us and giggled.
"How was it…" She asked as I burped a little bit.
"Terrible." We all said as all of us began emptying out the contents of our stomachs. It was a few minutes later when we all felt well enough to continue. We continued following little Keitaro to this 'Dragon Castle' only now Su was following us on her giant ostrich. We walked for about fifteen minutes… before we heard these huge explosions behind us. We turned around to see a giant lizard, and a giant frog, with a little Motoko and baby Shinobu on its head.
"I heard you guys had a cold! Eat this lizard and frog, that should make you feel better!" Little Motoko said as suddenly the giant lizard crashed its jaws onto the spot Kenshin was standing, then swallowed him whole. It wasn't much longer after that the frog's tongue wrapped around me, and dragged me into it. I could hear all of them screaming about how we were getting eaten… LIKE HELL I'M GOING TO BE EATEN BY A FROG!
As I landed in the frog's stomach I drew my Zanbato and began cutting, I eventually cut through the frog's neck, and jumped out, earning 'ah's from the group of little people and Keitaro. Then suddenly there was a sword sticking out of the lizard's neck, and in the next instant Kenshin sent multiple cuts through the lizard's neck, causing its head to fall off, and allowing him to escape. As he did the kids began clapping and cheering, and Keitaro just stared in amazement.
"WOW! They're just like manga superheroes!" My little self shouted as all the other kids nodded in agreement. After a little while, and after Kenshin and I were able to get all of the guts and crap off of us, we all began walking again. Shinobu stayed perched on Motoko's shoulders. Motoko, however, stayed close to Shinta (little Kenshin), a light blush on her face. I sighed as we kept on walking.
"Hey, where are we going anyway?" Little Motoko asked as little Keitaro turned around.
"We're going to go see the Dragon Princess!" Little Keitaro said as Motoko raised an eyebrow.
"Princess?" Motoko asked as little Keitaro shook his head up and down.
"Yeah she's really cute too!" He shouted as suddenly we heard tiny footsteps.
"And here I am!" We heard from the side. We looked to see… a tiny Kitsune in a bunny girl outfit. I sighed as Keitaro face vaulted and Kitsune posed. "The princess is here!" She shouted as little Keitaro just walked on by her.
"She ain't the princess." He said as she gave him an indignant look.
"Respect your elders, kid!" She shouted as we all sweat dropped. We now continued walking, Kitsune following us now… except she was talking with my little self. We all kept walking, up a set of stairs, and… right up to Hinata Sou. We all stared as we noticed that little Keitaro was gone. We looked forward to see him in a sandbox with some girl… they were promising each other that they were going to Tokyo U. "Awwww. How cute!" Little Kitsune shouted as suddenly they noticed us.
The girl walked up to Keitaro, and gave him some chest with string holding it together. "Thank you misters, here's a magical chest, as a token of my gratitude." She said as I raised an eyebrow. This girl actually used gratitude… and in the right way. "Just don't open it, okay." She said as Keitaro nodded… and little Su just popped open the chest.
"What's in here?" She asked as suddenly a plume of smoke shot up out of the box and enveloped the entire area. I coughed up smoke as I noticed our little selves were gone… and so were the little girls. They were gone… and replaced with their normal selves. While Keitaro looked back towards the girl, Kenshin and I stared at the normal girls… before they began beating the crap out of us.
Real World
Kenshin POV
I slowly began waking up as I was being beaten to death in my dream. I opened my eyes to see a concerned Naru looking over the three of us. I sat up… and noticed that not only Keitaro was getting up, but so was Sanosuke. "Sanosuke-san, you alright?" I asked as he sighed before smirking.
"Like I said, that fever was nothing compared to my…" He said as he froze before looking at Naru. "Hey Naru, mind getting me something to drink, I'm dieing of thirst." He said as Naru nodded and left. When she did… he turned to us with an estranged look on his face. "Either of you two remember being in a dream with each other?" He asked as I nodded and Keitaro nodded lightly.
"Yeah… it was weird… what do you think it meant?" Keitaro asked as we both looked as Sanosuke, who was tapping his chin.
"I think it means we're going insane." He said as we both sweat dropped… and the girls barged into our room with a bunch of books, and began to 'assault' us with fairy tales, novels, and other stories.
R&R