My first LOVE HINA fic ~ Motoko/Kikuko shoujo-ai

ENJOY!

Motoko's thoughts

*Kitsune's thoughts*

**Shinobu's thoughts**

Chapter I

A peach-colored petal shed a small drop of rain, allowing it to fall to the small puddle beneath it.  Motoko's face became obscured by the ripples and she straightened up slowly, fully aware that one of the girls was holding an umbrella for her.  But the hard rain had stopped hours ago, and only a slight drizzle covered the area now.  Motoko thought the drizzle was a refreshing way to begin the late afternoon.  If only the clouds would let up… she mused.  She stopped when she heard someone shouting her name faintly.  With a closer look, she saw that it was Shinobu running, looking around frantically.

"Motoko-chan!"

Motoko smiled at the girl holding the umbrella.  A blush spread across the young, pale face.

"It's ok, I think I can walk home alone now…"

"But, Motoko-sempai…"

"Go on…" She gingerly stepped out of the protection of the umbrella and walked forward.  Of course, the girl decided she was in danger of the light rain and stepped forward.

"I'll be fine…really." To prove her point, Motoko walked forward again to greet Shinobu.  But when she turned, the girl was already gone.

"Motoko-chan! Everyone was worried! Where have you been?"

"Anooo…just around."

"Time to come back?"

Motoko took one last look at the flower and nodded, "Hai."

~*~

A welcome draft of warm air surrounded her when she entered Hinata-Sou.  Everything was as she left it that morning.  While on vacation, no one had anything to do.  Kitsune drowsed in a chair, and Naru was glaring at Keitaro at opposite ends of a couch.  Shinobu was preparing dinner while Sara and Kaora were no doubt off exploring some undiscovered region underground.

Motoko sighed inwardly and decided to go into her room to relax for a while.

As she sat there, meditating, she was transported to another world where there were no worries whatsoever…

But she opened her eyes.  Lately, she had felt that something was missing; an important component essential for a complete life.  Because of it, her practices with her katana had become abnormal, maybe even…tiresome?  But she couldn't be…degenerating.  The word brought back Kikuko's reverberating voice into her mind.  She always seemed to be telling Motoko that her skills were growing weaker because of distractions.  Men.  Especially the one she was living with.  But Motoko had once personally accessed her relationship with Keitaro.  There was only the mutual, I-don't-touch-you, you-don't-touch-me feeling between them.  The blushing at first meeting him was nothing more than the embarrassment of having a man talk to her or even…look at her …when I only had a towel covering me!.  Absolutely nothing more.  She then once thought that it was Seta-san that might have provoked such feelings, but it was just the fact that he was a (slightly!) better fighter that she.  It was true what Kikuko said, that she hadn't trained with men before, but she really did feel power when…when…

"Is this where it ends up?!"  Kaora popped up right from under Motoko.  Motoko, in the meantime, was thrown up into the air, millimeters short of the ceiling.  Sara them popped up beside Kaora, holding up a blueprint of Hinata-Sou.

Motoko's face was red, her sword out of its sheath. "KAORA!!"

~*~

End Part I

               

Motoko looked around herself.  She stood in the middle of an open field, the wind changing direction frequently, so that her clothes whipped about her.  She was somewhere she had never seen before, but it somehow felt familiar.  The knee-high grass around her also whipped about, their shade of green lightening and darkening according to Motoko's position and wind direction.  The grass stretched as far as the eye could see; the sky: a perfect baby blue.  Motoko stretched out a hand and the dancing grass played between her fingers.  Where am I? she thought, but the words echoed in the wind, carrying them near or far away.  Then, a single peach-colored rose appeared to the right of her.  She walked towards it, and watched, mesmerized, as it too swayed with the undecided wind.  After what seemed like an eternity, she slowly reached out with her right hand to grasp it.  But her fingers pricked; her hand fell away sharply.  A drop of deep red blood was on a petal.  She could not take her eyes off it when it started to drop, ever so slowly, into the sea of green beneath the flower…

…and suddenly, Motoko awoke, now fully aware that she was snuggled in her bed, her hair unbound and recklessly spread about, covering her pillow.  She stared at the ceiling, the bizarre dream still replaying in her mind.  Unlike any other dream she had, she couldn't forget this one.  The vividness…the color…something pained her fore- and middle finger.  She pulled then from under the covers, aghast when she saw a small white spot on each.

~*~

"Good morning, Motoko-chan! Did you have a good sleep?"  Shinobu's face shone in the light, her hands clasped before her.

"Yes, thank you, Shinobu." She sat down in her place, realizing that she was the last one up.

"Motoko-chan?" Keitaro asked tentatively.

"What?" Motoko abruptly bit back on the harsh tone, but Keitaro was back looking down at his food.

*So she still has a problem with Keitaro…* Kitsune looked from Keitaro's face to Motoko's.

"We have all been worried about you.  You just don't seem much…yourself." Kitsune waited for a reply.

Motoko cleared her throat.  "I'm fine, Kitsune, thank you…it's just that…some personal things have been on my mind lately.  Sorry if I worried you all." She went back to eating.

~*~

The breakfast was a tense silence all the way through.  All through it, Shinobu whimpered inwardly, wondering if it was the food that was making everyone in a bad mood.  But everything was eaten, so the fears in her subsided.  For the last hour, she had been doodling in her notebook, unconsciously drawing anything that came to mind.  She thought of maybe asking Keitaro to help critique her drawings, but she was afraid. **But of what?  …Of coming between him and Naru…that's what** She viciously closed her book, and her eyes wandered to look out her window.  From here she could see Motoko practicing.  Her thoughts wandering back to the event of Motoko's first kiss with Kaora's invention of a mechanical head with cherries for a tongue.  **I wonder who's going to give her her second…**

~*~

End Part II

Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. DOWN!  Motoko stopped briefly to use a cloth to wipe her sweat away.  She massaged her upper arms, sighing in frustration.  She had never been this tired before, and she hated to think that her strength was waning.  She thought back to her strange dream, and felt the tickle of the grass on her fingertips once again.  What exactly does it mean? Something felt like this must have some kind of meaning! She almost felt helpless.  Her practices weren't like they used to be, she couldn't figure out her feelings, and now this dream…this dream that drove her utterly insane for a coherent explanation.  But she knew that all these were connected.  If only she could find the missing piece!  The one thing that had evaded her all this time, the one thing that would save her from her own eventual mental destruction.  Her mind focused on every possible symbol in that dream.  The grass.  The sky.  The wind.  And above all, the rose and the blood.  Motoko, you are in control…so why in the world are you thinking like this?!

~*~

End Chapter I

More to come!