Chapter 4
Peering out the window, Kitsune glanced at her half-transparent reflection. Yet another tear poured from her eye, rolling down her blush red cheek. Images of that man's face, sneering at her, kept popping into her mind. Shaking her head violently, she tried to rid herself of his presence. But what he said about her lingered in her mind, as well as the looks she got from everybody else at the bar. Is she really some freewheeling tramp? She then remembered her thoughts during breakfast. Maybe the man was right; she hardly did anything productive with herself. Only one thing was all she could come up with. A cloak of worthlessness wrapped itself around her body. Kitsune shuttered, and sat down on her bed.
"Could it be," she whispered to herself, "could it be the truth? Am I really good for nothing? It can't be true. It can't!"
She flopped herself furiously onto her bed, and again began to cry. She squeezed her temples, and rolled off her bed. Her eyes popped open from the sudden thud her body made while hitting the floor. She gasped, holding her breath. Thinking to herself suffocation was the best way, she took her pillow, and pressed it as tightly as possible against her face. Silence followed, and its eerie presence compelled Kitsune it remove the pillow, and gasp for air. Now the frantic thoughts of pain, suffering, suicide, and angst began resolving themselves, allowing Kitsune to regain some control of herself. What she had just done-a contemplation of suicide-finally became apparent to her. This scared the hell out of her. Just a few hours ago, Kitsune was a normal happy girl, only floating about carelessly. Yet, she had not harmed anybody. Sure she may have played some tricks, and "borrow" several too many yen from Keitaro, but she cares about other people.
"It's not like I'm self-centered or anything I guess. I honestly do care about what happens to my friends," she thought, "I least, I think I care. I wanna see Keitaro and Naru be happy with each other. Keitaro is a nice person-someone Naru deserves."
Nevertheless, Kitsune's self-pep talk didn't help. A solemn tear rolled down her cheek. Kitsune did not care. She just rolled back onto her bed, and covered herself up. Perhaps things
would be better for her in dreams.
How ever stupid he can be, Keitaro can sometimes pull off a decent idea once in a while. And to show the world he isn't entirely retarded, he began preparing for an idea that struck him. With his experience in baking ultra chocolate cakes for himself, and the help of Shinobu kick ass cooking, Keitaro thought a "get happy" cake might be in order for Kitsune.
"Shinobu!" Keitaro yelled.
Shinobu was already in the kitchen, cleaning off some plates left over from breakfast. The voice of Keitaro quickly broke her attention away from this. She ran out of the kitchen and over to Keitaro.
"What is it sempai?" she asked intently.
"Oh, Shinobu-are you busy?"
She shook her head.
"Great! Come into the kitchen. I got a awesome idea cheer up Kitsune!"
A giant smile ran across his face as he dashed into the kitchen. Shinobu was wholly confused by Keitaro. Poor girl.
And so went the amazing, "Let's make Kitsune happy again" cake making scene. Actually, the first attempt blew up in their faces, literally. Shinobu forgot to remind Keitaro to watch his measurements. Still, they came through in their second attempt. While Keitaro mixed the batter, Shinobu asked him just what Keitaro thought of Kitsune?
"Well. . ." Keitaro said, trailing off. He was a little dumbfounded by this question, "most people misinterpret her. While she does seem kinda wild, and loose on the outside, she is a very caring person. I believe that deep down inside, she is very concerned about each and every one of us."
Shinobu smiled at this, feeling that her sempai was such an intelligible man.
"She is free-spirited, "Shinobu began to add, "but I really have never noticed anything wrong with the way she acts. All she does play a lot of jokes and pranks on you, sempai."
They both chuckled at her comment. By this time, the cake was ready to bake. And what an impressive cake it was! It had enough chocolate to make any woman think Keitaro wasn't a dork, let alone make Kitsune cheerful again.
"We made quite a mess trying to put a cake together," Keitaro noticed, "I'll clean it up while you keep an eye on the cake. Shinobu agreed. In hindsight, perhaps it should have been the other way around. As Naru was entering the kitchen, as she was attracted by the smell of chocolate, Keitaro slipped on the rolling pin he forgot he laid on the ground. Now out of control, Keitaro smashed straight into Naru. But it was the fact that he had both hands cupping both of her boobs while he was laying on top of her on the ground that really pissed her off.
"My God Keitaro," she roared, "can't you ever get enough!"
A speeding fist of rage met Keitaro's head ,and sent him soaring into the oven. Leaving a sizable dent in the oven door, Keitaro now examined that the cake was finished baking. So were the flying Naru figures spinning around his head.
"Ooooww...okay Shinobu. Cake's ready!"
The loud thump had woken Kitsune up from her sleep. Wondering what was going on downstairs, she got out of bed to investigate. Walking down to the kitchen, she eyed the magnificent chocolate cake cooling of on the table.
"Oh my, what's this?" she asked attentively.
Spying a small curl of her lips, Keitaro let out a sigh of relief. Let's just hope it tastes
