"Kanako dear... Back from China so soon?"
Chapter 10:
"Greetings grandmother… Unsure as to why you seem so surprised to see me. You knew that once I realized my little endeavor in China was a mere diversion, I'd immediately be on the next plane to Japan! ..." Kanako's eyes grew cold, looking stern and betrayed. "How long did you think it would take me to figure out what was going on, especially after you skipped the country so suddenly? I'd prefer to believe it was out of desperation, because otherwise would mean you obviously don't think that much of me. Surprise, surprise to find you back here at the apartments. I assume you're done trying to convince me that two and two equals something other than four?"
"What on Earth are you talking about dear?" the old woman innocently replied to her granddaughter.
Kanako growled, struggling against the urge to throttle her grandmother. "Curse you old woman! How stupid do you think I am?! I may only be an Urashima by way of adoption, but I know our family's history as well as anyone… You taught it to me yourself, or did you forget that in your old age?!... It's been nearly three-hundred years… Tell me you didn't let Oni-chan go through with it! Tell me I'm just being paranoid!"
"Oni-chan?" Naru mouthed to herself as Haruka's head appeared out of nowhere.
"Yup, you heard her right. She's Keitaro's little sister Kanako..."
"Sempai has a sister!"
"Well, don't that just beat all…" Kitsune chimed in, somewhat irked as if she thought that her dogged sense of entitlement to house gossip had been violated somehow by hearing this. "Leave it to 'ol Keitaro to forget to mention something like a sister..."
"Don't forget Kitsune, this is Keitaro we're talking about here," Haruka said through a drag of her cigarette. "He's not exactly the most clear-headed person you'll ever meet. Is it really a shock to think that telling his friends something so important as the existence of a younger sibling would slip his mind? He hasn't seen the girl in years, so that could be the reason why he never mentioned her... Keitaro's never been good with details, especially when they're not staring him in the face... Think about it. How often do you hear him talk about his parents? Close to never, if even that, I'd wager."
"Now that you mention it..." Naru murmured as she thought back, and could only recall several scattered occasions when Keitaro even mentioned his family outside of Hinata House. Even those were brief comments made in passing, usually regarding the family candy shop, or complaints from Keitaro usually to do with his parents dogging him for his academic shortcomings. There was never any mention of a younger sister though… Naru had never really helped matters, since she had never really asked Keitaro about this family, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed… And a bit concerned. If Keitaro neglected to tell anybody about his own sister, what else could he possibly be keeping from them? Then again, Naru had to consider the fact that Keitaro was an idiot, which could've had something to do with it too.
Meanwhile, back at the potential crime scene. "Kanako, get a hold of yourself! I in no way feel obligated to explain my actions to you, but if you have to know, I left you behind in China for your own good! Your emotional attachment to your brother would've only complicated the matter further."
"It was my right to be here with my brother! You really feel that it was in your right to take that away from me?! Especially if this was…" Kanako stumbled over her words, struggling not to cry. "No, I won't think that way! I won't let you take that away from me! Now tell me, where's my brother!"
"... I'm sorry dear, but you're already too late...It's already underway…" Hina spoke softly, so the other girls would have a difficult time making out what she was saying. More or less, Kanako completely contradicted this, able to care less if the entire planet heard what she had to say.
"No!… I don't believe you, you devious old crone! Keitaro would've never agreed to throw his own life away like that! His dreams were too important to him! You must have tricked him into doing your biding, or perverted his thinking somehow… You, you… Who the hell are you to decide who lives or dies?! You made him do it… Knowing full well Keitaro would die, you still put him up to it!"
"Awe shit..." Haruka hacked, as the girls began to animate all around her. All hell was about to break loose. Hina grimaced, suddenly wishing she had some riot gear ready at her disposal.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait! What the hell is she talking about when she says Keitaro could die!" an aggressively flustered Naru demanded of the old woman.
Kitsune followed in support of Naru. "Yeah Granny, just what the fudge is going around here?! What aren't you telling us?!"
"Sempai?… Dead?…" Shinobu stuttered. Motoko put a hand upon her shoulder.
"Calm yourself Shinobu, I'm sure it was a figure of speech… Allow Hina-sama a chance to explain." Motoko glared at the old woman, the doubt in her eyes contradicting the respect audible in her voice.
Grimacing, Hina's hand shot upward like a bolt of lightning, and she swatted her young adoptive granddaughter across the back of her skull. Kanako reared sideways before staring the old woman down, shocked that she'd just been struck, but the action managed to make her a bit more honest.
"That's more than enough out of you girl! I'll forgive your tone considering the circumstances, but you need to watch what you say around these girls! You're libel to start a riot!"
"So what?! That actually doesn't sound like such a bad idea to me…" Kanako smiled wickedly. "They are Oni-chan's friends, so they deserve to know what you did to him... Since you seem to have neglected to tell them yourself, then maybe I should let them in on what's been going on around Hinata House..."
"You will do no such thing! These girls are my responsibility, and I won't…" The old woman froze, her reprimand quickly forgotten. Her blood nearly turned to ice as she sensed an incredibly strong, and remarkably dark burst of Ki... Which could only have meant one thing. Motai had been awakened. Surprisingly, Armageddon wasn't even item number one on the docket. The girls were her concern, especially the three in the room who could also feel that energy surging. Sure enough, those three heads snapped to attention.
Haruka's senses were nowhere near as sharp as they used to be, but only a complete novice would fail to notice the sudden appearance of such a powerful and wicked presence. So powerful in fact that it nearly knocked Motoko over.
"What in heaven's name?!" Motoko looked behind her and directly into the wall, scowling as if offended the wall failed to move aside so she could look beyond it. If the wall hadn't have been there, she'd be at a perfect angle to see the very spot Keitaro and Motai were having their fateful encounter. "That energy... It feels so evil that it makes my soul want to shrivel up and weep! Not even in my worst nightmares could I have ever imagined something so vile!"
Kanako, who had a much broader understanding of the situation, had no second thoughts. She knew what the horrid Ki belonged too, and the thought of the one who was going to be suffering the brunt of that monster made her heart scream. "Oni-chan!"
"Get a grip on yourself Aoyama!...Don't forget your duty!" Teeth gritted, Motoko drew her katana. "I knew I sensed an evil presence lurking in the bowels of this place... I should've trusted my instincts beforehand! Please forgive me, but I must look into this!"
"Hey, wait for us Motoko!" Naru called after her, as Motoko sprinted for the exit. Kanako barreled in front of her, nearly knocking Naru to the ground. The other girls quickly followed suit, and nearly completed a mass exodus from the living room. They might've succeeded to if not for the short crinkled roadblock that suddenly clogged the exit.
"Stop right there! Nobody's going anywhere! Not you Motoko, not you Naru, and especially not you Kanako!" Few four foot grandma's commanded as much respect as Grandma Hina, and not to mention fear. Enough so to freeze all six girls where they stood, and not one dared to try to go through her. Not even Kanako, who would've considered trampling the old lady a bonus at this point, that is if she thought for a second she could actually get the job done "You will stay put, in this house, until further notice! Every last one of you! Is that understood?!"
Motoko was quick to argue. "But I can't ignore this presence Hina-sama! If there is some sort of evil lurking about, then it's my duty to put an end to it!
"Not to mention that Keitaro's out there somewhere!" Naru added. "Knowing that idiot, he's probably got himself stuck in the middle of all this!"
"If you had any idea my dear…" The old woman's grimace repositioned the folds covering her face. Granny realized that a few concessions would have to be made to keep the girls from getting themselves involved in something much bigger than the entire harem as a whole. "I apologize to you girls… For everything… I think it's high time I explained what's been going on around here lately… About Keitaro…"
Their undivided attention earned, the girls slowly began to stumble their way back into the living room. Still uneasy over what she had sensed, Motoko decided to provide the old woman her ears, all the while keeping an open eye to the happenings raging outside the dorm. Kanako for one, wasn't planning on waiting another second.
"I already know this story. Sorry Grandma, but your diversion tactics are starting to get repetitive. I'm going to find my brother..." With that, Kanako took one step towards the exit, only to be impeded by a small blur. To Kanako, that blur might as well have been a brick wall. Granny Hina had swiftly cut her granddaughter off at the pass, placing her elbow directly into Kanako's abdomen.
"You always have been the stubborn one... That's fine though. Not interested in the story, you can lay down for a little nap then." A few coughs and wheezes followed before Kanako blacked out and dropped limp onto the old woman's shoulder. Her frail frame supported Kanako's weight as she lugged her to the nearest chair. Hina placed her there, grunting as she set the girl down. "Whew... I'm getting way too old for this... And to think, at one point, my grandchildren actually respected my wishes… She may have been adopted into the family, but this little firecracker's an Urashima through and through."
"I certainly would've listened to my grandmother more if she could've knocked the piss out of me like that…" Kitsune commented, though all the while thinking in sync with the rest of the harem. Granted there were a few whispers concerning the appearance of Keitaro's adoptive sister, but the issue at the forefront of this controversy remained the same. Namely, where the hell was Keitaro? "Is she gona be okay?"
"Oh believe me, she'll be back on her feet and cursing my name in no time… But that's besides the point… You girls please gather 'round. I have something to tell you... I'll breathe a lot easier once I get it off my chest."
"Wonderful!" Naru said snidely. "I for one, would love for things to start making some sense around here! Now, can you please get on with it!"
Hina tensed up as she sensed another large flare of energy, followed soon after by another even more powerful surge of energy. Things were, without a doubt, escalating between Keitaro and Motai. Hina eyed Motoko as her head bobbed upward at every new development, creating a new wrinkle or two for her face. Motoko began to stir in agitation from her seat on the floor, and Hina worried if she'd be able to distract the girl long enough for Keitaro to see his destiny through. "Let's see then... I'm not sure where to begin..."
The lie failed to stall for much time, making the very effort relatively useless. Out of options, the old woman began telling the amassed harem everything, from a brief history of the Urashima clan, the demon Motai, and the Teskessko. The tidal wave of information left a few jaws hanging.
"I think I have this straight..." Kitsune said, eyes partially open. "Though I don't recall any mention in the sales ad of a centuries old demon living in the backyard! I feel like I should've at least been getting some kind of discount off my rent for this, or something…
"Oh don't be absurd," Hina spat, as she veered her head off sheepishly to the right. "Like I'd ever be able to fill the rooms that way." Five sweat drops found their own personal heads. Granny Hina either had a horrible sense of humor, or was missing the point entirely.
"And this Motai… He's poised to be released back on the Earth at any time now?"
"Yes Motoko... Much too soon. He shouldn't even have been a concern to anyone for another seventy-five years or so, but something sped up the process..."
Motoko reiterated what had already been said, a few drops of anxious sweat dripping from her forehead. "And this Teskessko is the only possible means of destroying this creature?"
Shinobu rotated her head around to all sides, painfully confused. All this talk of family clans and demons had filled her tender little brain to critical mass. She had managed to deciphered enough to understand that this conversation wasn't headed in a good direction. What disturbed her the most, or even annoyed her rather, was that her friends all seemed to understand what was going on perfectly, while she sat there like a hollowed out log as birds and squirrels darted in and out of her empty trunk. She could understand what her eyes were seeing though, and what they saw was a room full of worried faces, Naru the most noticeable of them all. Her head lowered gradually with everything coming out of Hina-san's mouth, as if the words themselves were pilling atop her head and weighing it down. It was faint, but Naru's body was visibly shaking while her skin was getting less and less dark and more and more red. Shinobu had seen this from Naru before. Even if just the tiniest speck of a spark stuck her, she was going to go off like a geyser.
The embers were provider by her best friend Kitsune. "Well, isn't that the answer to our little dilemma then? We'll just find somebody to use that Theska-whatever to give that Motai thing a rude awaking!? Granted it's unfortunate that the person who uses the talisman bites it too, but maybe we can find some idiot brave enough to try it?"
Naru launched up to her feet like her butt had been set on fire. "Ergh, has all the alcohol finally drown the last of your brain-cells Kitsune?! You'd have to be brain dead not to see where this is headed! She's already found some idiot! Our idiot!"
A stunned and nervous Kitsune looked up at her friend with wide eyes. "Er... I'm not sure I follow ya..."
"Keitaro you dip-shit, we're talking about Keitaro!!" Naru rerouted her attention, vehemently, towards the senior member of the group. "The way Keitaro's been acting lately... That nervous twitch of dread I've been feeling in my stomach nearly every second I've spent in the place over the past couple of days ... Then all of the sudden Keitaro disappears in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye or a middle finger, and then grandma here suddenly crawls out from whatever rock she's been hiding under and explains herself by spouting off about old legends of demons and talisman's?! What exactly is the truth?! You sent him in there didn't you?... You made him do it didn't you?! That was the only reason you even came back to Hinata House, wasn't it?!"
A drawn-out stretch of silence was allowed to pass before the old woman replied with one simple word. "Yes..."
"Hold on a minute…" Kitsune muttered, trying to land a grip on what she was hearing. "But I don't get it... You said anybody that tries to use that talisman was pretty much a goner… You did… You…"
"No, no, no, no..." Shinobu whimpered through her tears. "Sempai can't be… Just like that, no?! There's got to be at least some chance he comes back okay right????!!!"
Hina again, answered simply, without leading them on with even the slightest hint of false hope. "The odds are only slightly better than zero that he'll survive... In other words, no..."
Defying several laws of both physics and nature, the temperature in the room dropped about twenty degrees. Kitsune's eyes remained wide. Naru and Shinobu mimicked a pair of ice sculptures. Motoko, who's hand was resting on the handle of her blade, slipped and sliced the top quarter of her sheath in half. Su, normally cheerful a vibrant, now resembled a broken porcelain doll.
"Oh my..." A voice pierced through the agonizingly quiet room, drawing attention to it's owner, accidentally postponing mass hysteria from breaking out.
"Mutsumi?" Hina said her name in surprise. "How long have you been listening dear?"
Mutsumi's immediate response was to wobble and black out. Mutsumi promptly collapsed, luckily for her, directly into an alert Haruka's arms. The tea-shop owner positioned her cigarette to the side of her mouth and muttered. "Apparently she heard enough..."
Motoko found herself forced to watch on quietly with a mix of pity and empathy. It hadn't taken her long at all to ascertained where Hina-sans story was headed, but accepting it took much longer. Keitaro's behavior… It all made perfect sense now, and Motoko could now assume she knew the source of those powerful Ki flares she'd been sensing for the past several minutes.
Speaking of Ki flares, Motoko was about to feel another one, and it was massive. More than enough to pull her out of that quicksand thick pool of denial that threatened to suck them all under. Grimacing with distressed determination, she rose to her feet, gripping her now holster-less sword. "That does it! That energy's strong enough to devour us all! I just as soon commit sepku, than choose to wait here another moment!"
"Keitaro…" Naru mumbled as she realized something that caused her to look Granny Hina's way with frightened, hate-filled eyes. "He's out there right now isn't he?… You're… You're distracting us…"
"Motoko don't bee a fool!" Hina-san commanded, deliberately ignoring Naru. "You can only do more harm than good, so please just stay put!."
"Like hell I will! I won't stand idly by while someone else sacrifices their life for mine! Particularly when that person is Kei..." Motoko paused as if she was going to correct herself. "Keitaro!"
"Motoko please! You don't understand the severity of the situation..."
Motoko's mouth opened to retort, only to stop as she could almost swear she heard the boards beneath her feet begin to vibrate. She wasn't imagining things. Hinata House literally shook from it's very foundation, caught in seismic backlash of a powerful energy exertion. Windows, one-by-one, exploded throughout the dorm, as the women began to fall to the ground like a row of dominos that were placed slightly out of sync. Some just lost their footing, while the other's hit the deck in order to protect themselves. Haruka was the lone woman left standing throughout the entire ordeal, using the wall as support. Mutsumi and Kanako were thrown from their chairs to the ground, the jarring impact as they hit proving enough to stir both girls into consciousness. Barley ten seconds after the quake began, the shaking abruptly stopped, leaving a room-full of rattled women in it's wake
"Okay, so does that mean somebody just won?" Kitsune grumbled dizzily, before falling back down on her butt.
"The energy in the area is just insane! Hina-san, with all do respect, you'll have to strike me down if you wish to keep me here!!" Motoko said as she picked up her sword in stride as she headed for the exit. "Keitaro, I'm coming!"
"Hey, wait for us!" Naru called after her as the rest of the harem raced off after the kendo-master.
"Girls wait!..." Hina squawked in vain. They were long gone by the time those words passed her lips. "Oh, damn it all!"
"Uh… So I guess we follow them into the fire?…" Haruka remarked dryly.
"Yes indeed... Heaven forbid any of them get caught in the crossfire..."
Motoko had tunnel vision directed directly in the spot she'd felt the two powerful energy's originating from, her housemates tailing in hot pursuit. Motoko understood the risk that she just might be in over her head. Then again, hell knew no fury like a pissed off Aoyama . "The rest of you stand back! If my instincts are correct then…"
Whatever words Motoko had prepared were to be forever lost upon tongue. A violent explosion ripped through the very mountainside that she'd been drawn too. The force of the blast blew Motoko backwards, falling into the arms of Naru who'd quickly moved in to catch her, with help from Kanako who more or less raised her arms instinctively in self-defense. All three froze where they stood, marveling in awe at a bright beam of greenish-blue light shooting up from somewhere in the center of the mountains, so high in the sky you could swear it reached heaven itself. The light displayed it's brilliance for a few short seconds before fading away almost as quickly as it had appeared. A brief lull followed before the mountainside itself began to cave in. It was a truly spectacular sight. The mountain crumbled it's way into total oblivion, leaving what could be classified as a big pile of gravel in its wake..
"Motoko..." Naru stammered. "Keitaro isn't under there is he?"
Motoko lowered her head, somber in her silence. No one else dared reiterate her question, probably for fear they knew the answer. Hina and Haruka stared at the debris in shock, Haruka's cigarette falling out of her mouth, dropping to the ground below. Hina herself was dumbfounded. "Remarkable...There's no trace of Motai left at all... Keitaro's done the impossible! The beast is no more..."
"Yeah…" Kanako gritted with embittered rage. "And did Oni-chan go down with it?"
"There's no way he could've survived that... Not even Keitaro" Kitsune muttered bleakly, staring back and forth between ground-zero and Granny Hina. "Is there?..."
Hina pushed her sixth sense of external perceptive detection to it's very edge, and then over, hoping upon hope that she might find some small trace or sign that her grandson was still with them and among the living. Alas, she found nothing except for the ever dimming spark of the Teskessko, as what little that remained of it's power drained. Hina dropped her head solemnly at her findings. "I'm sorry..."
"What are you saying sorry for?" Shinobu asked shakily, a touch louder than she'd meant too.
"She means Keitaro is gone..." Motoko stated flatly, still seated where her rear-end had landed moments before. She stared blankly into the mess of rocks in front of her. "If there was anything alive under those rocks, either myself or Hina-san would've sensed their Ki by now... There are no signs of life underneath that rubble... None at all..." Both Motoko's voice and composure began to waver. "Keitaro's presence is no longer..."
Motoko put her hand up to her face as if trying to hide it. Naru, still locked in a state of shock, pleaded aloud to anyone who might have any clue how to explain what had just transpired. "But... But... So, that's it? It's over just like that?! Last night he's running around like his old annoying perverted self, and this morning he's suddenly Mr. incredible and now he's gone?! That's just… No! It's not supposed to work that way! It can't… I won't believe it!"
With a sigh, Grandma Hina replied. "There is a small chance Naru... But if that were the case, for us not to be able to sense him, then it would mean that Keitaro's life force has been drained so low that he's dangerously close to death if not dead already. Either way, by the time we could get to him it would already be too late..."
"So we should just give him up for dead, that's what you're saying?" Naru's head snapped back around towards the debris. "More touching words from his loving grandmother! You put him through this hell, and then throw up your arms and say nothing can be done about it! Leave him for dead, that sounds simple enough!"
"Shut your mouth Naru!" Haruka spat, visibly angry. "Stop smarting off like Keitaro was forced to do this by gun point! Nobody forced anyone to do a damn thing! Facing Motai was a decision Keitaro made on his own, because he wanted to protect the lot of you! Don't insult his memory by understating the reasons he did what he did! You should be thankful he was willing to give up his own life so you could go on living yours!"
Naru had nothing prepared to came back at Haruka with. While she was too angry to admit to herself that Haruka might even be the slightest bit right, the crudely mixed combination of grief, shock, and remorse was sucking all the passion to fight clear out of her. Kanako had already far surpassed this point, and with a whimper, Kanako dropped to her knees with her face buried into her hands. "I'm so sorry! I should've figured out what was going on sooner been here a little sooner... I should've been here… He shouldn't have had to face this alone…"
"It's not… It's not…," Shinobu wheezed, shaking her head and walking backwards. "This isn't happening... This isn't happening!" As she shrieked those final words, Shinobu fled towards Hinata House, leaving a trail of tears behind her. No one bothered to pursue her. Even the few who considered knew full well that there was nothing any of them could do or say to console her. Their was little certainty how to go about consoling themselves. No less than a minute later, Kanako and Motoko both stood up in a more calmly manner, and headed back the same way of the dorm's housekeeper. Neither could stomach being in that spot even a moment longer.
"It would probably be best if we followed their lead..." Suggested a somber Hina to her granddaughter. Haruka merely nodded her head in reply. They moved to follow through with that idea when they noticed Su standing alone nearby in a near trance-like state. "Su dear... Why don't you come with us? I can't say with any real certainty if it's safe to be poking about the area."
Su looked up at the old woman with all the innocence of sleepy puppy. "It's just like my dream..."
"I had a feeling that was so Su-chan..." Hina sighed, offering Su a weary smile. "Though I have no clue why you were chosen to have to suffer through that kind of torture... It's not like you would've been able to change things even if you could have remembered your dream before today. At least now, you'll be able to get a decent nights sleep, after some times passes anyhow."
"But... This isn't how my dream is supposed ta end..."
"I know dear, but it did. Premonitions aren't always locked in stone… Now, let's go home."
"No, I can't go! Keitaro's still down there somewhere!"
"Su, have you even been listening?" Haruka butted in before Hina could spit out her pre-planned reply. "Keitaro's gone Su... He's dead. Even if you found him, all you'd have to show for the effort is a corpse!"
"Haruka please!"
"No, I don't believe you!" Su rebutted, giving the two older women a look resembling that of a stubborn toddler. "Keitaro can't die! You old ladies dunno what you're talkin' about!"
"Su, I understand that you're upset, but you need to calm down and listen to what..."
Su rejected the hand Hina offered in comfort. She decided to express her defiance by sticking her fingers in her ears. "I can't hear you! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!"
"Su, for goodness sake! Act your age!"
"Yada ya ya!" Su babbled on as she scooted away towards the dorm, with a flustered Hina and Haruka following after her. The desired result had been achieved, no matter how odd the path was in getting there.
The elder Urashima women stopped to take one last look at a pile of rubble that might just symbolize the day that the fate of the world had been altered. It was humbling to say the least, even to a pair of women who foresaw it's coming. Hina shook her head dismally, knowing it would be near impossible to access the full damage inflicted on the dorm, both structurally and emotionally. Haruka would join Hina on her way back to Hinata House, leaving only Naru and Kitsune left standing. Haruka decided it would be best to let the girls be.
"Naru..." Kitsune said her name softly, as she cautiously approached. "Hon, if you stare any harder, an image of a rock is gona permanently burn into your retinas… I'm not fool enough to believe I can find any sort of words that are gona help right now, but standing out here in the cold isn't going to help anyone…"
Kitsune's words went straight through Naru's ears like Casper through a brick-wall. Nothing in the physical world existed to her at that moment except for that pile of rocks and thoughts of the person who was supposedly buried beneath them. Her body was stiff and cold, as if her soul had temporally left her body in search of his. She was bombarded, assaulted really, by a lightning fast reel of two lives rolling before her eyes. His life, and that of the life of the two of them together. From the day he first arrived at Hinata House, to studying together for their college entrance exams only to wind up failing, and subsequently teaming up again only to eventually unite with Mutsumi... Like a dagger through her heart, she recalled the last fight she had with Keitaro over Mutsumi, and the brash decision that led her to kiss Kentaro. Then came memories of the chaos running rampant over Hinata House over that past several days, and finally the last encounter she had with Keitaro after that late night house meeting... The words she said to him seconds before she turned her back to him and stormed away for the final time, straight out of his life for good.
"Idiot... This is your answer to everything! You either run away and hide, and when you do happen to stick around, you try and take the brunt of everything on your own shoulders... Until the entire fucking mountain falls on top of you! Well, you did what you're best at Keitaro... What are we supposed to do now Keitaro? What am I?..." Naru sobbed, as she took her anger out on some of the smaller pebbles at her feet. Moisture rolled down cheeks, flowing from saddened angry eyes. "I suppose you achieved what you set out to do... You killed that demon, and saved us all... You're a great big hero now, so soak it up! I suppose you think I should be thankful or grateful or something because you threw your life away... Probably thinking you were a worthless piece of garbage who was better off dead anyway... Well, I'll tell you now, if you're expecting some big show of gratitude, then you'll be waiting for eternity! I never asked you to die for me! Who are you to decide what's best for us anyhow?! Tell me, who?!!!"
"Naru! Do you even hear what you're saying?! You're cussin' out a dead man for goodness sake..." Kitsune said, gently touching her fingers to Naru's shoulder.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Naru growled, violently jerking her arm away from her longtime friend. Kitsune backed off, putting some immediate distance between them. "I don't need anyone hovering over me! I sure as hell don't need Keitaro, and I don't need you!"
Before those words finished leaving her mouth, Naru was balling. Her strength and defiance both gauging on the brink of 'E', she dropped to her butt, rolled up into a ball, and let all her pain and anguish loose like none of her friends ever knew she was capable of doing. For once, she didn't care who saw her, or if anyone knew that it was Keitaro she was crying over. Kitsune was at a loss for what to do, and she knew Naru better than anyone. She chose to stay with her heart, and approached Naru again, even at the risk of loosing an appendage or two.
"Well I never thought I'd see this day…" Naru's eyes looked incredible feeble as she peeked up at Kitsune. It was all the fox-girl could do to keep her smile on straight. "It'll be fine Naru... You've held your feelings in for so long... There's no shame in letting it out at a time like this."
"You don't understand Kitsune..." Naru mumbled through cracking sobs.
"I understand better than you can imagine Naru. It's obvious how you feel about Keitaro... Even if it wasn't always obvious to you yourself. It's sad to say, but sometimes when you let things stay bottled up, it takes moments like this to finally pop the cork so to speak…"
"Damn it, that's not what I'm talking about!" Naru shrieked, her face no longer hidden by her legs. "You have no idea what I did Kitsune... Last night... I'm never gona see him again Kitsune, and the last words I ever said to him were used to tell him to drop dead! And that's exactly what he went and did! Now I gotta live the rest of my life knowing the last image he ever had of me was telling him to die, and that I hated him! Was that the last image he had right before he went to his grave?! It wasn't I love you, it wasn't I forgive you, it wasn't I'm sorry for all the times I've done you wrong... There's nothing I can ever do to change that now Kitsune, nothing!"
In the face of her best friends breakdown, the girl who seemingly always had something to say, could not find the words to string together a articulate sentence. She backed away from her blubbering mess of a friend, figuring giving her some space would be the best thing she could do for her. Dreary-eyed, Kitsune staggered back in the direction of Hinata House.
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The first thing Haruka and Hina did upon reentering the dorm was assess the damage done to the building by that impromptu earthquake. It would seem that worrying about some broken glass and a few loose nails seemed rather cold in the face of the lose of a relative, but for the moment any distraction was a good one.
Haruka stared plainly at a first floor window that had been completely shattered, expect for a eighteen inch shard of glass at the right bottom corner. She wondered dryly if it was during that tremor that Keitaro lost his life, or was it after the mountain collapsed on him? With a snarl, Haruka pulled back and put her first through what remained of the window.
"Feel better now?" Hina scoffed.
"A little, yeah," Haruka grumbled sourly, wincing as she clutched her hand that was now decorated with several fresh cuts. "I suppose one of us should call my brother and tell him and Keitaro's mother the news."
"If you feel strongly enough about it, go ahead and phone them if you'd like. I'll take care of it myself once the time feels right if you'd rather wait..."
Haruka nodded her head. "I think I'll pass... Damn it, this all so fucking messed up! The damn house doesn't even feel real anymore... It's like we walked into another dimension where everything's the same yet nothing feels real..."
"I'd be worried for you if you didn't feel that way Haruka... Though what came to pass had been expected, you can never be truly prepared. A mother should never have to bury her children Haruka… And a grandmother especially should never have to bury their grandchildren, and least of all their great-grandchildren!" With a sigh, Hina's agitated mood mellowed into a more somber one. "As of today, I've been forced to watch one of each be laid to rest before my own time on this Earth has passed... I just doesn't seem fair…I've lived far too long Haruka... Most women my age have been long dead for thirty or forty years. If only I were a little younger, stronger like I was in my youth... Maybe it could've me down in that cave instead of Keitaro... I believe in fate, but sometimes I just don't understand why it works the way it does…"
"Well, there's no point in dwelling over something you can't go back and change..." Haruka told her grandmother, as she stuck another cigarette into her mouth, having successfully finished off the entire pack in about a twenty minute span. "We need to focus on what's most important, and right now that's the girls… Over the next few days, we're going to hear enough moaning, groaning, and tears in this place to deafen and drown a herd of elephants."
"I'm heading upstairs to see what kind of damage I can find up there," the old woman said offhandedly, as if trying to change the subject. That in itself almost serving to say, Haruka you are so right. "The house seems to be in pretty good shape, that's some good news at least… Would you be a dear and wait here... To make sure Naru and the other girls make it home safely."
"Sure, why not..." Grandma Hina was already up the stairs before the words left Haruka's mouth. A small smirk forced it's way onto Haruka's lips. "Well then… The old bat sure knows how to avoid a tense situation doesn't she?"
Haruka's face twitched with curiosity as she heard some faint mumbling sounds coming from the next room over. The noises were the rambling sounds of Kitsune, who Haruka found slumped over in one of the chair's, her head cradled in her hands just like Haruka had seen the girl do so many times before while dealing with a massive hangover. Only, this hangover had nothing to do with how much Kitsune had to drink the night before. Haruka crept up to the back of the chair without Kitsune being any the wiser. The fox failed to take notice of her presence up to the point Haruka eye's met hers, Haruka hanging over the back of the chair. "You didn't make it very far did you kid? I figured the next time I saw you, I'd be digging you out from underneath a pile of sake bottles."
"Haruka... You might find this hard to believe, but drinking is the farthest thing from my mind right now… Though I kind of wish I was drunk right at the moment. I'd love to wake up tomorrow and discover this morning was all one big liquor soaked delusion."
Haruka frowned, unable to understand why Kitsune's pathetic excuse for a chuckle annoyed her in the least, but the fact of the matter was that it did somehow. "I see... It's good to see at least one of you has managed to maintain some sense of composure. No tears for Keitaro then?"
"Awe, you know me! I'm not the type of girl who crawls into a corner only to sob all their troubles away! Besides, we'll need an ark to stay afloat atop all the tears that are gona be shed around this place. And that's just Naru and Shinobu. Somebody needs to keep their head on straight ..."
In an incredibly rare showing of affection, Haruka snaked her arm around Kitsune's neck and shoulders comfortingly, from behind. Kitsune's hand immediately came up and grabbed Haruka's arm off of reflex. "And I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be you. I'll worry about keeping the level head around here Mitsune, because I'll tell you now that booze alone isn't going to numb what you're feeling right now. Nobody else has to see, nobody else has to know. Even if it's just for this one moment, let it go Mitsune…"
Kitsune's chest extended as her breath shortened and her heart rate quickened. Her eyes moistened in defiance. "I... I had him Haruka... I had him..."
Haruka's brow perked. "Steady Kitsune, you're starting to babble."
"He took me to one of my favorite bars last night... I don't know why, I guess I thought I'd blackmailed him over something and then forgot about it..." Kitsune chuckled, then quickly decided it wasn't that funny. "I kind of managed to back him into a corner, and he admitted that he was leaving Hinata House... I had no idea why he was leaving at the time, the only thing running through my head was that he was about to be leaving us..."
"He confessed that now, did he? And what exactly happened after that?" Haruka grumbled, curious as to just how much Keitaro had blabbed to Kitsune.
"I... I rented a hotel room, and invited him over... I'm not sure what came over me, but I was planning to seduce him… Some friend right, I wasn't thinking about anyone but myself... I wasn't even considering Keitaro... It sounds so stupid now, but I was hoping that somehow I could convince him to stay, or at least get some kind of closure out of the deal I suppose... But I… I never thought for a second that was gona die Haruka! I just thought he was overreacting because he'd been having so many problems with Naru lately… I mean that was a reasonable assumption wasn't it?! He was the Duke of overreaction! I had no idea he was gona go get himself killed! I had him, I had him right there in my arms... Maybe, just maybe if I'd been a little more persistent, if I just pushed myself on him a littler harder... Maybe he would've slept with me last night, and never would've been at the apartments this morning to have gone through with it... Maybe he'd still be with us right now..."
Haruka tightened her grip on Kitsune as she began to sob uncontrollably. Haruka gave her some time to settle before commenting. "That's an awful lot of assuming... Self-blame sure seems to be becoming a trend around this place... Listen Kitsune, you could've fucked Keitaro's brains out last night, and he still would've snuck off at some-point during the night. Nothing was going to keep him from facing Motai. He was determined to protect you girls no matter what, and nothing was going to save him from his fate. I don't wana hear any of this blaming yourself shit from you or anybody else. This was Keitaro's choice, and where ever he is right now, he'd never forgive himself if he knew you guys were all tarring yourselves up over this."
"I still shouldn't have let him go..." Kitsune chocked, the worst of her outburst having passed. "If I'd known what I know now, I never would've let him walk out that door without..." Kitsune paused, taking a good long look at the way she was acting and what she was saying. A sad smile soon found it's way to her lips. "Is it wrong of me to be so selfish? The fact that I'm just as sorry that I didn't get a piece of him while I could, as much as anything else…"
"It's human nature to be selfish Kitsune… Even the most selfless people live their lives that way because it makes them feel justified to be selfless. It's all a matter of opinion."
"I suppose… But I guess what bothers me the most is that I've spent most of life thinking of myself first before anybody else… While somebody like Keitaro put everybody he loved in front of himself…" Kitsune politely wiggled out of Haruka's grip, stood up and smiled for her. "I guess I best be getting my act together! I've got friends that are gona need me sooner or later... Besides, as you well know, I have other means by witch to help me cope... I might not be able to drown my sorrows away, but maybe at the least I should be able to hold their heads under water for a little while. Which reminds me, I need to get to the store and pick up some more supplies..."
Haruka smirked and removed her cigarette from her mouth as Kitsune disappeared through the door. Her smoke was only half burnt, but for some reason this particular stick had lost it's appeal to her. "Ho-hum, ha, ha… I don't think you're as selfish as you give yourself credit for Kitsune. Doubt I'll see anybody else putting their own misery aside for the sake of their fiends."
----------
"Idiot!"
Motoko's sword annihilated a bush who's only crime had been getting in the angry swordswoman's way. Such was the fate of much of anything else living or inanimate that dared cross Motoko's path.
"Moron!" With a flick of her wrist, a large unsuspecting rock met it's doom. "Where exactly do you get your nerve Urashima? As if I'd ever need to be championed by the likes of you! How could you be so delusional that you'd believe one act of selfless sacrifice makes up for all the months of perversion-ridden torment you've brought down on this house?! You even lacked the spine to tell me to my face what your plan was! It's my duty to lay my life on the line to protect the people of this house, not yours Keitaro! It should me you're grieving over! I shouldn't be wandering aimlessly pondering how in the hell all this absurdity went down right under my nose, and I hadn't even a sniff of an idea what was going on!"
Motoko winced, her eyes having developed too much moisture to pretend it wasn't there. She let her guard down for a mere second, causing the wounds suffered from fresh memories to sting and burn at her soul.
"Why should I bother? It's no sweat off my back whether you stay or leave."
"Fine then! Leave, you selfish bastard! You're nothing but a coward Urashima! A spineless coward!"
As much as Motoko wanted to believe what she said was true, those words now couldn't have sounded any more pointless and stupid. She was losing the fight to keep from displaying one of her clan's most forbidden emotions. Her arms began to tremble, and her sword nearly slipped from her hand. She clasped her hands around the hilt of her blade tightly, and then drove into the earth, leaving nothing but the hilt and an inch of blade exposed out of the ground. She dropped down to her knees and placed her head and hands on the hilt. In defiance of every emotional wall she'd ever erected, tears trickled down the hilt and down to the blade until they reached the soil the katana was encased in.
"I vow to you this Keitaro... If I'm ever fortunate enough to meet you again in the next life, I swear on my soul I'll never call you coward again!"
Motoko humbled herself for a short eternity before finally picking herself back up. She pulled her sword from the ground, and wandered the grounds unsure of her destination, until eventually finding herself standing in front of the rubble that was now Keitaro Urashima's final resting place. Staring vacantly into ground-zero, she began talking to herself, or perhaps even to the wind. Or perhaps maybe a wandering soul who had yet to cross over to the next plain.
"I failed you... I failed everyone... I felt this darkness coming, and when the time came to act I hadn't the first idea what was transpiring... I should've never allowed you to walk out of the house that night. I knew something wasn't right... But I let my pride, and my own emotions get the better of me and now... What kind of warrior am I? I stood there and called you a weakling and a coward, and now there you lay after having achieved the noble death that every warrior dreams of... And yet you've left so many hearts in shambles that the true weight of your deeds may never be truly appreciated. You saved us all, and just possibly the world and yet the one thought drilled into everyone's mind is that you're gone and you're not coming back..."
Fearing a total break down, Motoko knew she couldn't allow this to happen, and forced herself to look away from the grave sight. "I will find a way to honor you Keitaro... I suppose all I can offer you now, is that I'll keep my word that I swore to you yesterday. I understand why you asked me to look after them in your absence now... I swear I'll watch over them with my life, just as you have... Rest in peace now Keitaro-dono."
Years had passed since the last time Kanako Urashima stepped into that house. Even throughout all her travels with Granny Hina she somehow managed to avoid visiting the former inn, now transformed into a girls dormitory. The manger's quarters was her primary destination, a place chosen for plainly obvious sentimental reason. She had yet to even begin to grieve over the lose of her brother, for to that point she refused to accept the idea that he was truly dead. Even so, the very moment she stepped into his room, the sorrow that had been gently prodding her to that point was now trying to rip her to shreds.
The place literally dripped with Keitaro's essence from ever corner. She immersed herself with anything she could find that once belonged to her beloved Oni-chan. From his clothes, to his sketchbooks, and even to the old print club album he had kept all these years. It did draw her ire to see him posing with one of his tenants, but out of respect for him, let the feeling pass. There'd be plenty of time later to talk it out with this young hussy regarding the nature of her relationship with her beloved brother.
It warmed Kanako's heart to see he had kept of couple of pictures of the two of them from when they were kids. Buried towards the back of the book, Kanako had begun to lose heart worried that maybe her brother had forgotten her... No, not her Oni-chan. Keitaro had never let her down before, not even once, in her extraordinarily bias mind at least. That's why she just couldn't bring herself to accept the idea that he was gone. Not without saying good-bye to her. Somewhere in her soul, she truly believed she could still sense his heart beating inside his chest. She felt she was connected to him that way. She was convinced he was still alive somehow and nothing short of finding a corpse, followed up with some extensive DNA testing, was going to convince her otherwise. And maybe not even then.
It wasn't much longer before Kanako decided she couldn't stomach another second in that room, but before making her exit she did hear frantic footsteps originating above her head. Not overly interested, she exited the room and headed up to the next floor. On her way, she passed by the room that was located directly above her brothers. She could hear light sobbing coming from inside. She stopped, knowing this was the room occupied by the girl in that picture. For a moment, she considered poking her head inside, but decided again that now was not the right time to make a scene.
Kanako continued down the hall until she heard strange sounds coming from inside another of the dorm rooms. The door to this room was wide open, so the young adoptive Urashima poked her head inside to see what the hell was going on. Her brow twitched in disbelief. The room belonged to that strange girl with the Indian look to her. Said weirdo was currently fussing over some strange looking machine, bombarding the odd contraption with a hammer, screwdriver, and a blowtorch all at mind-blowing speed.
"Excuse me little girl, but might I ask what the hell you're doing?"
Su stopped her work, surprised by the appearance of the strange newcomer. "Oh, hi there Keitaro's sister! I'm modifying one of my inventions so I can tunnel under those rocks out there and find Keitaro!"
"Really? And you built this all by yourself?"
"Hafta..." Su continued to speak as she got back to work. "Everybody thinks he's deader than a Tama-chan in Su's special curry soup!.. I won't believe he's dead until I see him for myself!"
Her interest peaked, Kanako invited herself inside. "I like the way your think... In fact, I think I'll give you a hand..."
Kitsune hadn't even made it back to Hinata House before breaking into her stash of 'supplies', having tossed one bottle of sake to the side of the road, and already well into the second. She drained the second before reaching the top of the stairs, and crudely tossed the bottle aside, paying no mind as it clanked to the bottom of the staircase. It rolled about a foot before striking the foot of an individual who scowled down at the empty glass container. Motoko kicked the discarded container away, and chased Kitsune up the stairs.
"For propriety's sake Kitsune, is intoxicating yourself your answer for everything?"
Kitsune blinked a couple times as she peered down at the younger girl, seeming surprised Motoko was there. "It's never failed me before... Or at least, if it has, I never remember anything about it in the morning. Oh well... Just where was it you disappeared too?"
"You should never answer a question by changing the subject... Now, if you can drop the nonsense for a moment, perhaps you can answer a question for me. Do you happen to be privy to Grandmother Hina's whereabouts?"
"Sorry, haven't seen her. I just got back home myself, after running a few errands in case you can't tell... Any particular reason you're lookin' for her?"
Motoko's stern features wavered as she replied. "Not that it's any of your concern, however... I wished to see if there was anything I could do to assist with Urashima's funeral arrangements..."
Kitsune went pale as a ghost, completely caught my surprise. It seemed so early after the fact to be planning Keitaro's funeral. That was like the ultimate confirmation that somebody was dead and gone, and they didn't even have anything to bury yet. "Oh, I see... Dang, that was the farthest thing from my mind... Why would you even want to be involved in that?"
"I have my reasons..." Motoko gave Kitsune a sideways glance. "Just like you have your booze, now if you'll excuse me..."
A small frown found Kitsune's lips, as she made room for Motoko to slip past her. "With all do respect, I don't think this is the best time to be attacking my drinking habits... I'll handle my grief my own way. You don't hear me making' comments about that grumpy attitude of yours..."
Motoko ignored the remark and went off on her way. Kitsune shook her head, hugged her precious booze close to her side, and headed inside but immediately felt guilty. Both for snapping at Motoko, and for the perverse that that popped into her head involving Motoko taking delight in planning Keitaro's funeral. After all, when he first took over the dorm, everyone assumed Motoko would be the one to eventually send Keitaro to his grave, and she seemed more than up to the task.
"Well, I'm glad to see Motoko's taking this hard," Kitsune commented to herself, as she headed towards her room. "It's a tad bit surreal granted, but I always knew she didn't hate Keitaro as much as she claimed she did. We all did... Just the opposite actually... And now that's it too late to show she does care, poor Motoko must be feeling somethin' awful..."
Speaking of feeling awful, Kitsune could think of a few other people who were dead miserable to the world. Both Naru and Shinbou were walled up in their rooms, wallowing in their own misery. No one had even seen or heard from Mutsumi... Kitsune couldn't even remember seeing her at the grave site. Yes, Kitsune did feel her fair share of concern for Mutsumi and Shinobu, but Naru was foremost in her thoughts. Her best friend, and Kitsune was determined to do everything in her power to aide her friend during her time of grief. Yes, that was the plan, yes indeed...
Kitsune's concern for her friend was legitimate, but it was also a mask. A clever distraction from the sorrow she was feeling herself. By focusing on consoling everyone else, she could therefore distract herself and even pretend the pain she was feeling didn't exist. Yes, with all do respect to alcohol, this was her real escape. Kitsune was guiltily conscious of this fact, but still her focus had to be shifted to the one person she worried herself over most of all, even herself. Her best friend Naru, someone who just lost somebody that meant more to her than Naru would ever willingly admit.
"Naru? Can I come in?" Kitsune asked as she gently rasped upon the door. She decided to check in on her friend after having stashed her booze in a safe place. Kitsune's features twisted into a mix of annoyance and concern when Naru failed to give a reply, even though she half expected to greeted by silence. Determined not to walk away without at least a face-to-face, Kitsune tried to force her way inside but found the door had been locked. "Naru, I know you're in there! I can hear you crying... Fine then, you want to play it that way..."
Naru stared down the door, debating whether she should invite her friend in or not. Some part of her would've loved nothing more than a shoulder to cry her heart out on, but urge was much stronger to stay hidden in the little hole she'd dug for herself and crawled into. Her tongue would ultimately make that decision for her, as it couldn't manage even a single plausible word in response. Instead, she hung her head in unmitigated defeat, and waited for Kitsune to go away. A few minutes past, and Naru assumed she was on her own again. Just the way she wanted it, or so she'd like to convince herself. She curled tighter into her ball, starring lifelessly at the wooded floorboard below. She remained in that position until receiving a poke on her shoulder that nearly frightened her pants right off of her.
"Well, at least you've stopped crying for the moment... That's a start..."
"GAH!" Naru bounced, then looked to her right to find Kitsune staring back at her, sporting a weak grin. "How did you get in here?!"
"Duh, hole in the floor remember?" Kitsune pointed at the exposed hole in the floor, Liddo-Kun laying on it's side, asleep on the job. "You wouldn't answer the door, so I found my own way in. It was hell trying to get up here all by my lonesome, so if you think I'm headed back then you're crazy. I can't believe you didn't hear all the racket I was making... Lucky for me, the twins kept me from breakin' my neck."
"Whadda you know, there is another use for 'em..." Naru sniffed, moving her chin down closer to her knees. "You know, the locked door was sort of a hint that I wanted to be left alone..."
"Well, you know me. I've never been good at takin' hints. Especially, when they're inconvenient to me. Besides, what makes you think you're so special that you can lock yourself away when you should be out being miserable with the rest of us."
"I can't face the others right now Kitsune... I can't even stand to look up at you right at the moment... I'm sorry if you're too thickheaded to understand that, but all I want right now is to be left alone..."
"That's a load of crap Naru, don't insult my intelligence. I know you better than anyone... And you're not very good at holdin' things inside... Not that you can't, but when you do, you tend to get violent. I know I've seen it more than once first hand. It's my job to get you out and involved, otherwise you're liable to kill somebody... Besides, there's no reason to face this on your own Naru... I know you were closer to Keitaro than probably anyone else, that doesn't mean you're hurting any more or less... We all know what you're going through Naru..."
"You have no clue whatsoever Kitsune!" Naru spat, laced with venom, though much more than intended. "What did you say to him the last time you saw him Kitsune? I bet you didn't tell him to go off somewhere and die like I did! The last words I'd ever utter to him... How can you or anybody else relate to that?! How can you have any idea how that feels?!! Well, I'm waiting! Answer me!"
"You know, you're right... I certainly cant relate to that... But if you think you're the only one who squandered away your last moments with Keitaro, then you're sadly mistakin'. I have my regrets too. Try puttin' yourself in my position. You're not the one who let him squirm out of your arms while barely puttin' up a fight, only to arrive home the next morning and find out that he's dead... All because he didn't have enough interest in me to even... Oh goodness, I'm rambling, please forgive me."
Kitsune stumbled over her words, nearly biting her lower lip. She sat down next to Naru wearing a sad smile, and while ignoring the neutron powered stare Naru shooting her way. "Squirming out of your arms? What are you talkin' about?!"
"I spent the night in a hotel room last night... And I invited Keitaro over and tried my damnedest to get the boy to spend the night with me."
"Spend the night you with you!... Just what exactly were you planning on doing?!"
"Well, if you let me finish... Oh, and the answer is duh. What I try to do with every guy I go to a hotel with." Kitsune's voice didn't waver, though at least one eye was drawn to the vein now bulging on her forehead. "Now, I want you to listen to every thing I'm about to say, and not just the parts you want to hear alright? I'm not Keitaro remember, you can't get away with that with me."
Naru quieted down reluctantly, though intent to listen. Kitsune cleared her throat and continued. "Yes indeed, I did invite Keitaro to spend the night me, and most every thought of what went on that you have running through your head right now is probably true. My original plan wasn't to sleep with him, but I was more than willing if it came to that... And it did..."
Naru's fist clenched as a lump formed in her throat. Despite the strengthening desire to pull open Kitsune's eyelids so she could claw her eyes out, Naru kept her word by keeping her mouth closed as Kitsune finished her story. "But nothing happened, so don't pop a blood vessel 'kay?"
"What?... You mean, you two didn't?" Naru asked, and immediately worried that she sounded too hopeful.
"No, we didn't... Oh believe me I tried, but Keitaro turned me down flat even though I tried everything aside from sticking my junk in his face while screaming fuck me now, the rent is two months overdue!" Kitsune finished up with a somber giggle, but Naru didn't think it was funny in the least.
"How can you sit there and make jokes and giggle?! You knew about our relationship! How could you go behind my back like that?!"
"And what relationship would that be Naru? The same one you keep insisting doesn't exist? He was only a friend right, supposedly? It was like pulling teeth just to get ya to admit to that! I was under the impression that you viewed him as the four-eyed perverted imp that invaded Hinata House for the soul purpose of ruining your life... If that's true, then why should you give a damn what we do with our free time?"
Naru bit at her lower lip, and turned blood red. Embarrassment soon gave way to good old reliable anger. "That's not the point Kitsune... Don't try to turn this around on me! You'd never shown any serious interest in him before, so why all of the sudden?..."
"I'm not even sure myself... It was a spur of the moment deal, even for me. I was afraid he was gona leave us, and somehow I guess I just knew something was wrong... Something beyond your typical mess that is... Something wasn't quite right in Hinata house. You'd have to be completely brain-dead not to notice! I wanted him to stay so badly... I was willin' to do anything if it meant that he'd stay..." A tear rolled down Kitsune's cheek as a sad smile crossed her face. "I should've known better though... It's just my luck really... I corner a cute, sweet guy in a hotel room with all of my assets right in his face and for the taking... And he's only a few hours away from buying the farm, and he still picks you over me."
That comment might've warmed Naru's heart if it hadn't been broken.. All that information offered now was empty reassurance that she was indeed Keitaro's one and only. Reassurance rendered useless and alone in that empty void that formerly contained Naru's heart. Wordlessly, Naru lowered her head, tears again assembling around her eyes. "Kei..." Naru whimpered as the floodgates began to open.
"It's a shame too... I'm sure if it had been you in my place, I'm almost positive we wouldn't be havin' this conversation right now, because Keitaro would still be with us..." Kitsune said, almost without thinking. Almost oblivious to the swelling of emotion that had built up inside her friend, a hard sob prompted her head to finally peer Naru's way, where she saw her friends tears falling helplessly to the ground. "Oh crud, I'm so sorry Naru! I wasn't trying to make you cry again... Hmph, your eyes were almost dry a minute ago..."
"I don't know what I'm gona do Kitsune... It happened so suddenly, I'm not even sure if it's sunk in yet that Keitaro's really gone... If it hurts this much now, what's it going to feel like when it finally does hit the fan?!"
Kitsune had somewhat of an answer for that, though it was a solution more suited for her. "That's a great question... Can't very well answer it though, since I'm not having that same problem... I've done crashed my head into the wall, passed out, and come to in what feels like the Twilight Zone. At least I do have my stash and a half of Sake to console me... You're always welcome to join me, but then, I've never known you look towards alcohol as a solution to your problems."
Naru never really responded after that, to the offer or anything else for that matter. After some time, Kitsune sensed that she'd pierced as deep into Naru's shell as was going to be possible that evening. Kitsune stood up, and placed a hand on Naru's shoulder before she went on her way. "Take as much time to yourself as you need hon... But when the mood hits you, don't be shy. Come out of hiding and join the rest of us. Better to mourn with your friends than all by your lonesome. Strength in numbers ya know?"
Silence was the only reply, which Kitsune had expected. She was half way out the door, when she peaked back inside and made a seemingly ill-timed request. "Oh yeah, I have a favor to ask of you. When you feel up to it, could you check in on Shinobu? She's taking this almost as hard as you are... I'd talk to her myself but... Well, she looks up to you, and you'd understand what she's feeling better than I would. Remember Naru, as bad as you're hurting right now, you're not the only one in this house that's had their heart broken today."
Naru's eyes perked, as if physically saying to Kitsune that her words hadn't gone through one ear and out the other. Kitsune left Naru with that though implanted in her head, sliding her door closed. She remained ever still with her back to Naru's door. "Take care Naru-chan... We'll help take care of ya if you'd only let us... Heaven knows we need you too..."
Shinobu stumbled out of her room teary-eyed and half incoherent, like a woman plastered drunk off raw emotion. She would never have even left the sanctity of her bedroom if not for the irresistible urge to pee. She did her business quickly, hoping to sneak back into her room before any of the girls caught sight of her. She didn't take more than two steps out of the bathroom before bumping into somebody. "Pwe! Oh Naru... I..."
The tension in the air was thick enough to suffocate a, elephant as the two embattled young women stood in one another's way. Shinobu was particularly tense, unsure of what Naru's intentions were. Finally, Naru put on the best smile she could offer, and spread her arms out wide. "Come here."
Shinbou needed not even ask why, nor did she hesitate before falling into Naru's arms, immediately commencing to bawl into the older girls chest. Initially, Naru was thrown off center by how powerful of a reaction Shinobu was giving, but quickly overcame that, and led the sobbing girl to her bedroom. She sat Shinobu down on her bed, and herself followed. She sat there with her saying nothing, only listening while she cried. For a little while, though not forgotten, her own grief was put to the side.
"He can't be gone..." Shinobu wept into Naru's shoulder, as she wallowed her face into it. "He was in our lives for such a short time... How can they take him away from us now?!"
"I know, it's not fair... But remember, Keitaro did what he did to protect us... If he hadn't, we might not be here having this conversation right now..."
"And if he were still alive we wouldn't be having this conversation either, so what's your point?..." Shinobu replied so matter of factly, that Naru's eyes widened at the ease in which the retort came. "Why did he do it?... After all we've done to him since he move in here, why did he give up his life like that? We didn't deserve it..."
"Maybe we didn't..." Naru stiffened again. "I don't have any clear cut answers for you Shinobu... That's why he's Keitaro I guess..."
Another long silence ensued, culminated when Shinobu stopped sobbing for several moments. Naru softly brushed her fingers through her hair, whispering to her softly, not that much unlike a mother trying to comfort a grieving child. "You know, you have a very good point Shinobu. When I think about it, we probably gave Keitaro a million reasons to bail out on us, yet he never did. Despite all his faults, I suppose that was the one thing truly wonderful about him. That quality you always saw in him that it took the rest of us until now really, to see for ourselves. In hindsight, if I could have yesterday back, I think that's probably what I'd say to him..."
"Is that all?" Shinobu asked, feeling as if Naru was leaving something out.
"Not, that's not all..." Naru laughed through a sob. "Just one of many things I'd love to get a chance to say to him... But enough about me... What would you have said to him?"
"Probably exactly what I said last night..." Shinobu replied quickly, too depressed to worry about being shy.
"Really? What did you tell him?"
Shinobu hesitated, her bashful nature finally seeping through, but not enough to hold her back. "I told him I loved him..."
"Gee... That was very brave of you... Good for you Shinobu..." Naru locked up, surprising Shinobu with the force that her arms were now pressing against her frail body. The younger girls eye's went wide upon hearing Naru squeak, jerking slightly when she felt something moist from Naru's eyes splash against her shoulder. She looked up and stared in wonder at Naru as she sobbed softly, not uncontrollably, but enough that she momentarily lost the role of the comforter. Unsure exactly what she should do, Shinobu's arm raised, lowered, and finally rose up again until her hand rested on the back of Naru's head. The roles now suddenly reversed, Shinobu was the one too distracted to cry.
"Naru?..." Shinobu asked with uncertainty. "Are you alright?..."
"I'm fine Shinobu..." Naru whimpered, flashing a pathetic smile, as she thought to herself. "Damn it! I really was the only one sitting on my hands last night, wasn't I?"
Through all her blinding innocence, Shinobu's next words cut through whatever pitiful defense Naru still had up. "Naru... What was the last thing you said to Sempai before..."
Naru screeched aloud, covering her mouth to avoid an all out scream. Shinobu's eyes snapped open again, as Naru's arms ensnared around her, pressing her little body tightly into hers. Shinobu unconsciously picked up the hint that no answer was forthcoming, and in turn rapped her arms around Naru. Within seconds, tears of Shinobu's own began to fall and mix in with Naru's.. For now, all that mattered was that they had someone there to ensure their heads stayed above water.
end.