Crumbling



by: Mobius Man





Hey Love Hina fans, or anybody else who is curious, welcome to my first ever fanfic. Since giving introductions seems to be the way to go, I'll insert mine here. This story focuses on Mitsune Konno, also known as Kitsune. For those who haven't seen Love Hina, Mitsune is the fun-loving, prankster of the Hinata Sou. However, in this story, life turns for the worst. Some self-realization and bad luck send her spiraling into seclusion and severe depression. This story isn't set in any particular time during Love Hina, I'd say somewhere between episodes 12 and 13 of the series.





Chapter 1



Kitsune laughed as she watched Naru punch Keitaro, hurtling him down the hallway. Keitaro lay on the ground, with a dazed look in his eyes. Kitsune walked over to Keitaro, and kneeled down in front of him.

"Keitaro, you should know better than to touch a girl's breast." Kitsune chuckled.

Keitaro immediately picked himself off the ground and put his finger in the air, as to give great attention to his position.

"It wasn't my fault Naru. I slipped on this banana peel laying on the ground! I swear!" he contended.

Naru rolled her eyes, "What am I ever gonna do with you. Stupid perv."

All the while this was happening, Kitsune stood watching everything. While she had a stern face on the outside, she was laughing hysterically on the inside.

"What a sucker," she thought to herself, "he fell for the old banana peel trick. Haha!"

Now that the fun was over, she proceeded to walk downstairs, where she exited the Hinata House, and took a walk to the nearest bar. Once there, she advanced to the usual routine. Sit down, yell at the bar tender, and get drunk. She got especially drunk this day, a few too many glasses of sake. Nevertheless she still managed to stay conscious, and have a good time gossiping to girls, and flirting with guys. Unfortunately for her, she became careless with herself, and left her money, which happened to be almost all of her money, in a purse laying on top of the bar counter. When her back was turned, a man stole her purse, and walked out of the bar. Kitsune didn't notice this until a half an hour later. By then, it was too late for her too do anything about it. Still in a bit of a stupor, she stumbled out of the bar, and looked around. She saw no one. Then she began wandering the path back to Hinata Sou, searching the ground in case she may have dropped her purse somewhere. But it was to no avail. She kept searching for a couple more hours, and did not return until dark. When she arrived home, she was frantic, but still subdued by her sake. She quickly removed her shoes and ran to find Keitaro. Racing upstairs, she saw him walking out of his room, with papers and a manila envelope in hand.

"Keitaro! Keitaro!" Kitsune bellowed.

Keitaro looked up from his papers and opened his mouth, "There you are, Kitsune. I'm glad your back, I need to talk to you."

"Huh? Uh-yeah ok." she blurted out while following Keitaro down the rest of the hallway.

"Kitsune, you still haven't given me the money to cover this month's rent."

Kitsune halted instantly in her tracks. Her skin turned pale, and she began to sweat. She knew she only a few yen to her name.

"What am I going to do? Damnit, there's no way I can pay Keitaro now...I guess I'll just have to tell him what happened." she though.

"Well, Keitaro. When I was down at the bar, I err...when I wasn't paying attention, somebody swiped my purse. I had all my money in it. There isn't any way I can pay my rent."

Keitaro sighed, "Come on now. You can stop with the jokes."

"Huh? But I'm not joking!" she said, her voice raising in volume and pitch.

"Kitsune, just how many drinks did you have at the bar today?"

"How many?" she muttered to herself, "Umm, I uh-don't know exactly. Six, maybe eight?"

Keitaro snarled, "Well there ya go. I see who 'swiped' your money. It was the bar tender! You always blow your money on sake, and expect me to rescue you out of debt. At least you could be honest with me and tell the truth."

He gave her one last angry look and walked by her in a huff.

"But I'm not lying!" she yelled at him, but to no use.

She stood there for a while in awe; she couldn't believe that Keitaro would disregard her, not to mention accuse her of being a liar. Sure she may be a bit too gratuitous with her spending, she thought to herself, but she knew she had plenty of money left for paying her rent. Angered and hurt, Kitsune retreated to her room where she promptly went to bed, hoping her problems would be solved in the morning.