Little of Keitaro was noticed by everyone for the rest of the day. However, the Urashima gentleman remained on all of their minds for the entire time. The cold night air countered the warm heat of the hot springs. In their collision, steam emerged between the water and wind elements. It was an invisible, unnoticed battle; much like the conflict that was going on in the minds of the other residents. Everyone was accounted for in the warm waters, all but Keitaro and Haruka. Little splashing occurred from the girls, even from Sarah and Su. Whenever there was a disturbance in the water, it felt as loud as a roaring river. All they really needed for the moment was some peace and quiet. On the other hand, this is life; and in life, you don't always get what you need.

"Alright, I'll be the first to say it", Kitsune broke the tension. "Keitaro had a girlfriend."

It was out in the open now.

"Now I know it's a really shocker, heck I didn't think the boy had it in him. But still, he did say it was only for a short while.

"I know it was only for a short time", Kanako added, "But why couldn't he tell us. Does he still not trust us?"

Motoko covered this part with, "It doesn't surprise me that he didn't tell us. Keitaro was miserable here because of us, and he still has the scars to show it."

Motoko wasn't just talking about the scar on his face, that she personally put herself. The kendo girl referred to the way his new personality was. Sure his training and military life had its own effect, but it was all because of the events at Hinata Sou.

"That may be so, but there may be other reasons why he didn't say anything." Their attention was turned back to Mutsumi as she spoke. "Maybe the memories of Masuka were too painful to talk about. Perhaps they had a fight, and he was angry with her. It could also be something totally different."

"I see" Shinobu whispered. "Whatever the cause, Keitaro had his own reasons for not telling us. I think we should let him be, at least until he trust us more. When he's ready he'll talk to us, I'm sure of it."

Everyone felt a little better by Shinobu's realization. Once again, the younger girl had managed to cheer everyone up. That was all except for Naru. She remained undetected in the deeper parts of the hot springs. Her ears remained shut to the outside world, as only the voices in her were listened upon.

"Keitaro...why didn't you tell me about her, Keitaro?...Are you still mad at me?...Was Masuka that special to you?...How far did you go with her?...How far apart have we drifted?...Are you still in love with her Keitaro?"

All these questions raced through Naru's psyche. She sank nose deep into the water as she continued to ponder her thoughts. The main question Naru had on her mind was, "Is Keitaro still in love with her?" It scared her. Although Keitaro said she passed away some time ago, she wasn't sure if he truly let her go. If Keitaro still had some lingering feelings for Masuka, then maybe he would never move on. That is what scared Naru the most.

In the solitude that was his room, Keitaro sat at a desk trying to study with whatever light his little lamp could give him. Skinny sat at the corner of his desk, watching his master. The brown pine martin took in every detail that was present. From the sweat drop over Keitaro's eye, to the number of times he had erased with his pencil.

"You're not focusing boss", Skinny said.

"I'm trying Skinny, I'm trying."

"Boss put the pencil down, you need a break."

"It's ok Skinny, just three more problems. I got this", Keitaro said as he scribbled faster.

"Boss, you've been at it for three, nearly four hours now", the martin insisted he stop.

"Hang on Skinny, just this last proble..."

Keitaro couldn't finish his sentence or the math problem, as his pencil lead broke. Keitaro breathed a sigh of defeat before inspecting his pencil closely. The writing utensil was small, smaller than his pinkie from sharpening it so much. The tip had collapsed from the pressure Keitaro applied when writing. He tossed it in the trash, but missed as the can was overfilled with literally dozens of other over sharpened, and broken pencils.

"Boss, you're done, call it quits for the day", Skinny tried to convince his master.

"Skinny, I really need to study, otherwise I won't be ready for the exams coming up."

"Yes, you need to study Boss, but not like this. Just study more tomorrow, you're too unfocused."

"Yeah, how so", Keitaro asked.

"Boss, you went through your entire stack of pencils in three hours. You've been looking at your mission log every five minutes. You haven't eaten dinner yet. You're studying with one lamp, even though you have four other perfectly good lights; and you don't even have your glasses on."

Keitaro touched his face to confirm this. He hadn't even realized that he was missing his glasses. The boy had been so into his studying that he forgot all about these things. It could also have been that Keitaro had gotten so used to contact lenses that he didn't remember what wearing glasses felt like anymore. Within his reach across his desk, were his glasses. Keitaro slipped them on over the ridge of his nose into place. As his vision reappeared, he viewed Skinny holding the sleeve of his thermal. The pinemartin stared through his eyes.

"Boss, you're pushing yourself too hard."

"I know, I know Skinny", Keitaro told the mammal. "I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"I know that, but you need focus. Take one thing on at a time."

"Skinny, there's too much going on right now. I have to find some kinda balance for it all."

"Yeah, balance is necessary, but so is letting go of some things."

Keitaro's attention was fully on the martin.

"What are you getting at Skinny?"

"You know very well what I'm talking about Boss. Do you remember yourself nearly two years ago? Remember before the ERT started, or the Dojo, or any of that other stuff with Neon and Draconian? You used to talk about a happy life. A life at Tokyo U with a girl. What happened to that dream Keitaro, and what happened with her?"

"Skinny I..." Keitaro hesitated with the next words to choose,"...I changed Skinny. I had to change, because no one was going to accept for me who I was."

"Are you so sure", Skinny asked, knowing Keitaro wasn't going to have the right answer. "Masuka liked you for who you were."

"Skinny, Masuka died because of me."

"No she didn't. She knew very well what she signed up for, and so did you. It wasn't your fault Keitaro, Draconian was the one who killed her."

"If I had been stronger, I could have saved her."

"That may be so, but look how far you've pushed this", Skinny said to his master. "You stayed in the ERT, and you joined the dojo, all for revenge."

"It's not revenge Skinny", Keitaro talked back to skinny, "It's just something that I have to do...for Masuka."

"Boss, I know you're still hurting inside from losing Masuka", Skinny said before being interrupted.

"What do you know about losing someone special to you?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know. You are all I have Boss. I know we all have to die someday, but I don't want to see you fall before me. Neither would Masuka."

Both master and pet said nothing at that point. A full minute passed before Skinny passed.

"Boss, Masuka loved you, but she's gone now. She would want you to find happiness again. Look around you, there are many girls here that love you with all their hearts...and, I'm pretty sure you love one of them."

Keitaro's face tinted a small pink as he spoke out to Skinny.

"Hey, that's a false assumption!"

"Really? Well if I'm wrong, then why have you been taking out that ring lately?"

Keitaro let his eyes wander to his desk, at the small casing that held a ring in it.

"You have never worn that ring, and you haven't looked at it since you were still together with Masuka."

That was it, Keitaro didn't need to take this from a pinemartin.

"I'm going for a jog", Keitaro said as he quickly changed into a sweat suit.

As Keitaro changed into his new outfit, he slammed the sliding door shut behind him. The mammal wasn't offended by the gesture. In fact he had a smile on his tiny whiskered face. For the spot on the desk now had no ring on it.

With stealth abilities taught to him in the military, Keitaro escaped Hinata Sou unnoticed by all. While practically gliding down the stairs, Keitaro attached a small music device to his hip, with the earplugs set in their respective places. One Keitaro reached the bottom steps, he was off. He wasn't sprinting nor was he speed walking. He was simply pacing himself in a wonderful jog. Few people beyond daily runners knew the secrets of a simple jog. It calmed people down, and helped them think. The music added a certain rhythm to his body, as his mouth echoed the lyrics to the songs. The cool air around him was perfect for running. It wasn't icy cold like in winter, neither was it blazing like in the summers.

In the entire process of running, he had to pay little attention to what was around him. Most of the shops in this part of town were closed. The street lights barely lit up the area, but it didn't matter to Keitaro. All he was focused on was the road ahead of him. There were times when he would take a long jog, and not know where he was at the end. Even now, he felt like he could go on forever and ever if he wanted to. However, his body was only going to take so much. The wounds were beginning to hurt again, especially the one in his leg. His aunt would kill him if he returned back in a poor condition. He let his leg make the decision of taking a rest on a bench.

Keitaro was relieved to find no blood seeping through the bandages as he lifted his sweat pants up. As he checked on his shoulder, he heard the sound of something hit the ground. His reflexes kicked in as he held his gun behind his back. Alas, no one was around, but it still didn't explain the sound. He checked the ground around him, just to be sure. It was a wise decision, as he now knew the source. On the ground, was his small ring box. It most likely fell out of his jacket pocket when he was looking over at his shoulder wound. Keitaro picked the item up, and dusted it off before opening the small box.

Inside was the same ring. The silver was shiny enough to reflect some of his face on it. He stared at the ring for a very long time. It wasn't the first time he had done something like this. He didn't know why he would look at it for so long, it's not like it had changed since the last time he saw it; even if it was just the night before. Nevertheless, here he was staring at the ring, as if it stared back at him. He had half a mind to just leave it on the bench right next to him. Let someone else deal with it. However, something deep inside of him told him not to. Like another voice inside of his mind, it said to keep the ring.

Why should he though. It wasn't making hims happier by keeping it. He highly doubted himself that he would give it to someone. Sure it cost him money, but money comes and goes, as his father would say. On the other hand, money made the world spin around. He could easily get something if he sold it at a pawn shop. Yet that tiny little voice in his head, continuously told him to keep it. With a noise that seemed almost as loud as shutting a door in this alley, Keitaro closed the ring box.

"It's official, I'm an idiot", Keitaro told himself as he pocketed the ring.

Keitaro shook his legs back awake before continuing his jog back home. He set the music, picked up the pace, and let his legs do the rest.

This chapter has a little fewer words than my other chapters. I probably should have added more, but I thought it was good to end it here. Plus I wanted to get at least one more chapter in before the year is over. (Goodbye 2012!) The song "Doesn't Remind Me", by "Audioslave would have been a perfect song for Keitaro to listen to when he was on his jog. To bring it all to an end, I want to thank all my watchers and the reviews you all put up so far. I want to do a shout out for Samhan, for putting the most comments on this fic. Thank you again, you've been a wonderful sport. I recommend you all to read their fic, it's amazing! Hope you all review, hope you stay tuned for the next chapter, and I wish a Happy New Year to you all! XD