Disclaimer: Four monks were meditating in a monastery. The wing outside blew the monastery's banner. One monk, the youngest and least experienced, came out of meditation and said: "Flag is flapping." The second, who was older and had been at the monastery for five years said: "Wind is flapping." The third, who had been at the monastery for twenty years came out of meditation and said: "Mind is flapping." The fourth, who had founded the monastery, came out of meditation and said with great annoyance, "Mouth is flapping!" The fifth simply smiled and said "I do not own Love Hina."
"Two of us riding nowhere, spending someone's hard earned pay. You and me Sunday driving, not arriving."
- "Two of Us", The Beatles
Blood Hina
Chapter Eleven:
Two of Us
The Triad known as Paul Long contact hurried across the street and into the back alley. Urashima smiled as he watched the man nervously stumble through the darkness. He looked around hesitantly and spotted Urashima standing in the glow of a street light.
"There you are!" the Triad said, feeling relieved. The alleys of Hong Kong were much safer when you were with another.
"Have you got the information I requested?"
The gangster nodded and reached into his coat. He didn't stop to wonder why a Japanese man's Cantonese was so flawless.
"I found it but it wasn't easy… I'll need an extra five thousand American for the trouble." Paul watched Urashima nervously. The Japanese man was dressed in a black over coat that had been very popular a decade ago. He wore sunglasses, even though it was night and held between his teeth a single unlit match.
"Five thousand? Is it really that hard to learn simple things these days?"
That was an insult-- it meant that Paul was incompetent though most wouldn't have seen it as a simple comment on the state of affairs. Paul was used to it by now.
"The Reds are like dictators. Can't do anything without the motherfuckers breathing down our necks."
"They are dictators," Urashima said quietly. "Now, the requested information."
The Triad nodded and pulled a file folder out of his coat.
"Urashima Keitaro. Twenty-One years old. Arrived in Hong Kong last night. With him was Narusegawa Naru, nine-teen years old who had a brief singing career in-"
"Were you a fan?"
"W-what?"
"Were you one of Narusegaw's fans?" Urashima's expression which had seemed very cold at first warmed slightly with a smirk.
"Well… You know, Japanese music doesn't get here too much and…"
"But you bought one of her CD's, didn't you?"
"Eh? How did you know?" Paul stared at the Japanese man. He wished he could see his eyes; he could read people more easily if he saw their eyes. Those goddamn sunglasses…
"Nevermind… Continue."
"Ahh… Where was I… Yes… Narusegawa and Urashima will be staying at The Prince-"
"Mmm… That's a nice hotel."
"Never been there. Anyway… I couldn't get much more info other than that."
Urashima tilted his sunglasses down. Paul shivered involuntarily-- he had "those" kind of eyes. The kind that the psychos of the world have. Once, the Triads had done their own investigation of a police case involving a serial killer who preyed on young girls after one of the gangster's daughters was attacked. They found the bastard, of course, and Paul just happened to be one of the guys who busted down the killer's door and pumped his body full of a variety of small pieces of lead. As the guy lay there, in a pool of his own blood, dying, Paul got a good look at his eyes. They were unlike any he had seen before or since (up until meeting Urashima). They portrayed a complete lack of morals and ethics, sick perversions, and a cold ruthlessness all at once. Paul had nightmares about the guy, staring up at him as his blood drained out of his body… Those eyes…
"Hey!"
Paul jerked awake. Urashima had taken off his sunglasses. His eyes were just the same. Urashima began to talk about something but he didn't hear it. He would probably be related to the guy… Keitaro, was it? And the girl, Naru. Maybe a love affair gone wrong? Either way, he'd have to warn them. Or maybe put a bullet in Urashima right now.
"…so I don't feel I should have to pay the full price. Are you listening?!"
"Huh? What?" Paul's hand jerked away from his gun.
"…idiot. I said that I won't be paying the full price as the information you have given me is laughable. At best."
"Yeah…Whatever. This one's on the house."
Urashima raised an eyebrow. "Really? Excellent. Well, then…" He smiled and put back his sunglasses. "I have not yet eaten. Sayonara…" With that, he disappeared into the darkness.
"…and if you peep, I'll knock you back to Japan!"
Naru stormed out of the small hotel bedroom and into the even smaller hotel bathroom. Keitaro sighed and sat down, nursing a bruise on his arm. He reached for the TV remote and flipped on a Cantonese news program.
Keitaro and Naru had arrived in Hong Kong the night before, spent three hours trying to find a hotel (eventually, Naru ended up batting her eyelashes and rubbing up against a manager while repeating in English "We're so far from home and we don't have any money…" The manager most likely didn't know what she was saying but Keitaro was pretty sure that the concept of a beautiful woman in trouble is a universal thing). After checking into their room, Naru fell asleep in the bed. Keitaro had briefly considering getting in next to her but decided it more prudent to sleep on the couch with the blinds drawn closed.
It probably was prudent that Keitaro not be near to Naru. Ever since leaving Japan… Her neck had become very alluring. Since arriving in Hong Kong, he had been very hungry… Very thirsty… It disturbed him when he began to think of not only Naru but strangers on the street as simple pieces of meat. It was this coupled with how his mind was beginning to think. He didn't feel like himself. That frightened him too.
Hopefully, things would be better in the end, Keitaro reasoned. Perhaps, if they explained things to the Hong Kong police department…
Keitaro was jerked out of his thinking by a loud and frantic knocking at the door. A maid, maybe? Or someone who had the wrong room?
Keitaro opened the door and a man almost fell on top of him.
"You Urashima Keitaro?!" the man yelled.
Keitaro didn't respond. He stared at the man who in turn stared right back at him.
"Are you Urashima Keitaro?!" the man repeated. Finally, Keitaro nodded dumbly. He had a bad feeling about how things were going.
"Do you know a guy," continued the uninvited guest. "Who looks like you; maybe your twin or somethin' like that? In Hong Kong too?"
"Yeah," said Keitaro, finally getting comfortable (or as comfortable as he'd get…) with the situation.
"Okay, he's looking for you and a girl named Narusegawa Naru. Where is she?"
Naru took that moment to peek out of the bathroom, wearing a towel.
"Keitaro, who're you talking to?"
Neither of the two men responded to her. Their eyes seemed to be fixated on her chest… Naru didn't even have to look down to know that part of her towel had fallen down. Naru cracked her knuckles, raised her fist…
A few minutes later, Keitaro and the man who had introduced himself as Paul Long, a Triad officer in control of yakuza relation (which explained his proficiency in Japanese), were gently massaging their bruises from the ever famous "Naru-Punch".
"How can you put up with this…" muttered Paul as he limped over to the telephone. He slammed in a number and squawked away in Chinese leaving Naru and Keitaro feeling awkward in a corner of the room.
"What's he saying? Can you understand it?" whispered Naru.
"Something about… being able to tell who's a psycho… Uhh… something about a hotel… Probably this one. 'Bring at least four guys'…"
Naru stared at Keitaro with amazement.
"How did you learn Cantonese?"
Before Keitaro could answer, Paul slammed down the phone and sighed.
"Urashima-san, want to get Narusegawa-san out of here?"
"Wha…?"
"There's gonna' be trouble." Paul came forward and stood next to Keitaro. He took from his belt a pistol and pushed it into Keitaro's hands.
"I'll be downstairs by the front doors. Get whatever you want done in five minutes and meet me down there."
Paul left, lighting a cigarette as he did so. Keitaro looked at Naru who in turn looked back at him worriedly.
"I'm not leaving," she said firmly.
"Narusegawa…"
"I've come too far with you just to let some… Freak who looks like you get you!"
"Narusegawa…"
"And what about our promise to go to Toudai? I'm still holding you to that!"
"Narusegawa…"
"I said I'd be with you forever so I'm gonna-"
"Narusegawa!"
She was crying. Naru put her face against Keitaro chest and whimpered. I'm paying her back, he realized. He remembered the hell that was the first few days of being in his "condition" and how he had cried into Naru like she was doing to him.
"Go and wait for me at Victoria Bay. I'll come for you. I promise."
Naru nodded. She started towards the door but stopped in mid-stride, turned around, pulled Keitaro close to her, and kissed him.
"You promised, remember!" she called as she ran out of the room.
Keitaro looked at the gun in his hands. He hoped he had sounded confident. Couldn't let Naru be afraid. Softly, gently, he clicked the safety on the gun off. He may have sounded confident but he sure as hell wasn't.
Keitaro went downstairs and saw Paul and four other men waiting by the doors in the lobby, talking. As he approached, Paul waved to him and called him over.
"Urashima-san, these are your best friends tonight! Here's…"
Paul was introducing the Triads to Keitaro but he didn't hear. He wasn't paying any attention to them. What he was paying attention to was the lobby filled with people. Men, women, little children… At least a dozen people in there. And how many in the hotel itself? Maybe hundreds. Depending on what Urashima was capable of, they could all be at risk…
Keitaro was going to ask Paul about it but he was gone-- so were the other four. He vaguely remembered one of them mentioning something about securing the perimeter of the hotel or some such.
And so he was alone in the lobby. That wasn't quite true. As mentioned before, there were several people in there, among them a little girl. Keitaro silently prayed that something wouldn't happen…
But then, his attention was diverted by something else. Could it be? Yes! It was! A photo booth! With inhuman speed, Keitaro dashed from his chair to the booth, embraced it like an old friend, and dove inside.
"Ah!" he exclaimed happily. "Which frame, which frame, which frame?!" Keitaro chose one that made it look like Godzilla was breathing fire towards the picture, smiled, and gave the Victory sign. As he clicked the shutter button, he felt a sudden pressure of someone pushing in on his right side. Narusegawa maybe?
The machine spit the pictures out and instead of just looking to his right, Keitaro stared at the photos. Much to his dismay, they showed two Keitaros. And, as far as Keitaro knew, they only other Keitaro was…
"You!" yelled Keitaro, pointing at Urashima, very startled.
"Me!" yelled Urashima, waving his hands. He grasped Keitaro by the collar and jerked him out of the photo booth.
"Waa! Why're you here?" asked Keitaro, still very startled.
"Because I couldn't let my… Charming descendant and his girlfriend face the dangers of Hong Kong alone…"
"Girl… Friend?" Keitaro asked, his face showing off his incredible lack of understand of the situation.
"Yes. The brown haired girl who follows you around like a puppy."
"You mean Narusegawa? She's not my girlfriend, really…" said Keitaro slowly, blushing.
"Oh? Your whore?"
"No!"
"Well-wisher, then?"
"She's just a friend!"
Urashima shrugged. "Have it your way. Anyway, I brought you a present." He thrust a shopping bag into Keitaro's arms. Inside was some vaguely ball shaped wrapped in tinfoil.
With trembling fingers, Keitaro unwrapped the tinfoil. He could feel on the thing what seemed to be hair…
"Oh god…" whispered Keitaro. A pair of dead eyes stared back up at him. He was holding Sengi's head. He dropped the tinfoil wrapped head.
"Lovely, isn't it?" said Urashima cheerily. "And what, pray tell, is this!" He reached forward quickly and grabbed the pistol from Keitaro's belt.
"Yesss… This is a fine gun." Urashima smiled and extended his arm, aiming the pistol. "CZ 75. You don't see many of these in Hong Kong…" Urashima's arm slowly began to move to the side, sweeping over the heads of the people in the lobby. No one seemed to notice him. "Manufactured in Czechoslovakia… That was a Iron Curtain country, though, wasn't it? But the gun is chambered for 9mm… A Western round… So, why do you think it was made that way?" Urashima stopped the pistol, aiming it directly at a woman relaxing in a chair with her eyes closed. Keitaro's arm shot out to grab the gun away, but Urashima easily caught his hands. He twisted his wrist slowly, methodically. "Why do you think it was made like that?" Urashima pulled the trigger. The gun exploded and the woman slumped over, a bloody mark on her chest.
"For spies, Keitaro-san." Urashima pivoted his arm and fired again. The people in the lobby had become aware instantly of the danger and were trying to get away but there was no where to run. The gun erupted for the third time, a third person fell, and Keitaro tried in vain to wrench his wrist from Urashima's grasp. "Spies behind enemy lines wouldn't have a steady supply of their own bullets, would they?" Urashima fired once more. Keitaro gritted his teeth and kneed Urashima in the groin before ripping his wrist free.
"Hey! Urashima-san! I heard shooting so I came as quickly as possible and-" Paul yelled as he entered the lobby as surveyed the damage. He reached for his pistol but before he could, Urashima stood up straight, took careful aim, and fired three times in quick succession. Paul tumbled down the stairs, death before he had hit the ground.
"Now…" said Urashima venomously. He turned, intending to see Keitaro but saw instead no one. He turned a few steps to the left and was then faced by a girl with long brown hair. She threw a hard punch which knocked into his jaw, a second that connected with his throat, and a third that smashed into Urashima's temple.
Urashima's hand moved to intercept the fourth punch but Naru was too fast. Her punch still hit, creating a large bruise around his eye. Urashima's hand, however, having missed its target, found itself grasping a large, fleshy part of the female anatomy, located on the chest.
There was a brief silence between the two. Then…
"Soft…"
Naru's leg whipped up and sent Urashima through a window. She turned to Keitaro who stood behind her, his eyes fixed on her.
"What're you waiting for?" Naru grabbed his hand and smiled. "We need to get out of here, don't we?"
Keitaro nodded slowly. As they ran out, he cast a parting look over the carnage. The little girl and her family were alright, he noted. Good…
Naru was flagging down a taxi while Keitaro had tried to look inconspicuous. He had noticed, off in a corner, two bodies of what he figured to be the Triads so he could imagine what happened to the others…
"Keitaro!" Naru called suddenly. She waved to him from her place next to a yellow taxi. He hurried over and they both crowded into the back of the car. Keitaro told the driver to "drive until we tell you to stop" which really didn't seem to bother the driver one bit.
Finally, Keitaro breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in his seat. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Naru smile and squeeze his hand.
"You were supposed to stay by Victoria Bay…" yawned Keitaro.
Naru nudged him gently. "If I didn't come, you would've been dead." Keitaro could tell by her voice that she was tired too.
They rode in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the lights of Hong Kong. As they neared the water front, Naru spoke up.
"When did you learn Cantonese?" she asked, turning to look at him.
Keitaro laughed hesitantly and scratched the back of his head. "I just started listening to people… And it started making sense so…" He trailed off. Naru nodded slowly and went back to looking out the window.
As the car began over a long suspension bridge, there was a loud thump on the roof of the car. Then silence… A few seconds later, there was another, louder thump.
Naru closed her eyes. "Please don't let that be what I think it is…"
Apparently, it was. Claws ripped through the roof and ripped a chunk off with ease. Urashima was perched on top of the car, balancing delicately. His mouth was bloodstained and a pair of bat-like wings extended from his back. One clawed hand reached down inside the car, lashing out for Keitaro. He wiggled around, avoiding the bladed fingers.
"Uhh… Excuse me!"
Keitaro looked up. The driver was pointing nervously ahead. There was a red light and soon, Keitaro realized why. The bridge was being raised for a ship. Naru saw it too and so did Urashima for he stopped clawing at Keitaro for a few seconds.
"Keep driving!" yelled Keitaro.
"But-"
"Keep going!" Keitaro grabbed Urashima's wrist and jerked it around, trying to knock him off balance. Suddenly, the car started going much more vertically…
"Oh god..." whispered Naru. The taxi driver had become a very religious man, apparently, and bowed his head in prayer. Then, the car was no longer on solid ground.
Naru looked out and saw the ocean below them. She pulled away, feeling sick and began praying. The car trembled slightly as it flew and Urashima lost his grip. He fell off, into the ocean presumably. A second later, the taxi landed safely on the other side of the bridge.
The taxi driver pulled over at the beginning of a street and turned around to look at Naru and Keitaro.
"Out," he said simply. They stumbled out of the car, feeling very dizzy and frightened, but, ultimately, in one piece.
"Wait!" called the taxi driver, getting out as well. He held out his hand.
"Oh…" said Keitaro sheepishly. He dug around in his pocket and looked at Naru.
"I've only got Yen…" he whispered to her.
Naru shook her head. She leaned forward, kissed the driver on the cheek, and whispered in his ear "Xie xie". He stared at her as she smiled at him, grabbed Keitaro by the hand, and pulled him off.
"You learned some Cantonese too!" Keitaro marveled.
"Well," said Naru, smirking. "I just started listening…"
"How does it feel? How does it feel? To be without a home! Like a complete unknown! Like a rolling stone!"
- "Like a Rolling Stone", Bob Dylan
Blood Hina
Chapter Twelve:
Like a Rolling Stone
"The police station shouldn't be far from here," said Naru as they walked down the street. It was populated largely by abandoned buildings marked to be torn down to make way for new, more modern buildings which, twenty years later, would be torn down to make way for even newer, even more modern buildings which would be destroyed in WWIII.
"You think they'll believe us?" asked Keitaro.
"Fly for them. I think they'll believe anything after that. If they can get a few squads of cops… Plus, he fell off into the sea. I think everything will be alright." Naru smiled brightly at Keitaro and took his hand. "It's finished then, I guess."
"Narusegawa…" Keitaro squeezed her hand. "When we get back to Japan…"
"We'll go to Toudai together… Right?" Naru cocked her head to the side slightly. "That's what we promised."
Keitaro's laughed and put a hand behind his head. "Oh, yeah! Right!"
There was a coughing noise behind them. Both froze, unable to turn around.
"I don't mean to interrupt this Kodak moment but…"
Keitaro swiveled around slowly. As he expected, Urashima was standing there. He was drenched and looked appropriately annoyed with his situation.
"Like I said… I don't mean to interrupt but I can assure you that after that stunt, neither of you will be getting back to Japan…"
Naru tightened her fists and went into a fighting stance, ready for the worst. Keitaro, however, held up his hands and spread out his palms.
"Wait… Can't we talk this out?"
Urashima licked his lips and nodded. "Start talking."
"Okay…" Keitaro glanced quickly at Naru. "This… Isn't me." He waited for a second for the statement to sink in. "I mean, I'm not a vampire. I'm not cut out for this kind of thing! I never wanted any of this… I just wanted to go to Toudai with Narusegawa and live a normal life. I don't think I deserve any of what's happened! Granted… I guess some of it has been fun. I like to fly… But other than those things, I don't like it!"
"Keitaro…" whispered Naru.
Urashima glanced at his watch. "You have fifty seconds."
"Alright… Uhh… Naru knows. I'm really not that smart. I'm a real idiot sometimes! I admit it… But I know this isn't me! I just don't want to be like this! I just want to go back to Japan and live a normally with all my friends. I liked my life before and I want it back."
Urashima smiled. For a second, Keitaro thought he might let them go. Alas, it was not to be.
"Sweet… But I still need to keep someone in Hell for me… That's one of the reasons I killed you, you know. Since our souls are intertwined, I could leave your soul in Hell, suffering for my bad karma, while I ran willy-nilly up here."
Naru gritted her teeth. "You bastard…"
"Yes, I admit it! Keitaro-san is an idiot and I, I'm a bastard! But I'm an ambitious bastard. Had you just waited in hell for a few years longer, I would've taken control of this world and the spirit kingdoms, of which Hell is a part of. You would've been my right hand man! But noooo! You had to get OUT of hell! You had to see your friends again!"
Urashima smiled sadistically and took a few steps closer to Naru and Keitaro.
"And I bet you think that you're something special because you refrained from sinking your teeth into any one of those girls! I'm here to tell you that you're not! The Hinata Inn lies on the converging point of several of the purest chi lines in Japan. You unknowingly took in chi… Thus you never had to feed. But I bet your pretty hungry now, right? I bet Naru's looking pretty tasty right about now!"
Naru looked from Urashima to Keitaro to Urashima again. "Shut up!" she cried out. "Just… Shut up! You don't know anything! You don't know what Keitaro's like! You don't-"
"You know what my favorite song is?" interrupted the still very wet vampire. He reached into his overcoat and pulled out a pistol. "'Like a Rolling Stone' by Bob Dylan… I'm not sure why I liked it. Maybe I knew subconsciously that it would apply to a situation one of these days…"
Urashima pointed the gun at Keitaro's feet. "How does it feel?!" He yelled out. He fired a round. "To be on your own?!" He fired again. Keitaro took several steps back to avoid the bullets. "With no direction home!" Again, he shot and missed. "Just like a rolling stone!" Instead of shooting Keitaro, Urashima turned, aimed at Naru, and pulled the trigger.
The gun went off with the usual crack. The hammer of the gun struck the needle which in turn struck the primer cap at the base of the cartridge which exploded and caused the powder in the cartridge to explode. The gasses propelled the bullet forward and into Naru's chest.
This all happened very slowly to Keitaro. The gun exploding with a flash, the bullet whizzing through the air, striking Naru… And then, as she fell forward, Urashima grabbed her by the neck, picked her up, and hurled her through the window of a boarded up building.
Keitaro ran after Naru, leapt through the window, and landed next to her body. He grabbed her and cradled her head in his lap.
"Narusegawa!" he whispered urgently. Her entire front was splattered with blood from the wound. One of her eyes opened and focused in on Keitaro.
"Hey… Keitaro…"
"Narusegawa… Don't try to speak. I'll get you to a hospital. Just hang on."
"Hey… Keitaro… Sorry…"
"What? What're you apologizing for?! Don't worry! You'll be fine!" Keitaro's voice was cracking.
"Sorry… I can't go to Toudai with you now…"
Keitaro gritted his teeth and held Naru closer to him. "No… We'll still go to Toudai…"
"Keitaro… Wanna' do me a favor?" Naru's voice was getting weaker by the second.
"Anything. Anything at all. I'll-"
"You're thirsty right…? Drink my blood."
Keitaro stared at Naru. "W… What?!"
Naru grinned weakly. "You'll be stronger so you can knock that guy into next Tuesday… And I'd rather you kill me than him…"
"But… Narusegawa…"
"Please? Keitaro?"
Keitaro nodded. "Alright. Narusegawa… Goodbye."
The tears of blood streamed down his face as Keitaro pushed his fangs into Naru's neck. And then, everything changed.
He wasn't Keitaro anymore. Sure, he still had his body… But he was something more. He was inside and outside of everything. He could still see himself but he could see everything else that there was to see.
And then he was back inside the abandoned building in Hong Kong that night. He still felt angry, he still felt sad… But now, he felt very calm.
Keitaro slowly stepped out of the building and faced Urashima who was waiting patiently.
"Finished are you? How did she taste? Good?" Urashima grinned.
Keitaro didn't answer. He was too busy thinking of how he would mutilate Urashima and then toss the pieces in Victoria Bay…
Before he could do that, Urashima and Keitaro heard footsteps and a soft jingling. Walking down the street and looking very out of place… Were what appeared to be a group of thirteen priests wearing rice farmer hats.
They walked right up to the two. The head one stepped out in front.
"Friends of yours?" asked Urashima sarcastically. The head priest began laughing in an old, uneven, rough voice…
"Bad karma…" he said. The priest looked up and by the light of the street lamps, his face was shown. His skin was brown and grey, rotting off his bones. He had no nose and his eyes were shriveled. He pointed his staff at Urashima. "Bad karma…"
"Bad karma," said Urashima.
"Bad karma…" confirmed the priest. "Karmic cycle will destroy…" The other priests fanned out and surrounded Urashima.
"Bad karma…" they all said in unison. They closed in on Urashima. He seemed to be trying to decide if he should look amused, threatened, or both.
"Sorry, but I don't have time for this…" said Urashima. He raised a hand and was about to strike down one of the priests when two on either side jammed their staffs into his stomach. As he stumbled back, two more priests from behind him hit him savagely in the back. Urashima collapsed from the blows and the priests all raised their staffs. The began striking the ground with them, slowly crushing Urashima.
"Keitaro!" he cried out. "Help me! Please!"
Keitaro suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for the vampire but it soon passed. He watched passively as the priests crushed Urashima with their staffs. He screamed for several minutes until finally he fell silent. Another minute later, the priests fell back. All that was left was a pile of indistinguishable bits of blood soaked mush. Keitaro would've thrown up right then and there, had there been anything in his stomach.
"Human?" asked the head priest as he walked up to Keitaro. He frowned and the priest repeated his question.
"I… want to go back to being human…"
The priest smiled, showing off his lack of teeth. He pushed Keitaro with his staff.
"Human," he said. He pointed his staff north. "Park… Find jade… New body…"
"…what?" asked Keitaro.
"Jade… Makes flesh… Find jade… Park…"
"Oh…" said Keitaro slowly. "I go to the park… Find a piece of jade… And make a new body… For who?"
The priest thrust his staff at the building where Naru's body was.
"Find a big piece of jade… Carve to body…" he said.
"Alright," said Keitaro. If that was what he had to do, he decided… So be it. The priests smiled, and turned, ready to leave.
"Wait… Who are you?"
The head priest stopped and his head alone twisted around to see Keitaro.
"God," said the priest as he smiled very broadly.
Blood Hina
Epilogue
Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. Motoko tried to keep that thought in mind but it was hard when she was doing Keitaro's chores instead of practicing. She sighed and stopped sweeping the front steps, taking a short break. It had been only a few days since Keitaro and Naru had disappeared and Motoko was assigned Keitaro's chores until he got back.
That certainly bothered her but what did more so was that each day, she was growing increasingly worried about them. She wasn't like Shinobu, who was going insane with worry but Motoko was certainly more than a bit upset.
And it was such a nice Sunday afternoon… She wanted to be training… But, instead, here she was, sweeping the steps. Why did he have to disappear, make her and everyone worried, and on top of all that, leave her his chores?!
"Urashima is so inconsiderate…" muttered Motoko.
"Huh? I'm inconsiderate?" Motoko froze at the sound of the voice.
"Motoko-chan! Are you alright?" The voice again…
Very slowly, Motoko turned. Standing on the steps below her were Keitaro and Naru, holding hands.
"Motoko-chan!" said Naru happily. "Are you alright? Has Shinobu made lunch yet? I've been missing her cooking!"
"Naru-sempai…" whispered Motoko. "Keitaro-sempai…"
At that moment, Shinobu walked onto the scene, intending to call Motoko for lunch. Instead, she stared at Keitaro and Naru much like Motoko had before bursting into tears.
A few minutes later, Shinobu had calmed down and the whole of Hinata Inn was on hand to celebrate Naru and Keitaro's return.
"Hey!" yelled Kitsune. "You two went off to Hong Kong without me? So inconsiderate!" She laughed and hit Keitaro playfully.
"Hong Kong! Is that delicious?"
There were more laughs and before long, the alcohol was flowing freely. It was at this time that Seta and Haruka pulled Keitaro aside.
"Keitaro," began Seta thoughtfully. "You're human now, correct? No longer kuei-jin? It feels weird, doesn't it?" Seta laughed.
Keitaro nodded. "Yeah, but who told you I was? One of the girls?"
"No…" said Haruka. "But let's just say that you and Seta have more than a few things in common…"
"Ara! You all seem to be having such a good time!" Mutsumi said as she seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"Ah! Mutsumi-san! Where have you been? I haven't seen you in months!"
"Oh…" Mutsumi said, blushing. "I spent too much time in the hot springs and before I knew it, I was in India! The people there are very nice…"
Fin
Author's Notes:
I finished it. Finally. I said I'd get it done before September and dammit, I did! There're still twenty four minutes left in August! I can't really think of anything else to say except thanks for reading the story. I really appreciate it. Thanks to everyone who gave me positive reviews. And thanks in general.