Love Hina: Deserted
I hope you enjoy this FanFic. If you do, please comment; constructive criticism is also welcome. All writers have egos the size of the sun, so please help me out!
Oh, and Insert Disclaimer Here.
Oh, now you are just all making me feel really cruel! Then again, maybe I am for doing that . I guess it's good I evoked some emotions – that means I'm doing it right, right? :P I am really surprised by the amount of emotion that you have all shown because of the latest chapter, and I hope it's a sign you like it, although a few people seem to feel I have sinned greatly. My apologies, just keep reading. More thanks to TheFirstWaltz for proof-reading. I'm really speeding it up now, so look forward to more soon!
pak40:
Not every story can be happy all the time. Thank you for rating my story so highly to begin with, I'm sorry you are not a fan of plot twists. Please keep reading.
Tsaka:
I don't know quite what you mean by more sufficient words, but thanks for the comment. Here is the continuation.
darksideofthehearth:
As they say, life isn't fair.
Sweet Heavens:
I wasn't aware I had rushed anything. A lack of detail? What money are you referring to? Would you care to elaborate?
Starfire99:
You are meant to hate it! :P
chibi-chipmunk-on-crack:
Stop making me feel bad!
Nick-kun:
Glad you liked it (plenty of others didn't .)
NefCanuck:
Yeah. Thanks for the comment.
JonJ:
Oh, but if Keitaro had taken this hit, it would have been less tragic, seeing as he is immortal. As to Naru, I have confirmed that she will be in the story – it is a matter of time. Glad you enjoy the story.
Warbender:
Never loose hope – I have made a promise that I won't abandon this (and if I really had to for some amazing reason, like I was dying, I'd let you all know I couldn't complete it). Admittedly, such words are cheap – so I'll just try and keep your faith with more regular updates. I'm sure you won't complain. Thank you very much for the high praise. I'm sure a lot of the improvements you mention are no doubt due to TheFirstWaltz – who I once again must thank (seriously, not only is she doing great beta reading, but she is getting it done fast – I'm sure you guys appreciate that).
LonewolfBloodstorm:
I'm hoping you are talking about the situation, not my writing :P.
Major Mike Powell III:
I feel like the person who drove the car! (I guess I was, in a way /). Hope the shock is good shock not 'I'm never reading this again' shock.
Nysk:
Heh. That's the summary of it. Pretty harsh, I admit.
Kampretzz:
Thanks for the heads-up – Fixed.
Chapter 12:
So we wait...
Tick.
Keitaro sat in the white, sterile room, gently holding Shinobu's limp hand, and watching over her. His vision wavered, but he held fast. He had been sitting in this room for the two days since the accident. He had not done anything since except watch over Shinobu, waiting for any sign. The doctors had told him he would do nothing by being there, and would do best just to go home and rest, but he refused. He had not left her side since the incident. The staff were unhappy about having someone staying permanently, but one of the Doctor's daughter's worked for Shinobu, and idolised her, so it seemed. She and her father had pulled strings to allow Keitaro to remain.
Tock.
The clock was sat up on the wall, and with every motion it defined another second of agony for Keitaro. He sat, his fear that Shinobu would never wake increasing a little.
Tick.
Keitaro had been struggling to keep his eyes open for some time now. He had drunk copious amounts of coffee, but even so, he had been awake far too long after (and during) such stressful times. The doctors were shocked that he was still anywhere near conscious.
Tock.
Keitaro knew he would go soon. His mind was so fuzzy. But he clung to the one thing that he had: his fear that he would loose her. His strength was drawn by this very idea.
Tick.
Keitaro fought it. He would not leave her 'til she woke. No matter what.
Tock.
Keitaro's body could no longer hold out. He screamed in his mind, but his body shut down.
Tick.
Keitaro collapsed into a heap on the floor.
Tock.
Keitaro woke in his room. His eyes slowly opened and he lay still, trying to think. He felt weak, both mentally and physically. He felt as though his heart had been ripped out. He looked around, and saw Motoko walk in.
"You are up!" Motoko said, moving quickly over to give him a hug. Keitaro held her tightly, thankful of the friendship she had shown with the simple gesture. "It's been 16 hours since we got you from the hospital." She continued simply, "You were..."
"16 hours?" Keitaro interrupted, "Shinobu, has she...?"
"No change." Motoko said solemnly, looking down.
Keitaro pulled his head back, sighing and running his hand through his hair. 'How come when I have lost everything, the one thing I don't loose is sadness.' he thought, clenching his other hand into a fist and punched the floor with some force, making Motoko jump a little.
"Let's go down and eat. You haven't eaten for too long. Not properly, at least." Motoko said, trying to stop Keitaro from thinking about Shinobu. She knew it was futile; she was all any of them thought about.
"Yeah." said Keitaro wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
Keitaro came down and ate. The group came over and greeted him gently, each one avoiding saying anything in particular. They began to eat. A painful reminder that Shinobu was not the one who had cooked the food they were eating.
"I'm sorry Keitaro..." Kitsune suddenly burst out, "If we hadn't..."
"Kitsune!" Motoko scolded, "We talked about this, don't..."
"I have to say it!" Kitsune shouted, tears in her eyes. "If we hadn't have messed up your date the day before, you wouldn't have had to go out: it's all our fault."
"It's not your fault." Keitaro said simply, looking up at her.
"It..." Kitsune began again, determined to try and take the weight off of his shoulders, and relieve some of the guilt she felt.
"IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!" Shouted Keitaro, staring deep into her eyes. "I asked her to go out that day, I said 'I love you' to her, and I didn't manage to get to her in time. If it's your fault for messing up the day before, then it is sure as hell my fault! Don't you get it?"
Kitsune looked down, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be... We all have to try and cope with this." Keitaro said meekly.
They continued to eat in silence.
The next two weeks were hell for everyone. No one wanted to do anything, and anything that had to be done was done quickly, so everyone did little except think about Shinobu. They visited as often as they could, talking about anything they could, playing music, anything. Everyone waited for anything to happen. Anything.
Keitaro moved down the stairs and wondered what he should do. But before he could bring any meaningful thoughts together, the phone rang. It took him a heat-beat to run over and pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Urashima-san? This is the hospital."
"Yes, has something happened with Shinobu?"
"I'm afraid she appears to have a stress ulcer – common with brain injuries. She is bleeding internally, she is currently in the theatre. If you would like to come down, that would be best."
"Of course,"
Keitaro hung up and stood for a second, shell-shocked. He was hoping she had woken up, not gotten worse. He shouted out to the others, and explained the situation.
Keitaro burst through the doors into where Shinobu was. She was lying on the bed, and appeared to be alive. He ran over and hugged her gently, careful not to put any real pressure on her.
The doctor stood near and chose then to speak.
"We managed to stop the bleeding. She should live." He said, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
Keitaro looked over to him. "Thank you." He said simply.
"Not at all." The doctor said, "As they say, 'it's my job'."
Keitaro gave a hollow laugh and looked back down to Shinobu.
The rest of the group all thanked the doctor, and went off to give Keitaro some time alone with Shinobu.
Shinobu had recovered physically a fair deal; her hair had grown back to a short length, but she had yet to show any sign of waking. The doctors said it was unlikely she would just wake up, but rather become semi-comatose, and then wake up, then take a while to return back to normal – and that was if she ever woke up. She might not even ever return to normal. It was a daunting prospect.
Keitaro was holding her hand, slowly rubbing his thumb in small circles around the back of her hand. He absentmindedly stared at her face.
"I love you Shinobu" He said softly, drooping his head.
That was when he felt her hand twitch.
His heart jumped, and then he realised it was probably just another muscle spasm. It had happened before and was common.
He looked back to her face and was shocked to see her eyes fluttering open. He felt her grip onto his hand. Not just twitch, but a grip.
Keitaro felt heat return to his body. He looked into her eyes.
Keitaro could tell, at that moment, that it was going to be all right.
He looked into her eyes and she looked back. This was no blank semi-comatose stare that he had been told to expect, it was her looking at him.
Shinobu spoke then.
"You love me?"
"I love you" Keitaro chocked out, still unbelieving. He quickly called over the doctor, who, with shock plastered on his face, did a number of tests, asking Shinobu to look at his pen while moving it, asking her where she was and what had happened.
"Well. You appear to be absolutely fine, as far as I can tell. You will need to take things very easy for now, and there may be effects we have not noticed yet, but at least to a basic sense, you are far, far better than we could have hoped for."
Keitaro kissed Shinobu passionately, happy beyond what he felt able to describe.
"I need to tell the others." He said shortly, smiling at her.
"Of course." Replied Shinobu, smiling.
Keitaro got on the phone quickly; wanting to end everyone else's suffering. Motoko picked up the phone, and he said quickly, trying to convey the message as quickly as possible, "Shinobu is awake, she is fine!" Keitaro heard the phone drop the other end, and Motoko shouting to the other residents, before she picked up the phone to say,
"We will be over right away."
There was a click, and Keitaro went back over to Shinobu.
"They all sounded ecstatic!" He said, grinning, "And rightfully so! After two weeks we were all scared you'd never wake up, especially after this morning."
Shinobu blushed slightly at his first comment, before looking shocked and confused "Two weeks? What happened this morning?"
Keitaro forgot she was 'out-of-the-loop', so to speak, and quickly filled her in on what had happened.
"I'm sorry I caused you so much worry!" Shinobu said, tears at her eyes.
"It's not your fault! I shouldn't have said it while you were crossing..." Keitaro said, also beginning to cry a little.
"I only woke up because you said that." Shinobu said, looking deep into Keitaro's eyes and becoming more serious. "At one point you know, I decided whether I wanted to live or die. I remember that. I promised myself I would live for one reason – that you loved me."
Keitaro had nothing he felt he could say to that.
Kitsune, on the other hand, did. "How romantic!" She said, grinning madly.
"When did you get in?" Said Shinobu, blushing and jumping, which, unfortunately for her, caused a lot of pain.
"Itai!" Shinobu gasped as what she could only describe as fire blasted down her body.
"Ah, I didn't mean to shock you!" Said Kitsune, running over.
After Shinobu had recovered from her momentary pain, everyone congratulated her on waking up.
A few weeks later, Shinobu was being pushed along in a wheelchair by Keitaro out of the hospital. Her pelvis, legs, and arm had still not fully healed,
but other than that, she looked a lot better. Her hair had grown almost to her ears, so although not as long as she liked to have it, was better than before.
Everyone started to live again. Hinata was lively and fun, back to the way it should always be. The pain of waiting was forgotten as things started to return more to normal. Shinobu regained use of her other arm, so she could now move by herself in the wheelchair, and her legs, while still in casts, were slowly healing.
Keitaro walked over to the kitchen, and then leaned on the door frame for a while, content to watch Shinobu as she prepared a meal, humming slightly, He smiled softly, then walked in and hugged her.
"Anything I can do?" He asked.
"Sure!" Shinobu said, happy that he was there.
They worked together quietly, happy just to be together.
After everyone ate, Keitaro took Shinobu to her room. Until then, Motoko had been carrying Shinobu up to her room, and getting her into bed. Keitaro decided to do it that night. Making sure he had her in a comfortable position, he lifted her up, and started carrying her up the stairs, careful not to make any sudden movements or do anything that would cause her pain. Shinobu nestled her head into his chest slightly, and he blushed a little.
"Thank you, Senpai" Shinobu said, smiling warmly as he put her down on her bed.
"Uh... Normally Motoko puts on my pyjamas for me, I still can't..." Shinobu trailed off, blushing.
"Oh, I'll go and get her for you." Said Keitaro, blushing a little.
"No... I mean, If you don't mind, I don't mind..." Shinobu's voice became quieter, her face reddening. "You doing it..." She finished, turning red enough to paint every London bus in existence.
Keitaro's mind froze. The idea of stripping Shinobu before clothing her was... Keitaro shook himself mentally. He loved Shinobu, and she needed help. He had to help her.
Frankly, he thought, he would rather be doing that than pretty much anything else in the universe.
"Sure..." Keitaro mumbled, moving closer.
Shinobu's breath caught. She couldn't believe she had been so forward. Keitaro was going to see her completely naked. She looked at him as he began to undress her, slowly, careful not to make it uncomfortable. She was now in her underwear, and Keitaro reached around her, their faces only centimetres apart, and unclasped her bra.
Keitaro breathed heavily. Shinobu's exquisite form was right underneath him, clad only in underwear that he was now taking off. He had never even dreamt of something that was as hot as this to him.
He steeled himself. Shinobu needed his help to get changed – he had to do that, and be honourable about it. He quickly removed both pieces of underwear and put on her nightdress. He thanked God that it was easy to put on; he could barely contain himself for the few seconds she was exposed. He had, unavoidably, looked at her while she was naked, and he honestly had never seen anything so beautiful. She had a lot of scars from the incident and surgery, but they didn't matter to him.
Shinobu was amazingly embarrassed and yet also turned on by the experience – she loved Keitaro, to have him so close while she was naked was intoxicating. She was scared that he would dislike her body. When she had seen it after waking, all swollen, bruised, and scarred, with little hair, she thought she was hideous. Admittedly, she had improved, but she still felt ugly, covered in scars.
"Am I ugly?" She asked out loud.
Keitaro was amazed by the question, "No! You are beautiful, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!"
"I'm not! I'm scarred and in casts and in a wheelchair – who would want to date me?" She whimpered, letting out her fears.
"I would." Keitaro said, simply, kissing her. "I don't care if you have scars, you are still beautiful. More beautiful than anyone. Besides – I love you no matter how you look."
"Thank you." Shinobu said, her fears quashed.
Keitaro got up and left, looking in to see Shinobu asleep already, worn out by the day. He smiled a little, and then walked off to his room.
To all those annoyed about the plot twist before: I hope you are OK again now. I was never planning on turning this in a tragedy – nor, as my proof-reader (TheFirstWaltz) pointed out, another overdone amnesia story. Just keeping you all guessing. See you next time!
Please consider reviewing if you have read and enjoyed this; we writers live for it :P
