Disclaimer: I still don't own Love Hina.
After parting ways with Motoko, Kairho walked to the courtyard
where he expected to fight her, after picking up his blade from his room on
the way. He began his warm-up stretches then stopped abruptly, wondering
'Just what the hell am I doing?! I don't want to fight her, I'd end up
loosing my focus and staring at her graceful slender body…wow! What a
girl…NO! I must only think of her as my opponent!' He continued to
stretch. Unknown to him, Motoko was having those same thoughts as she was
warming up on the other side of the courtyard.
'Why am I drawn to this foreigner? I don't want to fight him; I
think I'm in love with him. Me and my big mouth, just to soothe my pride…
Would it be so bad if I actually had a boyfriend? It hasn't hurt Naru any,
and she actually seems better off for it.' Realizing that she was
daydreaming of life with Kairho, she said, "No. I must focus on the task
at hand. My only thoughts can be on defeating him!" And she continued to
stretch.
"Are you ready?" Motoko asked, taking her extra sword and passing
it to Kairho.
"Yeah, but no thanks. I have my own sword." So saying, he knelt
and drew a strange sword-strange, that is, to Motoko. It was shaped much
like her kitana, except that it had a slightly curved blade and a brass
appearing knuckle guard arcing down over the hilt. He took the blade in
his left hand, vertically in front of him, and kissed it in a fighter'
salute. He followed it with a light wink, and said, "Your weapon of choice
is the kitana, Mine: the saber." He sheathed his blade, and then asked
Motoko "Shall we begin?" She nodded, so he pulled off his shirt to allow
more freedom of motion, and then redrew his blade with a steely hiss.
"Guard."
Motoko was slightly off balance as he asked her if she was ready,
and was totally unprepared for the sight of his firm, muscled torso and his
well-muscled arms. She shook her head as he said "Guard" and ran to
strike, to end this quickly.
Kairho took up a left-handed fencing posture as Motoko came flying
at him. He parried her strike, redirecting it to his immediate right,
opening up a strike of his own. He thrust carefully, presenting his wrist
to his opponent as she dodged his attack and returned a furious swipe that
would have decapitated him, had he not ducked under her blow. Kairho
tapped her lightly with the flat of his blade as she passed by him.
Motoko, realizing that he was indeed a skilled swordsman, retreated, then
came at him classic kendo style, raining blows on him. Kairho, unprepared
for this furious assault, leaped aside and parried her strikes. Blow after
blow was turned aside until Motoko scored a small hit on his side. Kairho
immediately went on the offensive, striking right, feinting left: counter
strike, parry, clash, and slash, thrust. The two warriors were locked in
an intricate dance, neither giving an inch, until Kairho slapped Motoko
lightly in the ribs on a counter thrust. For some reason, this absolutely
infuriated Motoko, who quickly sprang back. She then leaped up and
unleashed a huge blast of ki from her sword, directly at Kairho with a
wordless shout. She was overcome with chagrin as he stood his ground and
deflected her blast with his blade in a defensive crouch. Though
surprised, she followed her advantage with an overhead slash that he caught
on his saber. They stepped apart, breathing lightly. Kairho took the
initiative and ran straight towards her, sword raised. As she raised her
blade to block him, he sprang lightly up, bounced off of her outstretched
blade and, in the air directly behind her let loose a large blast of ki.
Believing that she would not be able to block it, he didn't follow up the
attack. However, Motoko dodged slightly and blocked his blast with one of
her own. She then rushed to the attack. They exchanged a flurry of blows
that left them locked, hilt-to-hilt, each straining to gain the upper hand.
Motoko was glaring fiercely at Kairho, when he leaned over their locked
blades and lightly, ever so gently, kissed her. Motoko slightly swooned at
the intensity of his kiss, then, eyes going wide broke away from him.
"How dare you," she shouted wildly, making an incredible leaping
slash at Kairho. Kairho, a little bewildered at her response just barely
got his saber up in time to block her strike that disarmed them both. They
stood about two meters away, panting heavily, Motoko's kitana stabbed in
the ground beside Kairho, Kairho's saber stuck in beside Motoko. Motoko
was staring wide-eyed at the lean body before her, still tasting the
intensity of the kiss and blushing a deep red. And then, Keitaro and the
girls walked in. Su ran over to Motoko with a towel, followed by Naru and
Shinobu, while Keitaro and Kitsune walked to Kairho.
"Are you all right, Motoko?" Naru asked. "Yeah, you's face is all
red and you gots big eyes!" Su chimed in. Motoko looked around
frantically, as if looking for an answer. Finding none, she ran and ran
until she reached the hot tubs. Stripping, she sank in up to her neck,
still blushing and breathing heavily. Then, overwhelmed by the battle
raging within her mind, she started to cry. Naru, who had followed her,
said "Motoko, What's the matter? Really?"
"Naru, how do you feel when you're around Keitaro?" the younger
girl asked, blushing.
"Well," said Naru, blushing as well, "I guess I feel sort of warm,
and wobbly, when he's staring at me. And when he's holding me, I feel safe
and protected, and when he's just close by, I feel stronger because he's
near." She paused for a moment, gauging Motoko's mood and questions before
asking, "Do you think that you love Kairho?"
"NO! I don't love him…I can't love him. He's just a weakling,
just a man, I don't…" and she trailed off with a sigh. "Yeah, I think that
I do, at least a little. He… well, he kissed me in the middle of our
battle, but I think that that might have been just to distract me…"She
flushed a bright red as she recalled the kiss. "I'm just so confused.
What should I do?"
"Well," Naru began…
***From the kiss, Kairho's point of view***
Kairho, locked body-to-body with Motoko, and more aware of her
presence than ever, did the only thing that he thought was logical; he
leaned over and kissed her. He was taken aback by her violent reaction,
and a bit dismayed when she ran from him. He reached out to her retreating
back as she ran from him. Keitaro noticed this and asked him what was
wrong, and the confused lad just shook his head. "Are all the girls here
like that," he asked, indicating the fleeing girl, being followed by Naru
and Shinobu.
"Well," Keitaro said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "it
depends on what you do, really…I usually got sent into orbit when I do
something wrong, but what did you do to make her that flustered? Kiss her
or something?"
"…"
"Ohhhhhh. I understand perfectly. You see, Motoko is sort of
married to her sword. That's just about the only thing that matters to
her. For her to have feelings for a guy, well, to the rest of us, that's
unthinkable. Motoko is the perfect woman: devoted loyal, trusting, but
it's all to her blade. Well, I'd better go check up on them; make sure
that they're all right." And he left.
A few minutes later, Keitaro flew by Kairho. "SEE WHAT I
MEANNNNNN" he yelled, as he flew by. When he saw Motoko standing there
with her fist in the air, pointed towards him, Kairho sweat dropped.
Seta came hurriedly striding towards the group, looking a little
worried.
"What's the matter, Seta?" Kitsune asked.
"Ah, yes…now what was the matter…" Everyone sweat dropped. "Ah,
yes! That was it! Haruka's gone into premature labor.
"WHAT?!"
After parting ways with Motoko, Kairho walked to the courtyard
where he expected to fight her, after picking up his blade from his room on
the way. He began his warm-up stretches then stopped abruptly, wondering
'Just what the hell am I doing?! I don't want to fight her, I'd end up
loosing my focus and staring at her graceful slender body…wow! What a
girl…NO! I must only think of her as my opponent!' He continued to
stretch. Unknown to him, Motoko was having those same thoughts as she was
warming up on the other side of the courtyard.
'Why am I drawn to this foreigner? I don't want to fight him; I
think I'm in love with him. Me and my big mouth, just to soothe my pride…
Would it be so bad if I actually had a boyfriend? It hasn't hurt Naru any,
and she actually seems better off for it.' Realizing that she was
daydreaming of life with Kairho, she said, "No. I must focus on the task
at hand. My only thoughts can be on defeating him!" And she continued to
stretch.
"Are you ready?" Motoko asked, taking her extra sword and passing
it to Kairho.
"Yeah, but no thanks. I have my own sword." So saying, he knelt
and drew a strange sword-strange, that is, to Motoko. It was shaped much
like her kitana, except that it had a slightly curved blade and a brass
appearing knuckle guard arcing down over the hilt. He took the blade in
his left hand, vertically in front of him, and kissed it in a fighter'
salute. He followed it with a light wink, and said, "Your weapon of choice
is the kitana, Mine: the saber." He sheathed his blade, and then asked
Motoko "Shall we begin?" She nodded, so he pulled off his shirt to allow
more freedom of motion, and then redrew his blade with a steely hiss.
"Guard."
Motoko was slightly off balance as he asked her if she was ready,
and was totally unprepared for the sight of his firm, muscled torso and his
well-muscled arms. She shook her head as he said "Guard" and ran to
strike, to end this quickly.
Kairho took up a left-handed fencing posture as Motoko came flying
at him. He parried her strike, redirecting it to his immediate right,
opening up a strike of his own. He thrust carefully, presenting his wrist
to his opponent as she dodged his attack and returned a furious swipe that
would have decapitated him, had he not ducked under her blow. Kairho
tapped her lightly with the flat of his blade as she passed by him.
Motoko, realizing that he was indeed a skilled swordsman, retreated, then
came at him classic kendo style, raining blows on him. Kairho, unprepared
for this furious assault, leaped aside and parried her strikes. Blow after
blow was turned aside until Motoko scored a small hit on his side. Kairho
immediately went on the offensive, striking right, feinting left: counter
strike, parry, clash, and slash, thrust. The two warriors were locked in
an intricate dance, neither giving an inch, until Kairho slapped Motoko
lightly in the ribs on a counter thrust. For some reason, this absolutely
infuriated Motoko, who quickly sprang back. She then leaped up and
unleashed a huge blast of ki from her sword, directly at Kairho with a
wordless shout. She was overcome with chagrin as he stood his ground and
deflected her blast with his blade in a defensive crouch. Though
surprised, she followed her advantage with an overhead slash that he caught
on his saber. They stepped apart, breathing lightly. Kairho took the
initiative and ran straight towards her, sword raised. As she raised her
blade to block him, he sprang lightly up, bounced off of her outstretched
blade and, in the air directly behind her let loose a large blast of ki.
Believing that she would not be able to block it, he didn't follow up the
attack. However, Motoko dodged slightly and blocked his blast with one of
her own. She then rushed to the attack. They exchanged a flurry of blows
that left them locked, hilt-to-hilt, each straining to gain the upper hand.
Motoko was glaring fiercely at Kairho, when he leaned over their locked
blades and lightly, ever so gently, kissed her. Motoko slightly swooned at
the intensity of his kiss, then, eyes going wide broke away from him.
"How dare you," she shouted wildly, making an incredible leaping
slash at Kairho. Kairho, a little bewildered at her response just barely
got his saber up in time to block her strike that disarmed them both. They
stood about two meters away, panting heavily, Motoko's kitana stabbed in
the ground beside Kairho, Kairho's saber stuck in beside Motoko. Motoko
was staring wide-eyed at the lean body before her, still tasting the
intensity of the kiss and blushing a deep red. And then, Keitaro and the
girls walked in. Su ran over to Motoko with a towel, followed by Naru and
Shinobu, while Keitaro and Kitsune walked to Kairho.
"Are you all right, Motoko?" Naru asked. "Yeah, you's face is all
red and you gots big eyes!" Su chimed in. Motoko looked around
frantically, as if looking for an answer. Finding none, she ran and ran
until she reached the hot tubs. Stripping, she sank in up to her neck,
still blushing and breathing heavily. Then, overwhelmed by the battle
raging within her mind, she started to cry. Naru, who had followed her,
said "Motoko, What's the matter? Really?"
"Naru, how do you feel when you're around Keitaro?" the younger
girl asked, blushing.
"Well," said Naru, blushing as well, "I guess I feel sort of warm,
and wobbly, when he's staring at me. And when he's holding me, I feel safe
and protected, and when he's just close by, I feel stronger because he's
near." She paused for a moment, gauging Motoko's mood and questions before
asking, "Do you think that you love Kairho?"
"NO! I don't love him…I can't love him. He's just a weakling,
just a man, I don't…" and she trailed off with a sigh. "Yeah, I think that
I do, at least a little. He… well, he kissed me in the middle of our
battle, but I think that that might have been just to distract me…"She
flushed a bright red as she recalled the kiss. "I'm just so confused.
What should I do?"
"Well," Naru began…
***From the kiss, Kairho's point of view***
Kairho, locked body-to-body with Motoko, and more aware of her
presence than ever, did the only thing that he thought was logical; he
leaned over and kissed her. He was taken aback by her violent reaction,
and a bit dismayed when she ran from him. He reached out to her retreating
back as she ran from him. Keitaro noticed this and asked him what was
wrong, and the confused lad just shook his head. "Are all the girls here
like that," he asked, indicating the fleeing girl, being followed by Naru
and Shinobu.
"Well," Keitaro said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "it
depends on what you do, really…I usually got sent into orbit when I do
something wrong, but what did you do to make her that flustered? Kiss her
or something?"
"…"
"Ohhhhhh. I understand perfectly. You see, Motoko is sort of
married to her sword. That's just about the only thing that matters to
her. For her to have feelings for a guy, well, to the rest of us, that's
unthinkable. Motoko is the perfect woman: devoted loyal, trusting, but
it's all to her blade. Well, I'd better go check up on them; make sure
that they're all right." And he left.
A few minutes later, Keitaro flew by Kairho. "SEE WHAT I
MEANNNNNN" he yelled, as he flew by. When he saw Motoko standing there
with her fist in the air, pointed towards him, Kairho sweat dropped.
Seta came hurriedly striding towards the group, looking a little
worried.
"What's the matter, Seta?" Kitsune asked.
"Ah, yes…now what was the matter…" Everyone sweat dropped. "Ah,
yes! That was it! Haruka's gone into premature labor.
"WHAT?!"