Survival of the Fittest

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Love Hina. It belongs to Ken Akamatsu; well actually I'm not sure whom it belongs to. Ken Akamatsu made it, but Tokyopop published it in America. I am sooo confused. Well, sorta. Herm, I am just rambling here. Sorry.

All of the Hinata House occupants survived the night. However, injuries were common. Naru was hospitalized as her right hand had been broken if four places. Motoko had a broken floating rib, and incredibly dangerous situation. Thankfully, the doctors were able to successfully re-orient the rib and everyone was sitting around in the Hinata House by 12:30 pm.

The television was on, the news channel currently being watched. It seemed that they were not the only people attacked by the demon. However, they were the most fortunate. There were a total of four attacks in one night, the attack on the Hinata house being the second of the attacks. Before them, an attack was made on a hospital. No one was injured except one guard and a receptionist.

There were two other attacks, both on high-ranking officials in Tokyo. Because of the last two attacks, ten police squads were released to find the accused "demon". The news asked that if anyone knew anything about the demon, they were to call an emergency hotline.

"Everyone, I think I know who attacked us," Shinobu said with a shy voice at the end of the report.

"Who was it then?" Everyone stood on the edge of their seats, staring at Shinobu with an intense expression.

"I'm not sure, but I think it was Leioji." Shinobu looked away as she spoke.

"Who?" Nobody had ever heard of Leioji. At least they don't eavesdrop on my discussions, Shinobu thought.

"Leioji is… well, he's…. um, my brother has a couple of issues. He is currently enrolled in the only mental institution in the area. He has a split personality, and Leioji is the other person." Shinobu finished with a shameful bow.

"Oh," Keitaro said with a thoughtful look on his face.

"He's obviously a liability to our lives as well as everyone else in Tokyo. We can not allow him to continue rampaging or people could die." Motoko was so sure about her verdict that when she was done, she began towards the phone.

"NO! THEY'LL KILL HIM!" Shinobu shouted, tears streaming down her face. She clung to Motoko's kimono so that she could not continue.

"Shinobu, stop. I don't know why you'd want him to live…" Motoko caught herself. No one had heard much about Shinobu's brother except for the fact that he was an incredibly kind, thoughtful person who had some issues.

"I want him to live because he is a good person. Leioji is not. My brother isn't attacking people, Leioji is. If we could only destroy Leioji then maybe we can save my brother…" Shinobu seemed as though she were begging Motoko. Motoko bent inside, wanting to turn in the only person besides Urashima who had bested her, but she didn't want to see Shinobu cry.

"Fine. I'll give it five days. After that, if we haven't destroyed Leioji, we are going to have to tell someone about your brother."

"Arigato, Motoko-san." Shinobu bowed graciously.

"I may actually be able to exorcise Leioji and save your brother without any physical damage. There are only three problems. Our number one problem is that in my condition, your brother would have to be captive before I could perform the exorcism. Number two; Narusegawa and I can't assist in capturing him. Number three; I couldn't even scathe him so I doubt that the rest of you could capture him in five days without help. However, I wish you luck and I hope you can capture him. Shinobu, what is your brother's name anyways?" Motoko, nor any of the Hinata residents, knew Shinobu's brother's name.

"Nani? Oh, my brother's name is Ejichima Maehara." Everyone stifled their laughs at the name.

"Isn't that a rather strange name?" Motoko was one of the only residents who had taken the name seriously.

"Well, my parents didn't really have any names for boys as they were expecting a girl. So they just took the name my grandpa supplied. Unfortunately, my grandpa was a little crazy and ended up dying when my brother was four. If he had lasted just two more months I could have seen him and him me..." Shinobu stopped, not wanting to reveal to much of her past.

"It doesn't really matter. We have to find Ejichima before anyone else does." Keitaro had just saved Shinobu from looking like a fool in front of everyone. Thank you, sempai. I promise to make it up to you later.

Then the Hinata House team mobilized. Su disappeared into the voids of her room to get who-knows-what while Keitaro made sure Naru didn't leave her room. Motoko disappeared, but everyone assumed she was taking a bath or getting some rest. Shinobu got a flashlight and packed enough food and water to last the night if necessary. Kitsune stumbled around looking for her combat boots. And Mutsumi got together a bundle of blankets and winter coats. And out the band went.

Everyone started off carrying everything they carried, which was great for Kitsune and Keitaro, as they had packed nothing. However, this wasn't as good for Mutsumi or Shinobu as they had brought everything. Su had brought a huge tracking device, but she always had some heavy gizmo so she was used to it. After about ten minutes, Keitaro was carrying everything Mutsumi and Shinobu had brought.

"Shinobu Maehara, I need a piece of your hair please," Su asked. Shinobu was confused, but she obeyed and plucked out a piece of hair and gave it to Su. Su put it in a small tray on her machine. The tray went in and clicking and whirling began.

"Su, what exactly is that?" Shinobu inquired.

"Easy. I'm using the DNA in your hair to locate anyone closely related to you. The problem is, I only detect two people. Your father and your grandma. It seems as though… your brother doesn't exist. But I should be able to track even dead bodies with this baby…" Su stopped, as she knew she wasn't helping. But Su had just sent something very powerful into motion inside Shinobu's mind. We never found him, even though he had a homing chip implanted in him

"That's it! Back when my brother was in the institution, he would run away. Then implant homing devices into all of their patients just incase someone did escape. But somehow, my brother didn't seem to show up. His chip didn't activate at the command. Maybe Leioji built a tracking damper…"

"Very good, Shinobu…" a dark voice spoke. Squatting atop a building, Ejichima gripped both of his katanas. Rather, Leioji gripped the handles as he had control at the time.

"But, but that's impossible. Nobody knows how to make a tracking damper." Su was confused. She had never heard of a tracking damper.

"You're looking at the first person to succeed in building one. The funny thing is, I built it while I was captive. Makes you wonder what I can do… YOU!" Leioji suddenly became violent mid-sentence. His eyes seemed to be focusing as well as they could at someone standing on the building opposite of him.

"Yes demon Leioji. It is I, Motoko Aoyama and I am here to put you to your death, demon. Draw your blades." Motoko had been stalking the Hinata House team for hours and now threw away her elaborate costume. Underneath she wore two katanas at her side and a wicked-looking pole arm on her back. She drew a katana and grimaced.

"Motoko! What are you doing you promised you wouldn't hurt him!" Shinobu cried.

"And you should be in bed! How dare you!" Keitaro chimed in.

"I'm not here to hurt Ejichima. I am here to destroy Leioji. Now fight me creature." That was enough to send Leioji into a rage. He drew both swords and leapt a full five meters to land in front of Motoko. He caught her by surprise, as she had never seen anyone with the ability to jump that far. He took advantage of that and swung to especially cruel strikes at Motoko. She was able to block both just in time with one of her katanas, but her muscles burned as she held him back.

Motoko gritted her teeth and kicked at Leioji's groin. He dodged, but he had to call off his attack for a few precious seconds. Motoko took advantage of this and drew her second katana.

"Now we can have fun, eh?" Leioji smirked. He took the offensive and began swinging away. His attacks were reckless, but defending against them left Motoko with not enough energy to retaliate. It was an exact copy of her last battle with Leioji. She could hold him off for a while, but then he bested her. The next strike was with such force it sent one of her katanas flying. Things looked grim.

But desperation is a valuable ally. So is pride. Anger filled Motoko, and she reversed the roles. Although she had but one katana and Leioji two, her rage gave her the strength of one hundred kendo warriors. She burned all over from lack of oxygen, her side where her rib had broken was especially painful and her head spun. But the adrenaline kept her going.

The Hinata Team wasn't going to sit this one out, though. Keitaro and Shinobu had ran off to get the police and Kitsune and Mutsumi were ready to help with flashlights in hand. A simple blinding light can disable an opponent for quite some time.

But Motoko didn't need the help. She beat away at Leioji, exhausting his reserves of strength. She yelled and slashed him down the chest. The force of the attack sent Leioji flying back into the building from which he had began his attack. He crashed into the building sending cement flying. He got up, nevertheless. He brought his hand to his mouth and wiped away his blood. He frowned.

"Motoko, I never thought you would be the first to injure me. But it seems that you get the honor. However, you will take that honor to your grave. Are you ready to die, Aoyama?" To angry to wait for a response, Leioji leapt back at Motoko. She was kneeling on her right knee, supported by her katana. Her lungs burned, her ears rang, and her eyes received only a brilliant white. Just when I don't need it I run out of oxygen. Breathe, damn it! Breathe! But her body didn't respond. She collapsed just as Leioji rough hand caught her cheek.

Motoko spiraled in the air, sent spinning by the force of the blow. Kitsune realized what was happening and turned on her flashlight pointing in Leioji's face. He turned to face her. His eyes shone red, like a dog in a dark room with a small light flickering. Kitsune was terrified. She shrieked and dropped her flashlight. It hit the street and broke. Leioji, still staring in Kitsune's direction, kicked Motoko in the arm.

Leioji moved away from Motoko then, thinking her to be defenseless and thus of no threat to him. But he was wrong. Motoko had regained her breath, and although she was weary, she had enough strength to hurl her pole arm through Leioji's back. He stumbled and then fell. As he fell, sirens came into hearing distance. Thank god they got the police on this nut job, Motoko thought. She sighed, and then she fainted.

Leioji thrashed, bleeding on the cold, hard cement. He had put down his guard for one moment and had thus been defeated. I will survive. You will not destroy me. He effortlessly plucked the pole arm from his back and threw it to the streets, clanking on its way down. However, he then heard the slamming of car doors and the static of walkie-talkies.

"That's right. We got him. Air support? You there? This is unit 1806A. We have the suspect on a building. He appears to be wounded. We got him. Make sure he doesn't escape." Inspector Anato Karishuma put away his walkie-talkie and walked over to where Kitsune and Mutsumi stood staring dumbly.

"Ejichima Maehara, I, on behalf of the Emperor and his people, demand that you surrender now or die!" Shinobu broke into tears on the last part. Although the Inspector was right that Leioji had to die, she loved her brother Ejichima deeply.

"Fool! You deal not with Ejichima! You deal with Leioji, Lord of All! You will die for your…" He was interrupted by gunshots. Leioji's eyes went blank, and he fell.