Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me and Jimmy is a friend and fan.

It's been a while, I know, but times have been a bit rough on me lately. I've had 4 tests and 2 papers due over the span of 4 school days, limiting my writing time. Even when this fic was in my thoughts, it wasn't in the here and now; instead I kept thinking about what will happen in the chapter following this one, #57 and (I think) #61. You'll have to wait till then to see what plagues my brain.

Also, in case you came straight here instead of taking the path through the site, I will be accepting ideas for what will be chapter 58. The time frame for it will be January/February 2010. (It's currently 2008) Let me know if any of you have any ideas for me.

Chapter LIII: Behind Door Number One

And so, the cycle continues yet again; after the excitement (and for some, the torment) of what happened, things started to get back to normal. It was obvious to everyone that Motoko was happier then ever upon seeing Jimmy again and made it perfectly clear that she would never let him go if she could help it. Shinobu was also glad things turned out for the best, as heartbreak was never something she wished to experience in her lifetime.

Out of everyone however, it was Sean who was most relieved by the results, as the whole thing was his fault to begin with. He kept mentally kicking himself knowing that he had put two relationships (including his own) and Motoko's career in serious jeopardy. If only he had been able to keep his trap shut during Tsuruko's first visit, it never would have happened, but there was just something about Motoko being dragged away kicking and screaming that he just couldn't tolerate, even if it was by her own sister.

Despite everyone's attempts to put him at ease, he just couldn't get over the guilt that had put a stranglehold on his heart. He knew damn well that if Jimmy hadn't saved his ass back in Kyoto (or if he had made better use of the power boost he got from defeating Shonoko) he would be married to Motoko right now. Even though he was well aware that it was all in the past and that he shouldn't dwell on it, the "what ifs" just kept coming. He would have promised himself that he'd never take such outrageous risks concerning the hearts of others again, but for some reason, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep it for very long.

The day's events also had an affect on someone else. Granted, Suu usually spent a good amount of her time in her room doing God knows what, but there's been more to it than that as of late. Her normal hyper behavior had all but vanished. Instead, she always looked deep in thought, as though planning something big; indeed, that was exactly what she was doing. After the identity of her enemy became public knowledge, she found herself forced to rethink her strategy. For starters, there would be no further direct confrontations made against Jimmy, as it might provoke the aggression of Motoko as well. She thought back to what started the war in the first place; that there was something in Jimmy's house that he didn't want her to see, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to find out what. This would call for something more subtle, and all she could do as this point is sit tight and wait for an opportunity to come her way…

--- Saturday, 8/30 11:50 AM

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Shinobu asked.

"Yeah," Sean added. "Maybe we should have called first."

"Aw, c'mon," Kitsune said. "If we did, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" The whole group was heading towards Jimmy's place for lunch and perhaps a tour as well.

"What do you think, Motoko?" Keitaro asked.

"I don't think he would mind," Motoko said. Among everyone, she has been the most curious (or at least openly so) about what was in Jimmy's house. Even though the recently reunited couple spent a great deal of time together over the last week, it has always been Jimmy paying a visit to Motoko, not the other way around.

"I wonder what kind of food he's got," Suu muttered.

"We'll find out soon enough," Sean said. "What is up with her?" he thought. "Even when she talks about food, she's not excited. I gotta have a talk with her later on and see if anything's wrong." Indeed, there was something going on, but it wasn't something that could be resolved by a mere chat between friends.

When they reached Jimmy's place, they marveled in the sheer size of it up close. "Dang," Kitsune said. "This place is almost as big as Hinata-Sou! What use could he have for so much space?"

"Yes, what indeed?" Suu thought.

Motoko volunteered to go knock on the door. A few moments passed with nothing happening. "Maybe he's on the far side of the house and didn't hear," Shinobu said. Motoko knocked again, harder this time, but there was still no response.

"Where is he?" Naru thought out loud.

"Hmm," Sean thought. "I wonder…" Without warning, Sean started walking towards the corner of the building.

"Hey," Naru said. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm going to check and see if there's another door. You stay there, just in case he answers that one." With that, Sean rounded the corner, disappearing from view.

"…So…" Kitsune said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Anybody read any good books lately?"

About a minute later, Sean reappeared and, motioned everyone to follow him, then disappeared around the corner again. As everyone curiously made their way around the house, they started to hear faint music in the direction in which Sean was leading them. When they saw said man again, he was standing next to what could only have been a garage, but it looked like one from a professional body shop than anything else.

"What's going on?" Naru asked.

"I found Jimmy," Sean said, pointing at a window. Looking inside, they could see him working on a car. "I think we should give him a surprise, don't you?"

"Allow me," Motoko said, making her way to the door, but they were in for a surprise of their own when she opened it. All of a sudden, they were blasted by the heavily cracked up sound of AC-DC.

"Oh my God!" Shinobu yelled as she put her hands against her ears; her voice could barely be heard above the noise. "Why is it so loud?!"

"Okay," Sean muttered. "That's about enough of that." He snapped his fingers and the music came to an abrupt end, getting the attention of a certain someone.

"Hey, what gives?" Jimmy asked, getting out from underneath the car to find the Hinata Crew at the door. "Oh, hey. What's up?"

"Oh man, I think my ears are bleeding," Kitsune said. "Why did you have the music turned up so high?!"

Jimmy just shrugged. "So, what brings you here?"

"We figured we'd just stop by for lunch and maybe you can show us around the place," Sean said. "No wonder you weren't able to hear us knocking on the front door."

"What were doing under there?" Keitaro asked.

"Just working on the transmission," Jimmy said, walking over to a sink to wash the grease and grime off his hands. "Hey, Suu, if you want, you can come over and help me out from time to time."

Suu just mumbled something under her breath, refusing making eye contact. The prospect of working on something full-sized did sound appealing to her, but she still had a mission to complete and now was not the time to be distracted from her objective.

Jimmy led everyone inside the main building and guided them to the kitchen, which looked all too big for only one person. Of course, this seemed to be the running theme of the entire house, so it was sort of to be expected at this point. "I'll whip something up real quick," Jimmy said. "It'll only take a minute."

"Knowing Suu's appetite, it might take longer than that," Sean said.

Suu wasn't listening to the conversation, as her full attention was drawn to a certain point on the wall, where a doorknob could barely be seen. Aside from this, there was no sign that there could ever have been a door there. This was it. All this time, that was what Suu has been after. She wanted--no, she needed to know what was behind that door that Jimmy didn't want her to see. Now that it was in her sights, the only thing left was to figure out how to go about getting in there. Obviously, she wasn't about to try anything now, as there were too many people around. She knew that she would have to wait a while longer for an opportunity to present itself.

Lunch went by in an orderly manner and the time soon came for the tour, but Jimmy had a bit of difficulty in deciding where to begin. Eventually, he settled on starting from the top and working his way down. Stops were made at his room, the guest room (which Motoko took some interest in), the living room, game room (which had a video game stash rivaling Suu's) and so on until there was only one place left. "And now…" Jimmy said, leading the group up to the second floor of the garage. "The pièce de résistance."

"Wow," Shinobu says.

"You said it," Kitsune added. The second floor was just one big room, its walls lined with all manner of martial arts weapons.

"I have never seen such weaponry in all my life," Motoko said, taking in as much as her eyes will allow. "How did you get it all?"

"You'd be surprised what you can get if you know where to look," Jimmy said.

While everyone was gawking at Jimmy's impressive arsenal, an idea sparked in Suu's mind. This was about as far from the kitchen as any other place in the whole house. Now would be the perfect time to make her move. All she had to do was figure out a way to get away from the group without arousing suspicion; and she may have done just that.

It took a little while, but Jimmy noticed that Suu was fidgeting just a bit. He looked a her curiously for a moment until he finally caught on. "Bathroom's downstairs," he said. Suu nodded, then rushed out. "Hmm," he thought. "I wonder…"

"All too easy," Suu thought as she reentered the main building. Obviously, the whole bathroom routine was just an act. "He has no clue as to what I'm doing." She quickly made her way back to the kitchen and the secret door therein. "Time to see what his big secret is." She twisted the knob and, much to her surprise, the section of wall slid aside on its own accord. "Cool."

Suu stepped past the doorway and entered a narrow, dimly lit passageway leading down. She made her way down the stairs slowly and cautiously, constantly looking around for anything that might jump out at her. This sudden paranoia was not unwarranted, as she had learned from the prior encounters with Jimmy that he was capable of many things and that if what he kept hidden in this corridor was so secret there's no telling how strong the defenses might be.

Much to her relief, she made it to the bottom safely and continued along the path as it double-backed. She only went about fifteen feet before she caught sight of her goal in the form of a metal door at the end of the hall. "This is it," Suu said. This whole war was started because of what's behind that door."

As she got closer, she noticed that there were no knob or handle on the door. Instead, there was a button off to the side. Upon pressing it, a female, computerized voice chimed in. "Please enter ten-digit access code."

Suu just stared blankly at the door for a moment. "…What?" A full-sized keyboard appeared from within the door itself, about chin high on Suu. "Looks like I finally found the defenses," she muttered. "Okay, let's see…" She began pressing random letters and numbers, knowing full well that the chance of them being the right ones were slim at best.

Upon pressing enter, the keyboard retracted back from whence it came and the voice came back with a simple message. "Access denied."

"Darn it," Suu said, snapping her fingers. All of a sudden, two metal bands sprouted out of the floor, strapping Suu's feet to the floor. "Hey, what the--?!" She didn't get to finish her sentence, as she noticed a metal rod sticking out of the ceiling, slowly making its way towards her; she could see the electricity flowing through it. "Uh oh."

---

"This place is so cool!" Mutsumi cheered as everyone left the weapons room.

"You're not kidding," Kitsune added.

"I have never seen such a wide variety of weapons in one place before," Motoko said. "Nor in such wonderful quality."

"Glad you liked 'em," Jimmy said.

"I wonder," Sean said. "Is Suu still in the bathroom?"

As if to answer Sean's question, the lights flickered for a moment. "Excuse me for a bit," Jimmy said, not missing a beat as he left for the kitchen.

"What was that all about?" Naru asked.

"Couldn't tell you," Sean said as everyone entered the living room. About a minute later, Jimmy arrived, a motionless Suu in his arms. "Good Lord, what the heck happened to her?!"

"She stuck her nose where it didn't belong," Jimmy said. "And she paid the price for it."

"Is she going to be alright?" Shinobu asked.

"She'll be fine. The electric shock wasn't lethal or anything." Jimmy handed Suu to Sean. "Though you should probably get her home so she can get some rest."

"Good idea," Sean said. "I guess it's about time we left anyway."

"Um, Sean?" Motoko asked as everyone began to say their goodbyes. "If you don't mind, I think I will stay here a while longer."

"Of course," Sean said. "Why would I mind?"

Motoko grinned a bit, mentally kicking herself for the way she worded what she just said. "Just so you know," she said with more confidence to back it up. "I may end up spending the night here."

"No problem. See you two later, then." With that, most of the group left, leaving Motoko and Jimmy alone.

"Is it just me or have you lost some of that spark you had when we first met?" Jimmy asked.

"I guess I still haven't fully recovered from what happened last week. I'm not exactly used to feeling worthless."

"You'll never be worthless to me, Motoko," Jimmy said, giving her a quick kiss. "C'mon, let's go play with my toys some more." He then led her by the hand back to the second floor of the garage.

--- 4:12 PM

"Oh, what happened?" Suu asked as she regained awareness of her surroundings. The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was the sharp pain of electricity flowing through her. Quickly, she sat up, expecting to be in that same hallway, but instead found herself in her own room back at Hinata-Sou. "Wait, how did I get back here?"

"You were carried, how else?" Suu looked towards the source of the voice to find Kitsune standing in the doorway. "Serves you right for snooping around somebody else's house like that. You feelin' okay?"

"Yeah," Suu said, holding her head. "Though I won't be doing anything stupid like that again for a while."

"See that you don't."

As soon as Kitsune left, a smirk appeared on Suu's face. "Oh, you won't have to worry about that, I can assure you."

---

Motoko and Jimmy would train in the weapons room for the first couple hours of their alone time. Motoko took advantage of this opportunity to begin familiarizing herself with weapons other than her usual katana, though Jimmy could see that she wasn't having much of an easy time in doing so.

When their session came to a close, being the gentleman that he was, Jimmy let Motoko get cleaned up first. As the water from the showerhead flowed over her, Motoko couldn't help but let it remind her of the hotel room she had back in Myrtle Beach. For her, life over the last couple months had felt like a dream, though for a while, it was nothing short of a nightmare. It was as though she was being tested by some higher power; and she couldn't be sure if she had passed or not. She had given up on life far too quickly after Tsuruko first paid them a visit, and she knew it. If only she could have been stronger during that time; maybe she could have gone with Sean to try and beat her sister together instead of him going by himself.

Motoko quickly shook such depressing thoughts from her mind and turned to more pleasant things. She imagined Jimmy coming in and joining her in the shower. She could almost feel his hands running up her sides. Years ago, she would have severely chastised herself for having such perverse thoughts, not to mention try to kill whoever it was that inspired them in the first place. Of course, back then, she never thought she'd ever have a boyfriend to be the subject of those thoughts, either. Despite all this, she knew she had to tread lightly around these fantasies, as she knew from experience what can happen if her imagination gets out of control, making her libido do the same. She wasn't exactly eager to experience the torment of sexual frustration again.

When she stepped out of the shower, Motoko felt refreshed, both in body and mind. As she dried herself off, an idea popped in her head…

---

Jimmy sat on the couch in the living room, watching some television, patiently awaiting his turn in the shower. Even though he looked calm and collected on the outside, the fact that there was a beautiful, naked woman in his house was certainly not lost on him. He just didn't want to think about it too much, for obvious reasons.

"You can use the shower now, Jimmy," Motoko's voice said from off in the distance.

"Alright," Jimmy called back, getting up and heading for the bathroom, where the voice originated. When he got there, he was greeted by a very… unexpected sight.

"You know what I just realized?" Motoko asked as she leaned up against the bathroom door, naked as the day she was born. "I didn't bring any clothes with me except for that sweaty gi I was wearing when I showed up."

To say that Jimmy was surprised would have been an understatement as he just stared blankly at Motoko's gorgeous frame for a few moments before the guy within him kicked in. "Um, is that a problem?"

"Well," Motoko answered as she began walking towards him. "I wouldn't want to distract you or anything. Believe me, I've experienced that first hand." She grabbed Jimmy by the shirt, pulled him down and gave him a quick kiss. She would have gone up on her tip-toes to do it, but Jimmy was a foot taller than her and she wouldn't have been able to reach. "I'm going to go call Sean and get him to send me some clothes, alright?"

Not waiting for him to respond, Motoko continued down the hallway, leaving Jimmy alone with his erection, trying to rationalize what had just occurred; for as long as he's known her, Motoko has never been quite so open. Despite all this, he wasn't about to complain about what he had just seen. "Wait just a sec," he thought, trying to piece together what was actually said. "She experienced what first hand?" Certain thoughts accompanied him into the bathroom which, along with the bedroom, should be the only place such thoughts should arise.

After Jimmy finished with his shower and Motoko got dressed, they settled down for some meditation, sitting a foot or two apart, facing each other. As time went on, their auras started to intertwine and they found themselves in each other's thoughts in some sort of mind link. To the casual observer, it would seem like they would be doing nothing over the next few hours, but the participants were, for all intents and purposes, in a world all to themselves, performing various activities--most of which having nothing to do with martial arts of any sort.

By the time they came out of their respective trances, they both felt drained; both physically and spiritually. Seeing the evening was already upon them, they decided to forgo dinner and just call it a day. Motoko took a couple extra sets of clothing with her to the guest room while Jimmy stayed in the living room, watching television. It didn't take long for either of them to drift off to sleep, but the night was still far from over…

--- 10:51 PM

A lone figure stalks it way through the wooded area near Hinata-Sou. If one were to get a close look, they would have been able to recognize it as a certain girl on a quest. "Well," Suu thought. "I did say I wasn't going to do something stupid like what I tried to do this afternoon." Sure, the objective may not have changed, but now, Suu felt she was ready for anything and everything that might be lined up against her, her confidence represented by the duffle bag slung over her shoulder.

When she reached Jimmy's house, she reached into her bag and retrieved a lock pick and with the skill of a master thief, she gained entry. She crept through the hallway as quietly as she could; she didn't know Jimmy's sleep habits and for all she knew, he might still be awake.

Suu reached the living room, but ducked back in an instant. Poking her head in, she saw Jimmy sitting in a recliner, illuminated by the glow of the television screen. "I guess I never expected it to be that easy," she thought. Indeed, this little development would make things much more difficult for Suu to accomplish her goal.

The progress was slow and painstaking, but Suu finally made it to the kitchen without being seen--or at least that's what she hoped. She turned the knob causing the secret panel to slide away, and was midway through the portal when her ears picked up something coming from the living room--something that she really wished she hadn't.

A few moments went by and Jimmy entered the kitchen, mumbling about something, but Suu didn't catch what it was, nor did she care at the moment. "I'm so screwed," Suu thought, still half in the room, half out. Much to her amazement, Jimmy just went to the fridge, drank a soda and went back to the living room, muttering all the while. "Um…" Suu thought, positively dumbstruck. "Has he been asleep this whole time?" Deciding not to dwell on the subject any further, she quickly went down the path while her window of opportunity was still open.

"Alright," Suu said when she reached the door that now blocks her way. "Time to crack this safe." She pressed the button next to the door and the voice chimed in, asking for the code, but this time around, she was ready. Earlier in the day, she used her technical expertise to hack into Jimmy's computer system. Through this, she found out that the password is randomly generated each day, which is then e-mailed to him.

Reaching into her bag, Suu pulled out a small slip of paper that contained that day's passcode, which she quickly entered into the keyboard. When she pressed enter, the voice returned. "Password accepted."

"Yes," Suu said, pumping her fist. However, her celebration was cut short when the computer spoke up yet again.

"Please provide thumb print."

Suu bit her lip as a fingerprint recognition pad appeared next to where the keyboard had been just moments before. "Darn it, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy." She knew there was only one way to go from there. She went back up to the kitchen and poked her head into the living room. After his short trip, Jimmy had sat back down in the recliner, apparently still asleep. "I hoped it wouldn't have come to this," Suu thought as she went into her bag again and retrieved what appeared to be a blowgun.

"Sweet dreams," Suu thought as she put the blowgun to her lips, disregarding the redundancy of it all. Sure, he may be asleep now, but she wanted to be sure he stayed that way. She blew and a dart flew out, hitting Jimmy on the neck, responded to this with a twitch and a slight moan, but nothing more.

Allowing herself a sigh of relief, Suu stepped forward and grabbed Jimmy by the arm and pulled him out of the chair. From there, she hooked her arms underneath his and dragged him back to the kitchen and down the steps. "This guy weighs a ton," she grunted along the way. Getting him to the door would turn out to be the easy part, as Suu would quickly find out.

Much to Suu's frustration, Jimmy's arm couldn't reach the pad while his body was flat on the ground. Therefore, she resigned herself to having to lift it up a ways to do it. It took a couple tries, but was finally able to get Jimmy's thumb onto the pad.

"Thumb print approved."

When Suu heard those sweet words come from that unseen source, she couldn't have felt happier; relieved that this whole ordeal was finally over…

"Please provide retinal scan."

…then again, maybe it wasn't. Suu looked upwards to find that a small panel had slid away, revealing where the scan will take place. "You gotta be kidding me," she said, seeing that it was a good foot and a half above her head, and that she had to get Jimmy's head up to that level, somehow. "Okay, how am I going to get through this? C'mon, Suu, think!"

Frantically, she started searching through her bag, trying to find something, anything that might help. Of course, a crane was too much to hope for, but a option did present itself; one that might just be crazy enough to work. "I knew it was a good idea to make these." Strapping what was, in essence, modified plungers to her feet, she grabbed one of Jimmy's arms and proceeded to walk up the wall. The progress was slow, due to Jimmy's weight, but after a few minutes, she found herself on the ceiling, doing her best to get him--and keep him--upright.

Forcing one of his eyelids open, Suu stuck Jimmy's face in front of the retinal scan. For her, the next few moments felt more like hours until that glorious message came: "Retinal scan complete."

After she heard the click of the lock, Suu let go of Jimmy, then fell from the ceiling, landing on top of him. "So much for your defenses," she said. "No matter how tough the obstacle, I will always win in the end." She got up off Jimmy's still limp body and pushed the door open. "Time to see what all this is supposed to protect." As she entered the room, she was shocked to find that it was completely empty. "This can't be," Suu said, starting to tear up. "All that hard work, all those battles; they were for nothing?!" The sound of laughter forced her to turn around to a startling sight.

"So much for your victory celebration, huh?" Jimmy said, standing up.

"J-J-Jimmy?!" Suu stammered, looking as though she had seen a ghost. "But I thought you were asleep!"

"I was," Jimmy said. "Until you fired this thing at me." He pulled the dart out of his neck. "You really should stop being so sneaky."

"But if there's nothing in here," Suu said. "Why all the security measures?!"

"It's just a heavy-duty storage room; nothing more."

"Then why didn't you let me in here before?"

"I just wanted to see what you were really capable of. I was really impressed."

"I suppose this officially ends our war, huh?"

"Seems that way. You should probably head home before Motoko catches you."

Suu nodded and started to leave, not bothering to ask why Motoko stayed in the first place. When she got to the stairs, she stopped. "You know, I'm interested in working on your car with you. Maybe we could do that tomorrow?"

"It's a date then," Jimmy said. After he was sure that Suu was gone, be allowed himself a laugh. "She is so naïve. To think, she came so close, but gave up so easily." He walked to the far corner of the room and lifted up one of the tiles, revealing a button. Upon pressing it, a panel opened up on the far end of the room. This new room was filled with all sorts of high-tech electronic equipment that would have made Suu drool--that is, if she had been allowed to find it. Indeed, the war has come to an end, but each person has a different idea as to who won.

End of Chapter LIII

I'll try to get the next one up quicker. See ya next time! Please R&R!