Disclaimer: I do not own "Love Hina" or its characters.
Matchmaker's War
Panic Attack
Keitaro wanted to believe that he just had a heart attack. But heart attacks don't have hot flashes and sudden chills. He even considered whether or not the restaurant had poisoned his food. A feeling of impending doom swept over Keitaro's mind and spirit, but he could not believe a poison would have worked, since nothing physical could harm the immortal Urashima Keitaro. His heart seemed to struggle to break free of his chest. Still, he did everything he could to hide the truth from himself as he struggled to breath. A hour away from Narusegawa's tender embrace, Keitaro had had a panic attack. As his world turned black, he thought back to how this could have happened.
***
Keitaro had gotten his tuxedo at seven o'clock sharp and everything looked ready for the perfect night on the town. Narusegawa had treated him very well and Keitaro blushed over how close him and Narusegawa had grown thanks to Kitsune's intervention. To repay her, they did some matchmaking of their own, bringing together Noriyasu Seta and Urashima Haruka for an evening alone at the Hinata-sou. The turtle mecha perimeter created by Kaolla would keep the media out and Mutsumi would provide the other girls with a place to stay in the meanwhile.
Narusegawa wore a beautiful red dress that put every other dress he had ever seen before to shame. And, on a personal note, it looked great on Narusegawa's body. Keitaro wanted to tell Narusegawa that, but even with their deepest darkest emotions out in the open for everyone to read, Keitaro still felt years of rejection and alienation from other females reminding him to slow down and take his time with Narusegawa.
First, Narusegawa wanted a traditional date besides the fancy restaurant and hotel room waiting for them on the other side of town. So, naturally, Keitaro and Narusegawa went to see a movie.
The movie had a pretty standard plot, something about a boy and a girl who pretty hate each other on the outside, but can't stop obsessing over each other on the inside. Keitaro and Narusegawa spent the whole movie blushing at how many parallels these fictional characters had to their own twisted love affair. The movie always left them upset watching these two miserable characters. Yes, they had the happy ending and everything, but they wasted a lot of time just bickering over the stupidest things. If those two could just relax and get over their differences like civilized people, their romance would not have taken so long to resolve. Granted the movie would not have lasted as long, but Keitaro grew almost as annoyed as Narusegawa. The scriptwriters had stumbled upon the most ridiculous reasons to pull this perfect couple apart and even stranger reasons to bring them back together again for the big finale.
Needless to say, the movie exhausted Narusegawa and Keitaro mentally. But Keitaro had enjoyed it. He understood much better now why Kitsune could not let Narusegawa and him have their privacy. Sometimes, everyone needed to take a leap of faith, even if someone had to push them over the edge to do it.
"Perhaps, we should leave?"
As soon as Narusegawa spoke those words, Keitaro felt stabbing pain. /Why do I feel this stabbing pain in my chest./ Keitaro staggered to the ground, pulling the tablecloth from the table onto him. Kentaro's words shot through Keitaro's heart. He could not understand what had happened to him. /Have I found that one in a million ways to disappoint Naru?/
Narusegawa's hurt and tortured look on her face confirmed his suspicions. He had disappointed Naru, but why? Why? Keitaro's mind opened and revealed an answer that sickened Keitaro.
The thought of the future scared Keitaro. He lived in the past, living off a promise he refused to let go of. Keitaro could picture the events of the next hour with feverish clarity. Soon, Narusegawa and Keitaro would have a hotel room together. Keitaro would offer to tie himself to the bed and Narusegawa would offer to do it for him. The rest would follow like a wonderful dream. But like any dream, Keitaro would awaken and realize he did not deserve the dream.
Keitaro could never give his all to Narusegawa as long as that promise lingered in the background, constantly pulling him away from the present. As long as the mystery of the promise remained a mystery, Urashima Keitaro would find a way to disappoint Naru in his single-minded search for the promise girl. Keitaro could not live with himself if he did that.
While Keitaro knew that panic attacks strike without warning, Keitaro could now clearly see where the pressure rose from. Despite all this insight, during the panic attack itself, Keitaro had not thought any of this. Out of nowhere, his heart erupted into a full-blown panic. Soon after that, the world seemed to come to end for Keitaro. That panic swallowed his mind and spread to his lungs, as he heaved for air. The lungs would not move. Keitaro blanked out.
***
Narusegawa had stood over Keitaro and wondered what had happened to him. Everything seemed to have gone quite fine and then suddenly Keitaro hit the ground and stopped breathing. With the help of the restaurant manager, Narusegawa got hold of an ambulence and had Keitaro rushed to the nearest hospital. Narusegawa rode along, holding onto Keitaro's hand the whole time.
Several hours passed and sometime during the endless night of fearing for Keitaro's life, the sun rose. The sun looked really different to eyes that spent the evening crying. An elderly man in a medical suit approached Narusegawa Naru. "You, Narusegawa Naru?" Naru nodded in reply. Now, she would know what had happened to Keitaro. "Urashima Keitaro seemed to have suffered an intense anxiety attack."
"A panic attack?" Naru asked. Somewhere inside her, she knew that she could not have caused a panic attack. Panic attacks happened without warning or reason. Though, they tend to happen at crucial transition points in people's lives. And Naru had completely resolved to put Keitaro and herself through a crucial transition point in both their lives as soon as they reached the hotel room.
Blushing, she wondered where she had gotten the courage to try something like that. But Naru could not shake the feeling that Keitaro had rejected her and expressed his decision in the form of a panic attack.
The medic looked up. "Does 'the promise girl' mean anything to you?" Naru nodded her head. For a while, Keitaro had suspected Naru of having made the promise to get into Toudai with him fifteen years ago. She had explained to him in less than flattering terms that she could not have made the promise, because she could barely talk fifteen years ago. "Well, he kept repeating that over and over again in his sleep. I thought he might have meant you."
Tears fell from Narusegawa's eyes. "So did I." Narusegawa understood what had happened to Keitaro. Before he had always mumbled her name in his sleep. /So?/ Narusegawa asked herself. /He finally made his choice. He will have the promise girl and no other girl except the promise girl./ The realization rocked Narusegawa. /Why? Why?/ All her pent-out frustration and anger exploded from her hand and connected with the nearby wall. She looked out of the hole as the wall fragments descended the three floors to the ground and landed with an abrupt [crack].
Narusegawa wished that she and Keitaro could both die and get reincarnated, so that way they could start this all over again from the beginning. In one of those lifetimes, perhaps, her and Keitaro might finally get it right.
Narusegawa looked down to see a crowd gathering. Some of the people thought she might jump. Little by little, the idea started to sound quite attractive. Her current love-interest had given his heart to the promise girl and her former love-interest had promised his heart to Haruka-san. She had no one left to turn to, but herself and she did not know if she could spent the rest of her life with the girl that let Keitaro get away.
Narusegawa split in two. One half of her wanted to continue on without Keitaro and the other would not stand for it. The two halves of her splintered psyche played the game of rock-paper-scissors to determine her future. Rock breaks scissors. She lost. At that time, Narusegawa decided she would jump, but not from here. She would return to where all this madness originated from, the source of this chaos. The Toudai campus.
-----
Matchmaker's War
Panic Attack
Keitaro wanted to believe that he just had a heart attack. But heart attacks don't have hot flashes and sudden chills. He even considered whether or not the restaurant had poisoned his food. A feeling of impending doom swept over Keitaro's mind and spirit, but he could not believe a poison would have worked, since nothing physical could harm the immortal Urashima Keitaro. His heart seemed to struggle to break free of his chest. Still, he did everything he could to hide the truth from himself as he struggled to breath. A hour away from Narusegawa's tender embrace, Keitaro had had a panic attack. As his world turned black, he thought back to how this could have happened.
***
Keitaro had gotten his tuxedo at seven o'clock sharp and everything looked ready for the perfect night on the town. Narusegawa had treated him very well and Keitaro blushed over how close him and Narusegawa had grown thanks to Kitsune's intervention. To repay her, they did some matchmaking of their own, bringing together Noriyasu Seta and Urashima Haruka for an evening alone at the Hinata-sou. The turtle mecha perimeter created by Kaolla would keep the media out and Mutsumi would provide the other girls with a place to stay in the meanwhile.
Narusegawa wore a beautiful red dress that put every other dress he had ever seen before to shame. And, on a personal note, it looked great on Narusegawa's body. Keitaro wanted to tell Narusegawa that, but even with their deepest darkest emotions out in the open for everyone to read, Keitaro still felt years of rejection and alienation from other females reminding him to slow down and take his time with Narusegawa.
First, Narusegawa wanted a traditional date besides the fancy restaurant and hotel room waiting for them on the other side of town. So, naturally, Keitaro and Narusegawa went to see a movie.
The movie had a pretty standard plot, something about a boy and a girl who pretty hate each other on the outside, but can't stop obsessing over each other on the inside. Keitaro and Narusegawa spent the whole movie blushing at how many parallels these fictional characters had to their own twisted love affair. The movie always left them upset watching these two miserable characters. Yes, they had the happy ending and everything, but they wasted a lot of time just bickering over the stupidest things. If those two could just relax and get over their differences like civilized people, their romance would not have taken so long to resolve. Granted the movie would not have lasted as long, but Keitaro grew almost as annoyed as Narusegawa. The scriptwriters had stumbled upon the most ridiculous reasons to pull this perfect couple apart and even stranger reasons to bring them back together again for the big finale.
Needless to say, the movie exhausted Narusegawa and Keitaro mentally. But Keitaro had enjoyed it. He understood much better now why Kitsune could not let Narusegawa and him have their privacy. Sometimes, everyone needed to take a leap of faith, even if someone had to push them over the edge to do it.
"Perhaps, we should leave?"
As soon as Narusegawa spoke those words, Keitaro felt stabbing pain. /Why do I feel this stabbing pain in my chest./ Keitaro staggered to the ground, pulling the tablecloth from the table onto him. Kentaro's words shot through Keitaro's heart. He could not understand what had happened to him. /Have I found that one in a million ways to disappoint Naru?/
Narusegawa's hurt and tortured look on her face confirmed his suspicions. He had disappointed Naru, but why? Why? Keitaro's mind opened and revealed an answer that sickened Keitaro.
The thought of the future scared Keitaro. He lived in the past, living off a promise he refused to let go of. Keitaro could picture the events of the next hour with feverish clarity. Soon, Narusegawa and Keitaro would have a hotel room together. Keitaro would offer to tie himself to the bed and Narusegawa would offer to do it for him. The rest would follow like a wonderful dream. But like any dream, Keitaro would awaken and realize he did not deserve the dream.
Keitaro could never give his all to Narusegawa as long as that promise lingered in the background, constantly pulling him away from the present. As long as the mystery of the promise remained a mystery, Urashima Keitaro would find a way to disappoint Naru in his single-minded search for the promise girl. Keitaro could not live with himself if he did that.
While Keitaro knew that panic attacks strike without warning, Keitaro could now clearly see where the pressure rose from. Despite all this insight, during the panic attack itself, Keitaro had not thought any of this. Out of nowhere, his heart erupted into a full-blown panic. Soon after that, the world seemed to come to end for Keitaro. That panic swallowed his mind and spread to his lungs, as he heaved for air. The lungs would not move. Keitaro blanked out.
***
Narusegawa had stood over Keitaro and wondered what had happened to him. Everything seemed to have gone quite fine and then suddenly Keitaro hit the ground and stopped breathing. With the help of the restaurant manager, Narusegawa got hold of an ambulence and had Keitaro rushed to the nearest hospital. Narusegawa rode along, holding onto Keitaro's hand the whole time.
Several hours passed and sometime during the endless night of fearing for Keitaro's life, the sun rose. The sun looked really different to eyes that spent the evening crying. An elderly man in a medical suit approached Narusegawa Naru. "You, Narusegawa Naru?" Naru nodded in reply. Now, she would know what had happened to Keitaro. "Urashima Keitaro seemed to have suffered an intense anxiety attack."
"A panic attack?" Naru asked. Somewhere inside her, she knew that she could not have caused a panic attack. Panic attacks happened without warning or reason. Though, they tend to happen at crucial transition points in people's lives. And Naru had completely resolved to put Keitaro and herself through a crucial transition point in both their lives as soon as they reached the hotel room.
Blushing, she wondered where she had gotten the courage to try something like that. But Naru could not shake the feeling that Keitaro had rejected her and expressed his decision in the form of a panic attack.
The medic looked up. "Does 'the promise girl' mean anything to you?" Naru nodded her head. For a while, Keitaro had suspected Naru of having made the promise to get into Toudai with him fifteen years ago. She had explained to him in less than flattering terms that she could not have made the promise, because she could barely talk fifteen years ago. "Well, he kept repeating that over and over again in his sleep. I thought he might have meant you."
Tears fell from Narusegawa's eyes. "So did I." Narusegawa understood what had happened to Keitaro. Before he had always mumbled her name in his sleep. /So?/ Narusegawa asked herself. /He finally made his choice. He will have the promise girl and no other girl except the promise girl./ The realization rocked Narusegawa. /Why? Why?/ All her pent-out frustration and anger exploded from her hand and connected with the nearby wall. She looked out of the hole as the wall fragments descended the three floors to the ground and landed with an abrupt [crack].
Narusegawa wished that she and Keitaro could both die and get reincarnated, so that way they could start this all over again from the beginning. In one of those lifetimes, perhaps, her and Keitaro might finally get it right.
Narusegawa looked down to see a crowd gathering. Some of the people thought she might jump. Little by little, the idea started to sound quite attractive. Her current love-interest had given his heart to the promise girl and her former love-interest had promised his heart to Haruka-san. She had no one left to turn to, but herself and she did not know if she could spent the rest of her life with the girl that let Keitaro get away.
Narusegawa split in two. One half of her wanted to continue on without Keitaro and the other would not stand for it. The two halves of her splintered psyche played the game of rock-paper-scissors to determine her future. Rock breaks scissors. She lost. At that time, Narusegawa decided she would jump, but not from here. She would return to where all this madness originated from, the source of this chaos. The Toudai campus.
-----