Choices
Author's Personal Note:
We have gone to the doctors needed to prepare for mom's surgery, while the doctors feel there will be no problems mom is still very nervous. Mom's health news is not good, because of this they are trying to rush thru the operation before her health get worse.
Author's Story Note:
I always wondered what it would take to get Sarah to be on Keitaro's side.
As for those who thought they knew who was pairing with whom. Good-Luck figuring it out now, because I am not 100% sure yet. I know who I want Keitaro to be with, but the story writes to me, not I to the story.
Prologue:
Battle Royal Stage Two.
Tomoya continues to find out that if he wants to hang around Motoko and by extension the girls' dorm that life will be interesting. Also, we find out the reason why Sarah lives at the Hinata-Sou.
Saturday - March 4, 2000 Morning:
As breakfast ended, Keitaro quickly came to an agreement with Tomoya that they would leave around 5:00 P.M. on their dual dinner date. Once announced in the open everyone had an opinion of where they should go for dinner, the most votes were for the Tex-Mex restaurant and the decision was sealed once it was found out that Tomoya had never tried any non-Japanese food in his entire life. No-one noticed that Su had vanished as soon as the food was gone.
After cleaning up the dining area and kitchen the conversation now moved out to the living room. Motoko, Tomoya and Tsuruko now sat on the same couch that Motoko had drilled very different trio about another surprised announcement of an engagement of marriage.
The girls of-course, were just itching to ask Motoko and Tomoya how firm their marriage plans were, when it would occur and where they would live afterwards.
While all the girls wanted to ask for details, Shinobu (shy Shinobu?) was the first to ask the real question on everybody's tongue, "Are you really going to get married Motoko-sempai?", silence followed as all waited for the answer.
"NO!", was Motoko first automatic reply. "I mean I don't know. I don't want to but it is what the clan elders have decreed. And it is my duty to the well-being of the clan itself.", Motoko looked towards the floor as she answered, she was finding the presence of Tomoya besides her as she spoke was making her nervous about what she was saying.
"I mean when I win our next contest then I get to decide if I marry, and I don't plan to get married and I don't plan to lose him.", Motoko stated more firmly as she looked up at the girls and gave Tomoya a little nudge with her elbow on her final word. A nudge she was immediately sorry for as she detected the change in his breathing that told her that she had just caused him more pain.
"And when will you do it if you do lose?", Naru quickly injected then blushed which resulted in the rest of the girls quickly blushing as they too all realized the alternative interpretation. Keitaro had a puzzled expression on his face about the girls' reaction (he can really be slow at times) and then a few seconds later blushed himself after he clued in last.
Still blushing herself, Motoko looked towards Tsuruko for an answer.
"Nothing will be final until they both graduate from their respective university courses.", Tsuruko proclaimed. "A lot of deals and paperwork between our clans will need to be handled first before we reach that point. And by then both will be legal adults, that will mean they will have a final say in all the work that had been done before-hand.", she also pointed out.
Motoko took very careful note of that statement. Legally, as an adult she could refuse the marriage!
But since it would be against the elders' wishes, it would be very improbable that she could head the clan's dojo or become head of the clan itself. Not leading the clan was something Motoko could live with, but not running the dojo, well that was her life-long dream.
To teach the females of her clan to stand up for themselves, to serve as a warrior defending the clan against all its enemies, to learn the final secret fighting techniques of her clan that only the final masters of the dojo were allowed to see in "The Book of Swords", those were her dreams.
Could she possibly does such and still avoid marriage? Motoko started to lay out long-term plans in her mind. But first to play the game!
"But the formal engagement itself, should happen very soon.", Tsuruko also said, dragging Motoko's attention back to the present.
"What about decisions? If you are both heads of your clans, what if you have disagreements?", Mitsune was the next to ask a tricky question.
As Motoko leaned forward to answer her, Tomoya gently touched Motoko's arm. Motoko gave him a quick confused look then leaned back to let him do the answering. This action (or rather lack of action in attacking a male who touched her without permission) on her part was all it took to make the girls totally aware of how big the changes were in Motoko's life and her viewpoint of men.
"For things that relate clearly only to one clan, we will probably do the judging for our respective clans. It is when matters affect both clans that we must work together. As husband and wife it is expected that any decisions we make will be for the good of both clans since we will not know until much later which clan any children we have will join.", Tomoya started, again Motoko quickly looked at him sharply at the mention of children, "Plus, with us as an example and with how much our two clans will have to work together in the future other such bindings are sure to follow.", Tomoya explained.
"In our clans, the man is the head of the household.", Motoko interjected, "His decision will be the final decision, but only after he has listened very ccccaaarreefully to what his wife has to say about the matter.", she finished, meanwhile she had moved a little away from Tomoya and was looking at him with a firm look as she said the above. She was not aware her hand was rubbing the hilt of her sword as she was speaking.
Tomoya clearly took the hint, and he had not missed where her hand was as she spoke.
Tsuruko was impressed, she was happy that Motoko seemed to be understanding her clan/marriage duties at last.
Now how to get her to agree to getting married? It did not have to be Tomoya, but for the long term good of the clan, it had to be somebody.
Still, something did not ring right, Motoko had not protested as much as she expected. On the other-hand her younger sister seemed to have matured in her attitude and knowledge of how to interact with men and how marriage really worked. Tsuruko filed that away as something to be investigated later.
"And I never ever will underestimate Motoko part in our rulings. When she speaks I will listen.", he promised, reaching out he tried to hold Motoko's hand. Motoko quickly pulled her hand away, and then realizing that her long term plans require care and stealth, she slowly and reluctantly moved her hand over for him to hold.
Tsuruko noted Motoko's hesitation; Motoko noted that holding hands with Tomoya was not so unpleasant after-all.
More questions followed, but some questions like "What type of dress will you wear?" were too far into the future for any answers to be given. That did not stop the girls from making suggestions. In time Tomoya and Keitaro slipped out of the room (the romantic gushing from the girls (but not Motoko) was getting on their nerves) but the girls just kept on talking about plans, choices and suggestions.
Motoko did her best, she sat and listened, being the center of such a joyful debate/discussion/gathering with her as the center of the focus was a new experience to her. Then Mitsune broke out the wine!
"So the two of you are really going to get married?", Keitaro asked Tomoya as they both sat on the roof-top.
"Yes, well on my part I plan to, the elders of the clans don't really give me much of a choice.", Tomoya answered, "But Motoko is ... is ... let's just say I am happy it is someone like her.", and Tomoya had to grin as he admired the view spread out in front of him.
"And you also know that normally it is my duty to say that if you hurt her, that I would do my best to hurt you back?", Keitaro tried to say in a stern voice, but broke down grinning, "But since it is Motoko-san, if you hurt her I will promise to put flowers on your grave.".
"Don't I know it!", Tomoya confirmed as he rubbed an itch under his wrappings but also he was grinning.
Both continued to admire the view in quiet, and kept their inner thoughts to themselves.
Saturday - March 4, 2000, 5:00 P.M:
"You may think that you are my 'husband to be', but for the honour of my clan and as it's designated heir I cannot agree to walk three steps behind you.", Motoko pointed out as they prepared to leave on their dinner date.
"Well, would you prefer to walk three steps in front of me instead?", Tomoya asked with a dead-panned face.
Sheltered as she was from the ways of men, Motoko still was no fool. She knew full well why boys liked to walk behind the girls when they went out in groups. Her fingers tingled for the feel of her sword, but she resisted the impulse.
"No, we will act like the co-leaders the elders want us to be. We will walk side-to-side unless there are formal reasons to do otherwise.", Motoko quickly responded.
Tomoya smiled, stepping closer his hand once again lightly grasped her hand. Motoko stood stock-still, a faint blush on her face. Keitaro and Naru also stood in silence as they expected the worse to happen. A long and heavy few seconds passed. Then Motoko returned a firm grip of his hand.
"Then let's get going.", Motoko said, then heading outside she dragged/led Tomoya towards the front door.
Keitaro and Naru let out the breath neither had realized they were holding.
"The man is the head of the household. HA!", Naru commented as she and Keitaro followed, Tomoya was clearly putting on some extra speed to keep up to Motoko.
Dinner at the Tex-Mex was a hit, stories were traded between Motoko and Naru about the misadventures they had around Keitaro and others. No mention was made of any of the disrobements that had happened however.
After boasting that he could handle the spicy food Tomoya also learnt from personal experience what Keitaro had already learnt. This of course sent Keitaro and Naru into howls of laughter, and even Motoko had to smile at the resulting facial expressions that Tomoya displayed before getting enough drinks to save his taste buds.
Motoko had also brought along Assassin's Death, not to use, but to explain its history and why she had been carrying it during the last two fights. Talking about how it had always protected its owners in the past, she left out the comment about true love that was also to come with the sword. While the blade itself was never exposed, all could admire the detailed carvings and inlaid patterns of the handle and sheath.
Naru found she was having so much fun that she at-last started to see the funny side of Keitaro actions before assuming the worse interpretation.
"Maybe all we needed was a chaperone to help me relax.", Naru thought, not only acknowledging that she was part of the problem, but with Motoko's presence on the date she did feel safe.
As they went to leave back to the dorm, Tomoya not only presented his arm to Motoko, but after she accepted it he interlaced his fingers with hers. Motoko blushed once again, but she did not pull away either.
Walking back to the Hinata, Tomoya and Motoko again led the way. Motoko's face kept its blush but she also kept holding his hand. Minute by minute she was finding her feelings towards Tomoya turning into a confusing muddle. She knew she did not want to get married, but still it seemed the more she thought about the less of a burden it would be.
Su smiled as she watched Motoko and Tomoya approached the first steps leading up to the dorm.
"At-last, a real test of Tama-Mech IV", she said whipping out a remote control, and then she started pressing buttons.
Behind the Hinata a giant hidden trapdoor open, and Su's latest master-piece was lifted into the sunlight.
Motoko and Tomoya both stopped just as they were about to take their first steps up the stairs - both sensed that there was something very wrong ahead.
Then a shape propelled by JATO units leaped over the entire Hinata-Sou, it was heading to land where the two daters stood, a shape that froze Motoko in terror!
"DEMON TURTLE!", was all Motoko could think at the moment.
Suddenly she found herself flying thru the air, she did not have to ask how this happened, she knew! Tomoya had pushed her out of the demon shape's path! And now he was trying to distract it further to give her time to escape!
The giant metal turtle blinked, and twin lasers passed thru the volume of space that a fraction of a second before Tomoya had occupied. The mech-turtle blinked again and telescopic eyes restart their search for a target.
Anger flared within Motoko's heart, not at Tomoya, but at her own self for showing such weakness that others felt they needed to sacrifice themselves for her safety, worse to have a male to be the one doing such!
Again the mech-turtle blinked, this time ion-beams tried to end Tomoya's existence. But just before they could hit him, he moved out of their path. And to her surprise Motoko saw him wink at her.
She then realized he was not trying to help her escape but to give her time to recover. Time to join in the attack! A two pronged attack from her and her for-now fighting partner. Motoko drew her sword and joined into the assault on the metal demon.
Now working together the mech-turtle could not lock into a single target, time and time again it blinked, and each and every time it's rapidly moving targets would dodge out of the kill-zone.
Motoko and Tomoya were having a hard time too, their blows and power attacks just bounced off the armour. Each tried to be always aware of the other's position and timing, their attacks working together to try and inflict maximum damage. But they barely could scratch the armour, much less cause any real harm to their metal opponent. And at the same time each kept moving as they ran interference for each other to ensured that neither could become the prime focus of the mech-turtle's targeting systems.
Inside the mech-turtle's body computers computed odds; two extra targets that had barely moved were now noted. The turtle's computers re-assigned its primary targets and its legs started to move.
On the top of the hill the younger girls had gathered originally to meet the returning daters, now they had a bird's eye view of the fighting below. They too had noticed that the mech's attention had changed to Keitaro and Naru.
"Stop it! Stop it!", Shinobu demanded of Su. She knew how much pain Su's inventions caused Keitaro and feared for everyone else's safety.
"Why? I am just getting to see it in action for the first time.", Su clearly not seeing the danger her invention could be to others.
"Stop it or I'll never make Super Supreme Triple Banana Cream Pie ever again.", Shinobu used her most powerful leverage on Su.
"Okay, okay.", Su relented reluctantly and started to push buttons, only to be answered with sparks and smoke that poured out of her control unit. Su dropped the controller just seconds before it blew itself into hundreds of little pieces of flaming electronics.
"Uh, oh", Su said.
The mech-turtle continued its advance on its new targets. Below beams of energy reached out targeting Naru and Keitaro.
By now even Keitaro and Naru knew something was very wrong. The first complete confirmation was the laser that hit Keitaro full in the chest; the pain alone removed all doubt in his mind about how serious this giant metal turtle was.
Thru a haze of pain he saw the metal turtle blink, then its head swinging in Naru's direction.
Once again moving with speed to rival that of Motoko or Tomoya, Keitaro knocked her to the ground then covered her body with his. He stared at the angel below him, prepared that if worse came to worse this would be his last sight on Earth.
Above, one pair of eyes more than any others widen from her memories.
Tama-Mech IV blinked.
Flash-back:
Sarah and her father on his first big dig that would make his name in the field.
"Daddy, daddy. Look here, look at what I found.", Sarah called out as she jumped into the newly dug trench.
"Darling, you have to come out right now, we have not finished stabilizing the sides yet!", Seta yelled out with parental concern.
"Just a minute ... ", Sarah replied as she tried to free a clay pot from the sandy soil. As soon as it came loose Sarah fell back against the side of the trench and the wall started to collapse onto to her.
"DDDAAADDDDDDYYY!", Sarah screamed in fear, she closed her eyes to keep out the falling sand.
"Don't worry dear, I'm already here.", a gentle voice prompted her to open her eyes again.
Above, her father was on his hands and knees - protecting her! A wooden beam slipped from above and hit him across his back - a grunt - then the words that would never leave her, "Don't worry dear, daddy is here. Daddy will always protect you.".
The sand continued to fall into the trench, almost burying Sarah and her father. But while it took almost half an hour for the other workers to dig them out safely, Sarah was not worried. Daddy was there to protect her!
End Flash-back:
Downhill from the Hinata-Sou, Sarah could see Keitaro (the dork) was doing the same thing that her own father had; on his hands and knees protecting Naru the way her father had done for her. She hear him grunt (or was that her imagination considering the distance) as he took the brunt of a laser beam that burnt away the shirt on his back.
Seconds later an ION beam crossed his back and finished the job.
As Keitaro collapsed onto Naru, his leg and back muscles spamming from the currents induced into his body, only one word escaped Sarah's lips as tears ran down her cheeks, "Daddy".
Noise, explosions, confusion, Keitaro lying on top of her, his hips thrusting and legs moving at a fast pace.
All her old fears surged to the front of her mind, "Pervert!".
Without a conscious thought Naru's fist crashed into Keitaro's temple with enough force to send him flying up the hill, to come to rest at the feet of the girls had been observing the fight below.
In fear and confusion with Naru's actions, quickly the other girls raced to Keitaro to see what condition he was in. Sarah got to him first. What she saw sent a shiver of fear down her spine.
Keitaro did not responded, in-fact he barely seemed to be breathing.
"Please don't die.", Sarah begged with tears in her eyes. Su seeing her best friend in tears could not help but joined in too.
Careful Shinobu lifted Keitaro head onto her lap, it did not look good. His eyes did not focus and the bleeding did not seem to want to stop.
Too heavy for the smaller girls to move, all they could do was wait for the older members of Hinata-Sou to finish up with the mech-turtle below, that and cry some more.
Below, Motoko and Tomoya had just noted the same weakness, the lasers and ION beams were housed behind the eyes, and the mech-turtle needed to blink to use them, plus both eyes always blinked together. Without a word spoken, just a few hand signals to each other they knew what they had to do. Tomoya attacked first, he threw all his remaining reserves into it, forcing the turtle to turn its head in his direction.
Now Motoko ran fast and quietly toward her nemesis, her sword in one hand, Assassin's Death unsheathed in the other. By the time the lightning fast computers had registered her attack it was too late. Her sword slashed down to destroy an eye, the turtle's solid metal eyelids closed to protect the delicate equipment within. Motoko's other hand flashed into position, her natural speed adding to the speed of the extending blade, jamming it where the metal covering sealed against the eye socket and locking both eyelids in place.
Now with time on their side, Motoko and Tomoya leaped away from the metal monster and began carefully examining it, looking for additional weak spots. No additional weaknesses were spotted by the warriors, but now they had the time to safely probe this monster, they were willing to wait it out until they could find a way to destroy it.
Desperately the computers inside machine tried different options to free the lids, but none of them worked. Computing the odds the computers came to the logical conclusion, to avoid capture by hostile forces the computers must trigger the fail-safe options and fire off the self-destruct charges.
Both warriors quickly moved away from the metal hulk as sounds of explosions rang out from within, and smoke, sparks and flames poured from the joints and mouth. Then there was a large explosion that ripped the entire metal body apart. The shockwave ripped out - knocking over everyone presently standing.
After picking herself up Motoko eyes searched around her as she walked slowly forward, "There!", and with a small and happy cry she picked up Assassin's Death, re-sheathed it and once more tucked it away for safe-keeping.
The words "Are you alright?", from a clearly concerned Mutsumi dragged her attention back to Tomoya. Both Mutsumi and Haruka had left the tea-house and now surrounded Tomoya still trying to stand up, a Tomoya clearly holding his side in pain. Concerned, Motoko quickly crossed to his side and without hesitation gave him support to relieve the pressure from his ribs.
"Did not feel a thing while we were fighting.", Tomoya commented to her, "But once we won, it was like a horse kicked me there", he had to admit.
Together, the samurai couple headed back to the stairs, a dazed and confused Naru followed with Mutsumi and Haruka not far behind.
Arriving at the top of the stairs, the scene before them was not a happy one. All the younger girls were crying their hearts out, Keitaro's head rested in Shinobu lap. By now the bleeding had started to slow down, but Keitaro still seemed very dazed with only nonsense sounds coming out of his mouth and random waving movements of his hands.
Mitsune who had been sleeping off the earlier wine binge (she had drunk far more than anyone else) just now exited the front door of the dorm to see what all the noise was about. She snapped awake at the sight in-front of her. Suddenly sober, Mitsune dashed forward to see if she could help. Only to realize that she knew nothing that could be of use in this situation. Helplessly she kneeled down besides Keitaro's body and just held one of his trembling hands.
Mutsumi also hurried to her Kei-kun side, but one close look at his trembling body and she fainted straight away.
Haruka just stood there looking at Keitaro as well, slowly she turned to look sharply at Naru and then below to the ruins of Su's latest experiment. At this moment she knew she had to control her feelings or either one, maybe two young girls would die today by her own bare hands.
Silently and swiftly she picked up Mutsumi into a fireman's lift, and then she walked down the stairs to the tea-house. Later she would call back up to the dorm and asked for Shinobu to question about how Keitaro was doing, but she refused a conversation with anyone else. Haruka was a very angry, very deadly and very scared older woman.
Motoko had also dashed forward, fear seizing her heart about someone she could now willingly admit she cared for.
But to her relief, even as she examined him, she could see that his eyes slowly coming into focus, his speech also started to form proper words questioning why everyone was looking at him, and why he had such a splitting headache.
Naru now confused at the results of her punch to Keitaro moved towards him, only to be stopped by a yellow-haired fury with wind milling arms and kicking feet.
"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!", Sarah was yelling. "How could you do such a thing?", she cried. "He was only trying to protect you, why did you have to hit him like that.", the pain in her voice was plain for all to hear.
"What? What are you talking about? He attacked me!", a surprised Naru responded while do her best to get around this mini whirlwind.
"He was protecting you, he did protect you!", Sarah cried out as tears flowed like a stream down her cheeks. "Just like my daddy does for me! How could you? How could you do that?", Sarah said thru her tears as she ran back to Keitaro and held his other free hand..
Naru was shocked, shocked how Keitaro looked and shocked how Sarah was behaving. As she looked around the expressions on everyone's faces made it clear that Sarah was not the only one who felt this way about her actions.
To make matters worse, she was shocked to have the true facts shoved into her face, that she ... she could not hide from herself or the other girls; the fact that Keitaro had done nothing wrong when she attacked him.
By now Tomoya had also arrived at the dazed manager's side. Meanwhile, the still very wobbly Keitaro was trying to get to his feet. Clearly he was in no condition to walk anywhere by himself, so the young suitor gave him a hand.
As Tomoya guided Keitaro to his room, Keitaro's steps started to get better and firmer. Tomoya started to feel better about the manager's health.
Once at the manager's room Tomoya spread out his bedding and helped Keitaro to lie down for some more rest, by now Keitaro's complaints were very clear; he had the headache of his life!
Popping down to the kitchen for aspirin and a cold-compress; Tomoya quickly got the kanrinin to get some rest and passed the word to the girls of the dorm to give him some undisturbed sleep.
Unlike the rapid self-healing Keitaro, Tomoya now headed to the local hospital to have his ribs checked again.
Once there, a surprising quick checkout confirmed that there was no further damage to the ribs themselves, just some further bruising over the rib area. He was sent away with a stronger pain-killer prescription and a warning to stop exercising so hard.
Later, in his hotel room Tomoya retold the evening's events to Tsuruko as sat in his room.
Events that she seemed to treat as perfectly normal as far as he could tell.
"Is it always like this?", Tomoya had to ask.
Tsuruko smiled, "No, sometimes it gets more challenging, but then it is also more fun", she said.
Getting up, she headed to the door that led to the adjoining hotel room, Tomoya eyes followed her but his mouth would not get out the words.
"Don't worry, at-least you will not have to live a boring life.", she added just before she closed her door. Left unspoken were the words "If you can live long enough to enjoy it.".
Later, as Tomoya lay in his bed he wondered what he had gotten himself involved with. A vision of Motoko fighting the mechanical turtle played in his mind's eye; Tomoya smiled and still fell asleep a happy man.
In her bedroom once more Motoko kneel in front of her shrine, she placed Assassin's Death back into its normal resting place. Then on a sudden impulse she pressed the hidden latches and opened the secret drawer that contained her own exotic writings that she had shown no-one. Flipping thru the pages she found her mind wandering back and remembering the completeness she had felt as she and Tomoya had fought the Tama-Mech together. It was not the same thing as feelings of love she had tried to express in her writing, but it was something that she found she already missed.
The words of Mr. Hiro now came back to her, "This sword has a long and honourable history in the defense of the wives and concubines of the noble houses it has been given to.", but the real words that now struck a chord with her were, "No lady who rightfully held this blade has ever had to commit suicide to protect their family honour either. Luck, long life and love have always followed this blade.", he had finished.
"Was my fight with Tomoya really a true win or even a loss for me? Or did Assassin's Death cause me to come to a draw thus insuring that the two of us will stay together?", she now had to wonder.
Motoko in time prepared for bed, all the while wondering what the future would bring if she shared it (as it seemed that it was likely she would) with Tomoya at her side. Or how hard it would to achieve her dreams if she defied the elders' wishes.
That night her dreams were most unusual for her. Once again she found herself fighting demon turtles - always before in her nightmares she would sense she was being stalked from behind and no matter where she turned another demon turtle would be behind her ready to attack her blind side. But unlike the nightmares of her past, in this dream there was a presence at her back - a shield from any attack from behind. Demon after demon fell to her blade and never did she fear that something was sneaking up on from behind. Finally the last demon fell, she turned to see who had her back, half expecting to see her sister ... it was not her.
Instead two men stood facing outwards, a smoky Keitaro clearly acting like a physical shield from demon flames, a bloody Tomoya clearly killing any demon that came too close. Together, a wall of defense that left her feeling safe. Both smiled at her. Both held out a hand for her to take. Then she awoke.
Okay, Motoko's feelings are messed up big time.
In her room Mitsune thought about the latest events at the Hinata-Sou. She had the info she needed to make up her mind. Naru her best friend, was not the best person to be with the mild mannered manager. Even Sarah had not treated him as badly as Naru. In-fact all the girls of the dorm treated him better than her best friend Naru did.
"That girl is just too violent towards Keitaro-san, she never considers whatever are the reasons he may be doing something for. Always looks at everything he does in the worse possible light.", she said to herself with a feeling of anger directed at Naru and her violence to one who she now held so dear in her heart.
Now memories of her own date with him passed thru her mind.
"It would be nice to spend more time with him, just the two of us.", Mitsune fully admitted to herself, and drifted into a day-dream (?night-dream? It is late after-all) of spending time with him - just the two of them.
"Al-right, that's it. Forget Naru-san, I just have to take care of my latest deals. Then watch out girls because I am coming in with all my guns blazing. Keitaro-kun, I'm coming for you.", she said to herself with a wide and foxy grin.
Soon as she drifted off to sleep she found herself wondering what it would be like to really kiss him well, a proper deep kiss. Her sleep was deep and she smiled thru-out the entire night. Mitsune was a decided woman.
In her bedroom Naru repeatedly rocked back and forth as she tightly hugged her lido doll to her chest. All the time she stared at the sheet of wood that covered the hole that would lead to Keitaro's room. Too scared to move it herself and face what she had done to Keitaro, she prayed that a grinning Keitaro would pop up himself like he usually did after she had given him a Naru Punch.
"Please, please forgive me.", Naru whispered, she hoped Keitaro would somehow hear her prayer.
Thru-out the night Naru would jerk awake from the nightmare as her fist crashed into Keitaro's temple. She would look once more at the covering over the hole that led to the manager's room. It never moved.
"You called me –chan.", Naru softly said with a small hope in her heart.
Then after crying softly some more, Naru would drift off to sleep and once again came to face her personal nightmare.
In his bedroom Keitaro stared at the covered hole in the ceiling. His vision was still a little blurry and his balance was still not its best. His mind seemed to move in circles at times but still it seemed to work fine enough for the moment.
"Why did she hit me this time?", he wondered (the blow had erase the last few seconds of his memory) as all he remembered was protecting her from the lasers of Su's latest crazy design.
"Does she even care for me?", Keitaro wondered to himself. As he lay in bed he started to review his life with Naru, it was not a pretty picture. Slowly it started to dawn on him that whatever was wrong between them could not be entirely blamed on just himself.
As he drifted off to sleep, it was with a heavy and confused heart.
In her bedroom Mutsumi hugged her knees; she trembled at the memory of how Keitaro looked after Naru's last blow.
"If Kei-kun is really hurt, I'll never forgive her.", she vowed to herself.
Then softly crying she fell into a troubled sleep.
Haruka sat on her bed fuming, for the injury done to Keitaro she wanted to go ballistic on Naru, but also clearly this all was started by Su and her inventions. The injuries to his back clearly came from her latest monstrosity.
Haruka did not know what she wanted to do, but clearly she would have to do it soon for Keitaro health – no for sake of his survival. She did not sleep that night. And yes, she still was a very angry and deadly woman.
In her bedroom Shinobu tossed and turned as she swung between concern for Keitaro and hatred for Naru and her attack on the man she admired so much.
"How could she do that?", she asked herself in disbelief of Naru's actions.
Once asleep her troubled dreams were of revenge towards Naru. But her personality was not a violent one, so the dreams were very confused in their nature. Let's just say Naru should be very careful about what she ate for the next couple of days if she did not want to spend half the day in the washroom afterwards.
Shinobu had the skills to turn prune stew into what looked and tasted like an apple-pie if she wanted to.
In her bedroom Su sadly examined the remains of her once great war machine. She sighed as she tried to plan her next version but found her heart was just not into it. Su had finally realized how much her actions had hurt Keitaro-sempai, it was like she had hurt her own big brother whom she dearly loved.
Going off to her sleeping platform, for the first time in quite a while she dreamed of home and family.
In her bedroom Sarah cried softly to herself. She was feeling bad about Keitaro. She missed her dad and now she had no focus for her feelings of being separated from him.
Going off to bed, her dreams were troubled; she did not sleep well that night either.