"End of the Treasured Ones" A Love Hina fanfiction by Ben Woo

Disclaimer: See Ch. 1

Author's Notes: I have not idea if washing someone's back in Japan is a sign of love, but after reading some other fics, I believe it is, so I'm going to use it in this chapter. Sorry if that spoiled a part for you. I promise it's still worth your while to read this. This is now the third day, hehe. Finally.

The morning came in cold, which wasn't noticed well by the occupants of Hinata Sou, but certainly was by the would be occupants outside. Ben and Shinobu were trying to get into the front door, but were locked out, surprisingly enough.

"Hey, koibito, when did you guys get a lock? I thought doors in Japan weren't locked usually." said Ben as he tried to open the door without breaking it.

"Uh, well, I think that Naru put it there in case a 'more perverted than Keitaro' man came." Said Shinobu while shivering. Ben had given her his shirt when he notice she was cold before. The fact that Shinobu was wearing a skirt canceled whatever warmth the shirt brought, however. Still, she was better off than Ben who was only in his shorts and trying to open but not break the door.

"Shinobu, I don't think we can get in without doing some damage. I'm sure that considering the time and the people we're dealing with, we'll be relatively safe. Stay back though," said Ben.

Ben rubbed his hands together as if in preparation, and then jammed his fingers into the wooden doors. His fingers went right through. He slowly pulled his fingers apart, opening the doors with as much silence as possible. It just wouldn't do to see Ben half nude with Shinobu who was wearing his shirt and only a skirt in the morning. The areas Ben pulled at began snapping, the wood giving out. His hands were in the middle, so the middle was becoming weaker while the top and bottom were staying the same. This was going to be a problem, as Ben didn't want to have to completely tear out the twin doors. Fate chose to ignore Ben's wants however, and made the top and bottom parts of the doors stay. The doors were broken in half, as the middle area gave out and Ben's hands passed right through it. He caught the falling pieces with his arms however, so that the sound made would be minimized. Shinobu was shocked at Ben's strength, even though she had already seen some of his more extreme powers.

"Ok, we're in, let's go. Dang, it's freezing in here. I can't stand this cold!" said Ben standing there.

"Why don't you go in? You said it was freezing out here." said a confused Shinobu.

"I'm waiting for you to go in. Even though it's cold, ladies should go in first if present." responded Ben, whose teeth had started chattering by now.

"Oh, arigato gozaimasu, Ben." said Shinobu, entering. Ben quickly followed in and tried to piece the doors in while making them look undamaged. Eventually the doors came too look almost undamaged, the holes in the door still there.

The couple walked up the stairs and into Shinobu's room. Ben didn't want to go to his room since Shinobu's was closer. Shinobu began getting her toiletries ready and began leaving.

"You're going to bathe now?" asked Ben.

"Hai, I bet we're really dirty from being outside for so long. You should go and take a bath too, you aren't exactly clean either I bet." said Shinobu with a smirk.

"Hai, but how would you know? You're dirty yourself." Ben shot back.

"But I slept on top of you while you slept on the roof, so I'm probably cleaner than you by a fair margin. Tee-hee, dirty boy." Giggled Shinobu.

"Right, well, I'll go bathe too. I noticed that you girls set up a 'mens bath' which consists of a large bucket that we fill with water and bathe in. I'm pretty sure that's dirtier than me, all things considered." said Ben.

"Hai, we didn't want Urashima-sempai to come an 'peek' on us, so we did that. I don't think they're up though, so you can come bathe with me in the womens bathing area," said Shinobu, with a hint of a smile.

*She's getting naughty like Kitsune, must be from how long she's lived with her. I couldn't imagine she would say that out loud to someone, though. I'm glad however.* thought Ben.

"Okay, let's go, koibito." said Ben getting up.

"What about your bathing things? Don't you need those?" asked Shinobu curiously.

"Why bother? I could just steal yours for today, hehe." said Ben with a foolish grin.

"H-hai, you can, Ben. I d-don't mind," said Shinobu blushing red as a rose.

The two left for the baths, not noticing the pair of eyes watching them. Kitsune really enjoyed this sort of thing. She had heard the door break open, as her room was decently close to the door and she was a light sleeper, a secret she kept well hidden. She followed the two lovers while hiding. She wanted to see things play out without being interrupted. She was liking that idea too. Ben and Shinobu proved to be quite the naughty pair in her mind.

*Bathing together already? Even using the same toiletries? My, these two move fast. I wonder why Keitaro and Naru don't move this fast.* thought Kitsune as she followed in silence.

Ben and Shinobu reached the baths and began unchanging. Shinobu faced the other way as Ben did the same. They were moving a little quickly, but they wouldn't go full speed. They crept into the hot spring, and began to relax.

"Ah, I've always loved a good bath in a hot spring. Showers aren't quite up to par with it. They only hold speed over hot springs, but that can be sacrificed," said Ben as he slid into the spring up to his chin.

"Hai, I totally agree." Said Shinobu, only sinking to her neck.

Kitsune watched from the doorway, out of the two lovers' sights. She was shocked that Shinobu wasn't being shy and even opened her eyes a little.

*I guess she isn't so shy when she opens up after all. Maybe that's all Naru and Keitaro need to move further.* thought Kitsune happily. She had by now closed her slit-like eyes.

Kitsune watched as Ben moved toward Shinobu and eventually worked into kissing her. Shinobu didn't seem to be surprised at all, or at least she seemed that way to Kitsune as she saw Shinobu begin to kiss back with a ferocity she had never seen before in the young girl. Kitsune wondered if anything was going on under the water, but didn't move away from her spot for fear of giving her self away. Ben and Shinobu weren't doing anything under the water except holding each others' hands. The thought of doing something more had never crossed their minds, which would've disappointed Kitsune had she known. The kiss ended, to the chagrin of all there, but it had to for the two participants to breathe. The two lay there in the bath, still holding hands. Both of their eyes were closed, and they seemed like angels at peace. Motoko might have described this as meditation in its 'bathing form' or something along those lines. This was what Kitsune thought, which usually meant it wasn't true to other peoples' thoughts.

"Hey, koibito, what should we tell the others? I'm sure that they'll be shocked and angered that I've captured the heart of the resident cook and purest soul." said Ben.

*He's already calling her koibito?! How could I not notice this was happening?!* thought screamed Kitsune. Her eyes were wide open and pouring plastered tears, her hair frizzled to a small extent, and her right fist held up (she was seeing it while leaning on the left side of the bathing area doorway).

"Well, I don't think we should tell them quite yet. The shock might interfere with Urashima-sempai's and Naru's relationship. They might think that they're being slow and rush, which wouldn't be good. We should tell everyone after the occurrence or after Naru and Urashima-sempai confess." said Shinobu while she got the toiletries.

"I see, good choice. I agree to your decision. Here, let me wash your back." said Ben, who grabbed a towel and walked over to take the toiletries away from Shinobu and then went about picking up the necessary things to accomplish his task.

"Hai, arigato," said Shinobu who sat on a chair and waited.

Ben began lathering the soap, and then began soaping Shinobu's back. He noticed how it was completely devoid of scars, a quality he hoped would stay with her forever. He also noticed how it didn't seem pale compared to her normally visible skin, another quality that he valued. He finished the lathering, and moved on to scrubbing her back. He washed her off and then grabbed the shampoo. With it in hand he lathered Shinobu's hair, washing it out just like he did with her back.

"Um, I'll return the favor," said Shinobu.

"Okay, but don't be surprised at what you see, okay?" said Ben as he sat in a nearby chair.

Shinobu was confused at what he meant, but when she was about to wipe his back with soap, she found out. Ben had a lot of scars. Most of them were small, but still there. The most glaring was an 'x' on his back. One line went from his right shoulder to his left hip, and the other line went from below his left armpit to his right side. Shinobu was shocked that Ben had this scar.

"H-how did you get this scar? It's huge!" cried Shinobu, dropping her soap and forgetting about it. Unknown to the two, Kitsune had seen the 'x' scar too, missing the smaller ones because of the distance, but she was surprised as well and as much.

"Well, since you're the only one here, I'll explain. Please keep this a secret from the others. Only Keitaro knows about this right now, but you'll know too. It was during the time Keitaro and I traveled together. I guess it was like the movies, because we were almost completely broke. We had been traveling for months and our food ran out. We had to hunt almost constantly to avoid suffering malnutrition. We still moved around the country however, and managed to come to a small town. This town was being manipulated behind the scenes by a small faction that had the goal of conquering Japan. We were in China at the time, so it made sense. We decided to help the villagers in exchange for supplies. We had made this deal with the mayor, who was at the time one of the members vying for control of the village. He needed the faction out of the way to achieve this, however. We should have realized this was a trap when we noticed that the villagers hadn't been noticing and helping us and that the mayor never told us his name. We defeated all the faction members, meaning we knocked them out and got the police to drag them away. The night after the police left, the mayor came in to our room with two hired me and tried to kill us..

flashback

"Ha! You thought that I would actually keep my end?! Foolish outsiders!" cried the evil mayor.

"You bastard! Why would you have us do this and try to kill us? Why not just let us go?" demanded a much younger looking Keitaro. Ben was next to him looking the same as he did now while telling the story. Unlike Keitaro in the flashback however, Ben is sitting, calm with his head down.

"Because, I can't let it get out to the villagers that I went for aid from outsiders. It would shame my name and they would replace me. I want the power to rule this village, so I must remove any obstacle, be it big or small. I'm thankful for your help, but I cannot let you live now. Adieu." said the corrupted mayor.

As he said this he walked off, snapping his fingers. The two men with him took that as their cue and began spraying bullets at the two 'captives'. The bullets raced at speeds incredible to normal people, but they were slow for Ben. He had jerked his head up, an insane smile showing, and leapt at the bullets. His arms morphed into dogs and ate the bullets. The one that passed the dogs were dodged by Ben. The hired men were scared out of their pants, and continued emptying their clips. When they ran out they found themselves pinned to the ground by Ben's 'arms'. Needless to say it was an uncomfortable position. His shirt suddenly exploded, and the freshly made cuts on his back were revealed to the world. Two bullets had grazed Ben's back, but had made cuts because of Ben's speed. The cut was bleeding profusely, but Ben smiled, looked at it, and then turned to the goons.

"Hehehe..I should kill you right here for this. I can't stand being lied to. It's not your fault however, so you two will live to see another day. Take heart of my warning: leave and never cause anyone harm." said Ben. The facial expression on his face and the tone he said it scared both the men and Keitaro. Another frightening aspect was Ben's hair, it had grown from just a few inches to down to a little past his waste. It was jet black, and it was easy to become unfocused while looking at it.

"S-s-sure sir. We'll g-g-go n-now." said one of the men as they both struggled to get free.

Ben let the two men leave, and turned back to his original form. All of his original features were back except now he had a big smirk.

"So, was that an act there to scare them $H!TLE$$?" asked Keitaro.

"Yeah, I did the whole thing with the calm thing as an act. I wanted to act insane for once. It felt good too, but it's not a very efficient way to fight." said Ben.

"Well, we should get the mayor for this. If he wanted to just control the town I would have turned the other way. Now though, I'll have to stop his little plan." said Keitaro with a grim determination.

"Well, you didn't say 'we', which surprised me, but I'll still help." said Ben.

"Hehe, I didn't think you would want to help such a small village considering how we haven't been helped at all. Arigato," said Keitaro. The two angered souls marched out of their room and towards the mayor's house, where the mayor undoubtedly was, smoking an expensive and freshly imported Cuban cigar.

end of flashback

.and we defeated the mayor in a sorts. Keitaro wanted to mutilate his body, but I came up with a better idea. I just said that we'll cut out his tongue so he couldn't tell anymore lies. I was a bit cut throat at the time, so that's why I suggested it. Keitaro was the same, and agreed wholeheartedly, not even thinking about it surprisingly. He has sure changed, as have I. Well, at least I hope I've changed. Well, now you know, hehe." finished Ben. His throat was dry from the long revelation and he took a little break from talking. Shinobu took this pause as a time to start talking.

"I see, well that does make sense. You two did live on your own for a while. I"m just gald you're not that way now. Tee-hee, if you were that would be so scary!" giggled Shinobu. Ben mock glared her and decided he had enough of a break from talking.

"Are you sure?" asked Ben as he suddenly grabbed her, brought her down, and promptly held her there while sitting next to her.

*She probably can't handle my weight, so this is better, especially for her healt.* thought Ben.

"Ah! Ben, get off! You're being mean! Hehehe, I didn't know you were so small!" said Shinobu, though she wasn't even facing the right direction to see and Ben was wearing a towel. Ben didn't notice this however and let go out of surprise. Shinobu grabbed him and pinned him on his back while she lay on top.

"W-what d-do you me-mean I'm small?" asked a nervous Ben. He was scared that Shinobu thought he was small. He certainly didn't know the standard, being a traveler and not extremely social.

"Hehe, I was just joking. I wanted to get you off and had to say that. I wasn't even looking and you had a towel around you, which you didn't even notice. Tee-hee, it's so easy to make you blush!" squealed Shinobu.

*These two sure don't mind getting frisky. That would have sucked though if Ben really was small.* thought Kitsune, who didn't know what was considered small or large either.

"I guess I should have paid more attention. Argh, and I'm supposed to be a master of this kind of thing! I feel bad that koibito pulled one over me!" said Ben.

"Well, let's go now. We need to avoid the girls since it's almost time for their baths, we need to make breakfast, and I think we're clean enough." said Shinobu.

"Hai, let's go." said Ben. Outside the bathing area door, Kitsune began panicking.

"Oh shoot, they'll kill me when they find me!" said Kitsune.

"Who'll kill you? We'll help." said Naru who was going to the bath. Accompanying her were Motoko and Su, who were also going to bathe.

*Oh shoot, this is even worse. Now Shinobu and Ben are going to get caught. I can't say it's better me than them because of Shinobu, oh this is not good!* thought Kitsune.

Left with no solutions for options, Kitsune took the coward's path and ran to her room to get her bathing things. She planned to just come down for her 'first time' instead of twice. This would save her skin, but would leave Ben and Shinobu to the wolves. It was the only way to cut losses in Kitsune's mind. As she ran back down, she saw the event following her arrival in slow motion. Ben and Shinobu walked out in towels. Ben had a towel folding around his waist going down to his ankles, as did Shinobu but she had it going from her chest to the top of her thighs instead. They were talking happily when they noticed the other girls looking at them. This was the moment of truth. Naru had veins bulging larger than flood channels and her eyes were just white. Motoko's eyes had disappeared behind the enlarged shadow courtesy of her bangs and had suddenly found her katana. Su was just looking forward with a confused look, but the confusion was probably caused by the fact that she had to choose which person to shoot with her laser rifle. Ben and Shinobu looked at each other, kissed, and looked at the soon to be attackers. This was going to be hard to explain.

Author's Notes: Okay, I know a lot of you are going to hate me for making Ben and Shinobu's relationship move a little fast, but this is laying some groundwork for later. I also know that Shinobu seems a little OOC with her being really bold with her speech and actions. Let's put it this way: she has three or four days to get to know this one guy who has saved her life, so she is bound to make some quick actions. I know some may be getting stretched to a lot, but oh well. Until next time, Ja Ne!

Pre-reader's notes: I couldn't send ch. 7 & 8 to you because of my machine, gomen. I'll send you ch. 9 when I finish it though.

Pre-readers: Chris Ta Koibito