A Monster Within Me
by Joshua Falken

Inspired by "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson and "The Incredible Hulk" by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Thanks to David for beta-read this fic :-)

Disclaimer: Love Hina and its characters are property of Ken Akamatsu. No copyright infligement is intended. This is a fanfiction work, written for fun.

Prologue - The Invader

While the sirens of the police cars echoed through the entire city of Hinata and armed policemen ran through its deserted streets, a shadow slowly left from an alley. Its breathing was heavy. An intense rage shone in its eyes. It ran quietly at high-speed through Sugihara street until it stopped in front of the shop window of a clothing store.

It closed its fist and with a punch knocked the door off of its hinges. The alarm could only ring once before it was pulled off the ceiling by the invader's bare hands. The only sound throughout the store was the robber's heavy breathing while it took things from the mannequins.

It had just placed a black fedora on its head when suddenly it heard sounds coming in its direction. Quickly, it hid in the shadows. Two policemen, backlit by the their car's headlights, cautiously entered the dark store. Their lanterns and weapons shook in their hands.

"Attention! Come out with your hands up!" The higher ranking officer ordered, but the fear made his voice tremble. They had heard the communicate about what was wreaking havoc throughout the entire city...

The answer that they received was a table thrown at them, they had no chance to defend themselves. The momentum was enough to send them against careening against their car, breaking the headlights. The lantern of one of them rolled along the ground and illuminated their attacker. It was a very muscular woman, at least two and a half meters tall, with jade-green skin and long metallic blue hair. The expression of fury on her face froze the blood in their veins. A long black coat covered the tattered clothes that she was wearing. The vision lasted for just a moment before she leapt over their heads and took off down the street.

Before losing consciousness, one of the officers murmured.

"What in the world was that?"

Meanwhile, the attacker leaped from roof to roof of the buildings... as a shadow... or a demon...

======

Later, the mystery monster woman left the forest around the city and arrived at the stairways of Hinata Inn Girls Dorm. She seemed to be trying to control herself, before she began to go up the steps.

"Home..." she murmured.

When she arrived at the top, she came across the locked door. With a movement of hand, she broke the padlock and entered. Her steps in the wooden floor made noises.

"Stop there!" The monster woman turned in the direction of the voice and she saw Kanako Urashima, ready to fight. The Assistant Manager jumped at the invader, determined to knock her down with a straight kick to the face. But before she had that chance, the woman grabbed Kanako by the leg, and with a threw her with all the force she could muster against a wall, that gave way from the impact.

The woman ran through the corridor, where she was received by a hive of Mecha-Tamas discharging missiles and nets, that had on her the same effect that flies would have on a steel wall. And she destroyed them as if they were real flies. She moved forward until she stopped in front of the door of one of the bedrooms. With just a soft blow, the door fell off of its hinges and she entered. She stopped and looked around with a strange expression on her face. It was as if she remembered the place.

"Shinobu, no!"

She turned and saw a young brown-haired man, about twenty years old, wearing glasses. One of his legs was plastered.

The shine of recognition appeared in her fury-filled eyes.

"Keitaro...?" The jade-green-skinned woman murmured, before she fell to the ground. She seemed to shrink under the black coat that barely covered her muscular body. The color of her skin changed from green to a pale tone. Her long blue hair shortened and darkened to black. Her wild voice changed while she screamed in pain.

Finally, she fainted on the floor of the bedroom.

Motoko Aoyama appeared behind Keitaro and said, looking at the young girl on the floor.

"You were right, Urashima." She returned her katana to its holder. "She came back."

"Where else could she go?" He murmured, while he approached the body of the invader. He knelt down beside her and turned her body. Meanwhile, in the door of the room, appeared the scared faces of Kaolla Su (who was in a wheelchair), Kanako Urashima (who was still recovering from that mighty blow), Sarah MacDougal, Mitsune Konno and Naru Narusegawa. The swordswoman also knelt down and placed the fainted girl's head kindly in her lap.

"What they do to you?" she asked in a gentle murmur, while she removed a fringe of black hair from her eyes.

Keitaro and Mokoto exchanged worried glances before they looked back into the face of the young girl who had invaded Hinata Inn. The tormented face of Shinobu Maehara.

To be continued...

Author's Note: Okay... I admit that this is a really weird idea, but I just could not get out this scene of my head until I wrote it down... I guess that this is what happens after you read "Love Hina" and "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and see the trailer for "Hulk" in the same week...