And here's part two! ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Sue me and get...*looks on desk* A bottle of aloe vera and a broken pencil. Maybe.
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Motoko rose before dawn as she always did, even these two months after Naru's death, taking Keiko with her in the small basket she slept in to the roof for her morning meditations. The air was chilly and a light layer of snow covered everything, prompting Motoko to leave the basket just inside the door with a space warmer beside it, going out on her own into the cold that she knew wouldn't bother her but might the small child.
Christmas had come and gone, and while the entire household (even Kitsune, who'd managed to finally pull herself together) celebrated with the usual excitement and vigor, a shadow hung over it that couldn't be cast away that all in the boarding felt at one point or another. Shinobu and Su sent them pictures and presents, telling them of their new lives in America in a long letter while also many questions as to how the others were doing. Naru wasn't mentioned, as if her very name was a taboo for awhile, but Motoko could read between the lines and promised herself to write them back telling of how everyone had recuperated from her death thus far. To know that Keitaro was back on his feet greatly cheered them, and though he was even more of a workaholic than ever that they assumed was only normal for the time being.
Alicia, who was still living there, had seemingly faded into the background for the most part, and while she still cooked all the meals only Motoko saw her during any other time of the day on a regular basis. And that was usually at night, where Alicia spent each evening teaching Motoko to spread her senses even further and to rely less and less on her eyes, like a blind person must. No one knew where she went during the day, disappearing and appearing at irregular intervals, and while some did wonder at this as long as their meals appeared on time and they were sure she was still alive and well no one bothered to ask.
"Motoko-san, breakfast is ready," called Kitsune from the doorway to the flat roof, picking up Keiko from the basket as she did. "Aw...good morning, sugar. You are happy to see Kit-chan, aren't you??"
"She's always happy to see anyone," replied Motoko in a gentle, teasing manner as she took the her from Kitsune's arm. "She smiles so much, it's a miracle her face hasn't split yet."
"Same as her mother," replied Kitsune, her face twisting for a moment after she said it before she regained her composure once more. "Eh...gomen, Motoko-san..."
"It's ok," Motoko assured her quietly. "We all miss Naru-chan, Kitsune, you most of all. We are glad to have you back as well though..." She smiled wryly for a moment, then added, "You would have been missed, too, had you tried to join her before your time, Kitsune-san."
"Nice to know someone cares that I'm still around," quipped Kitsune as they started down the hall. "The way Haruka-san works me, you'd think I was her slave or something."
"She does care, and you know it," chided Motoko. "Otherwise she wouldn't have pulled you out of your room like she did. She may be a little rough about showing it, which I'm guilty of as well, but when it counts she's there for you no matter what."
"You rough types don't have to dump me in the hot springs, though, fully clothed," Kitsune pointed out as she opened the door for Motoko, letting her into the kitchen first.
"Morning, Obassan!" called Shinji from where he was shoveling down his breakfast. "Morning Kit-chan!"
"Good morning, Shinji-kun," replied Motoko as she took her seat, Kitsune just giving him a smile while affectionately mussing up his hair before telling Alicia Haruka needed to see her after breakfast and sailing through the door towards the teahouse.
"Obassan?" asked Sizu as Keitaro came in the room with the small girl on his shoulders, picking her up from there to set her in her seat.
"Hai, Sizu-chan?" Motoko looked up from feeding Keiko her sliced banana and bits of toast, her usual breakfast.
"Go to park??"
"After breakfast, if the weather is good."
"YEAH!! Arigato!"
"You're welcome."
"I'll be late from work, Motoko-san," said Keitaro as he gulped down his tea, giving her an apologetic smile as he did. "I know I promised there would be no more overtime, but there's something I must do..."
"It's fine," Motoko assured him with a nod. "I'll just rearrange to call my sister tomorrow. Not that I entirely mind..." She sighed, knowing she had to tell her sister the truth this time about her new role within the Inn and didn't look forward to it in the least.
"Arigato." He finished the hot drink and set it in the sink, bowing to them all from the door before rushing towards the front. "Don't bother waiting up, I don't know when I'll be back!"
"Hai..."
"Let's go," said Alicia as Shinji rushed out of the room to grab his backpack, then headed out the door. She wiped her hands on a towel and removed her apron, sliding on her usual jean jacket before grabbing her cane and heading for the front door to meet up with the small boy. "Do I need to pick up Shinji after school, Motoko-san?"
"No," replied Motoko over her shoulder, still sitting in the kitchen. "Haruka-san is picking him up today to go shopping, his clothes are getting too small again."
"Another growth spurt, hm?" Alicia patted the boy's head as he stood tall to proudly display his new inch and a half of height. "Well, little man, you'd better use those longer legs of yours to walk fast or we're going to be late."
"Hai, Alicia-chan!"
"Later, Motoko."
"Bye."
"Now??" asked Sizu as she finished slurping up her noodles, the sauce all over her face and hands as she gave Motoko a pleading look.
"Silly, you can't go looking like this," Motoko reminded her as she gently wiped the sauce off with a wash rag, Sizu giggling all the while. "There...." She picked up Keiko and grabbed the bag she left packed for such excursions, heading for the door. "Now we can go to the park."
"WHEE!!"
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Kitsune washed her hands at the sink of the Tea House before preparing the ordered drinks, noting the mail that was left on the counter for the Inn. Must remember to take that in this time... Someone had a bill for something or other last time she'd forgotten to bring the mail with her and by the time she had remembered it was too late and their electricity had been shut down for twenty four hours or so. Needless to say, as her electric sake warmer had been useless because of it, she never forgot again.
"You'd better not be touching the liquor back here, Haruka reminded her as she lit another cigarette.
"I'm not," Kitsune called back. "Last time I did, you took away my paycheck and I kind of need it to pay the rent and get more booze..."
"One day's pleasure it not worth a week's misery?"
"Not in this case."
"Wise choice." Haruka turned and began to walk back to the front. "Next time it might be for a month...."
Kitsune grimaced, then muttered under her breath. "Like hell, that old bat cares about me..."
"Careful what you say, Kitsune," Haruka added as she stuck her head back in the room with a slight smile. "You never know who might hear you..."
"Ah...right...gomen."
"It's ok." She paused, then added, "By the way, can you take this up to the Inn real fast? It's for Alicia and she asked for it to be waiting when she got back from school. You can take the mail, too, so you won't forget it later." Seeing as the Tea House had lost it's electricity along with the Inn, Haruka wasn't about to let her make the same mistake twice.
"What about-"
"The green tea and House special?" finished Haruka. "I'll take care of it. Go on, before she gets back." She handed her a sealed box with the mail on top of it, before nudging her out the door.
"Ok!" Kitsune turned and began the long climb up the stairs, wondering what in the world the box could contain...
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"Hello??" Kitsune stood in the front doorway, marveling at how empty the house sounded when there was no one in it.
"Is that you, Kitsune-san?"
Or as close to empty as it ever got...
"Hai, Alicia san." She put the box on the table in front of the couch and the mail beside it. "Haruka-san sent me up with something for you. A box of sorts."
"Arigato, Kitsune-san." Alicia appeared out of the kitchen with a smile on her face. Her shades perched lightly on her nose, as always, reflected Kitsune's face back at herself, but it no longer creeped her out the way it once had. "I was worried she had forgotten..."
"Nope, Haruka may be a stick in the mud sometimes, but she doesn't forget things like that," replied Kitsune with a shrug. "What's in it, anyways? It was sure heavy enough lugging it up the stairs."
"Help me open it and see." Alicia pulled out two crowbars from nowhere and handed one to the surprised foxy lady. After shaking it off, they both put their tools under the nailed lid and pushed as hard as they could. A few minutes passed as the occasional nail popped up slightly, but the rest remained stubbornly in place.
"Man, this thing is stubborn," sighed Kitsune as Alicia called for a break, leaning on the crowbar lightly as the blind woman let go of hers to sit on the coffee table beside it. "I cannot believe it refuses to-" *creeeak* *pop* "AH!!" Kitsune lost her balance and fell as the lid suddenly popped off, landing on her butt as the wooden top landed somewhere nearby. "Ouch."
"At least it's open now," replied Alicia as she helped her to her feet, dusting herself off lightly once she was upright. "Let's see what we've got here..." She began to dig through the packaging paper strips and dumped them to the side, leaving them to pile on the coffee table as she pulled out a green, blue-veined rock she'd never seen before that was barely the size of her hand. "Aha! Just as I thought..."
"That cannot be the only thing that was in there," said Kitsune rather pointedly as she looked at the box again. It was a good foot and a half long and two feet deep. Why put it in so big a container? And a little thing like that couldn't be that heavy..."
"It is," replied Alicia firmly, then asked in confusion. "Why do you say that, though?"
"But...it's so small...and the box is big and was heavy...."
"Hold this for a minute, please." She handed Kitsune the stone, who nearly dropped it as she felt its weight. Her arms began to ach just holding the object while Alicia thoroughly searched the box with her hands and came up with not else but more packing paper that she laid to the side on the table.
"Eh...never mind..."
"It's ok, I understand," replied Alicia, easily taking the rock from Kitsune's hands and tossing it back and forth between her hands lightly as if it weighted nothing at all. "I have be somewhere right now so I'll see you later, ok? Oh, and tell Motoko there's leftovers in the fridge she can reheat for dinner, because I won't be home in time tonight, will you? Arigato!" She disappeared out the door -cane, rock, and all- before Kitsune could reply. The resident alcoholic stood there for a moment, then sighed as she headed back to the Tea House.
"Americans are so strange sometimes."
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Motoko listened to Shinji and Sizu rattle on about their day, only interjecting a comment here or there as she reheated some beef, curry, and vegetables from the day before. She didn't mind making dinner for once for Alicia-san, especially after all the work she did other times when the rest weren't around to see it like fixing leaky pipes and picking up around the Inn.
"What then?" she asked as Shinji drew himself up proudly.
"The sensei said I got the highest grade in the whole class!" he exclaimed with a smile. "On the hardest test yet, too! Can you believe it, Motoko-obassan?"
"I can, considering you've studied enough to pass any test thrown your way," replied Motoko with a nod. "Your father will be very proud of you."
"Do you think if I study hard enough I could get into Tokyo U like the rest of you?"
"I think you can do anything, if you put your mind to it, Shinji-kun."
"Alright!"
"Is dinner ready?" asked Kitsune as she came in and sat down, tweaking the always smiling Keiko's toes along the way. The baby giggled at the touch, and babbled in Kitsune's direction.
"It is now," replied the kendo woman as she set the plates on the table, Haruka appearing a few moments later to join them. Seta and Sarah appeared as well, and were invited to join them as usual for the evening meal.
"It feels odd sitting here without Keitaro and Naru being present," observed Seta as he took a bite of his food. "Mmm...very good, even for being reheated. It's not Shinobu's, though is it?"
"They have a new cook from the States," explained Haruka lightly, toying with a cigarette in one hand that she knew she wouldn't light up until she got out the door. "Alicia Smith."
"Alicia Smith...the name rings a bell, but Smith is rather common over there and I might have met someone on my travels with the same last name," replied Seta with a shrug. "Whoever she is, she knows how to cook."
"How long are you in town for this time, Seta-san?" asked Kitsune as Motoko gave Sarah, who was loading her straw with a spitball, a warning look that the young girl quickly obeyed. "A week? A month, perhaps?"
"Just tonight, actually," replied Seta with his usual, careless grin. "The boat leaves around 7, so we have to get going soon... We've got a whole new crew and everything. I hired the last man this very afternoon. Which I'm glad for, I was worried I wouldn't find a scribe of sorts to go with me. While such a venture does require a lot of brawn, those muscle heads know nothing about the science and detail it requires and bringing along someone who does who can also draw, label, and organize things helps."
"Where to?"
"Somewhere along the Australian coast, actually. Near New Zealand or something like that. Something about a lost civilization of Night Walkers..."
Motoko raised one eyebrow slightly. "Night Walkers?"
"Yes, human beings with reversed eyes." Seta finished his meal with a huge bite and stood up slowly. "Don't ask me what that means, for all the legends say is that they look just like us, humans I mean, but their eyes function better at night for some reason. A few ruins were found down around there with such inscriptions that were the same as a scroll found there. So, we're off to see if there's any truth behind it or just another set of abandoned buildings from some theme park that fell through in the last century or so."
"You've found a lot of those, haven't you?"
"Oh, about twenty two in all."
"Wow...that must get pretty disappointing after awhile."
"Not really." Seta shrugged, continuing to grin as always as Sarah finished her food and jumped on his back. "We get to use their abandoned facilities for free for a few weeks, ne? And you'd be surprised at some of the stuff they leave behind. Perfectly usable, too! Bye!!" He turned and walked out the door, Sarah clinging to his back.
Kitsune sweated as Haruka rose and excused herself, heading for the door so she could finally have her smoke. "Right..."
"Can you get the dishes, Kitsune?" asked Motoko as she rose gracefully, getting the bottle she'd placed in the microwave and picking up Keiko so she could give the baby her final feeding. "Shinji, you need to go finish your homework and Sizu it's time to get ready for bed."
"Sure."
"Now?" asked Sizu as she gave Motoko these big puppy eyes. Unfortunately for her, they never seemed to work.
"No. Up stairs, now."
"Hai, obassan..."
"Will you help me with a problem, please?" asked Shinji as he walked into the main room and pulled out one of his notebooks and opened it to a certain page. "It had something to do with multiplication."
"Bring it to the table and we'll see."
The evening passed as always, Kitsune cleaning the dishes quickly before saying goodnight and heading for her room for a few rounds of sake before she fell asleep. Motoko helped Shinji with his work before sending him off to bed, Sizu already fast asleep in her room where Shinji joined her shortly. Keiko drifted off and was put in her basket in Motoko's room, the kendo woman opting to stay up and catch up on some reading while she had some time to herself. While Keitaro hadn't needed her presence to fall asleep at night anymore, nor a shoulder to cry on all the time, she didn't like either him or Alicia coming home to a dark house and wanted to be there when they arrived home.
The hours passed, her finally getting through the thousand some pages of the book she had left -which was titled '1001 ways to Fight with a Spork' before she realized it was nearly 11pm. Glancing over at the coat rack to make sure she hadn't simply missed their arrival, she noted the still empty hooks and sighed. They should have been back by now, or at least she figured they would have been.
Hoping they were alright, she looked around for the mail and frowned. Kitsune had said it was somewhere here in the main room on a table, but all of the tables were empty except for the coffee table that was still overflowing with a box and packing paper. The foxy lady had said to leave it alone, though, and Motoko doubted it was hidden under all that trash. So where in the world was it...?
The front door suddenly opened, someone slipping inside before shutting it behind them softly. They must have noticed the light on in the room, for they called out tentively, "...hello?"
"Alicia-san?" Motoko recognized the voice and rose quickly. "You're back."
"What are you doing up, Motoko-san?" the blind woman replied in confusion. "I told Kitsune to tell you not to wait up..."
"You know I couldn't do that," replied Motoko lightly. "I hope your time was well spent, wherever it was that you were."
"It was," replied Alicia as she hung up her coat and sank into the chair nearest to it. "Ah...I feel like I've walked to Tokyo and back...Gomen that you had to wait up so late, Motoko, and for leaving this mess on the coffee table. Here, let me clean it up." She began to put the packing paper back in the box, Motoko helping to get the scraps she missed. "I'm glad Urashima-san got back earlier than planned, though. And you didn't tell me he found a new job. Did he take the kids off your hands for awhile when he got back, though?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Motoko, frowning as she paused bent over the box with paper strips in each hand. "Keitaro hasn't been home since he left this morning. That is unless he got past me and wore his shoes and coat into his room, but I doubt it. And what new job? I thought he liked his position with the Animation Company."
"Really? That's strange..." Alicia rubbed her chin as her hand encountered the mail among the bits of paper strips left. "Oh, and here's the mail. But I wonder where he could be. Or why he wouldn't tell you something like that." She handed Motoko the letters, who thanked her and sat down to sort through them while she kept picking up the few bits of packing paper left.
"You mean he wasn't at work?"
"No. I was over that way, so I stopped by about 10:30 to see if he wanted to ride back with me on the train or if he knew when he was going to be back at all. The clerk at the desk who's always there -I'm fairly sure he sleeps there at night, poor man- said Keitaro-san had left around 2 pm or so. Maybe earlier, he wasn't sure, and had handed in his resignation saying he'd found employment elsewhere. He'd then walked out with his briefcase towards the train and hadn't been found since then."
"The baka, he's probably gone and gotten himself into a fix with someone," murmured Motoko as she worriedly finished sorting through all the letters and magazines they'd gotten. Setting Kitsune's aside, she handed Alicia a few thick envelopes with her name on it before going over her own. A note from her sister that she'd read later...a bill for her last purchase at the sword shop down the street...a notification from the clan elders that she was due home for a visit...a letter from Keitaro...another Law firm asking for her to hire on as a- wait a minute!
She went back to the letter with Keitaro's name on it, tearing it open and reading it to herself as the realization of what had happened began to dawn on her. "He didn't..."
"He didn't what?" Alicia was on her feet and at her side in a flash. "Motoko, if you'd read it aloud, please...??"
"Oh! Right..." She began to read it aloud, disbelief tearing through her mind though she knew in her heart it was true.
Motoko-san:
Gomen. I will say that now as I am sorry that things had to happen this way, for I had no choice in the matter. Or, rather, I did have a choice I was just too cowardly to make any choice but this one. Again, gomen. I have hired on with Seta-san for his latest dig, though he doesn't know it is me yet. And by the time you read this I'll probably be a thousand miles away. Please don't come after me, for I need some time to think. Naru-san said a lot to me before she died, and I cannot truly continue with my life there as myself until I've had time to sort it out away from you all.
Gomen, again, for I've made you the legal guardian of my children, Motoko-san, until I return or they turn 18 years of age. I shouldn't be gone that long, for I will return someday, I swear. But if something were to happen to me, that is the way things are set. The only thing left to make it final is for you to sign the papers at my lawyers office. The address is at the bottom of the letter, and he will be waiting for you tomorrow. If he doesn't receive word from you within a week he will contact Hina-san of it and she has agreed to return home and take care of the children for you, and you will be released from our contract.
Gomen for a third time, for I have also made you manager of Hinata-sou while I am not present. Again, the papers are at the office waiting to be signed. And, again, if you do not wish to take such a responsibility, I understand and Hina-san has agreed to return and cover that as well. It is your choice.
Perhaps it seems like I'm saying I'm sorry too much, but I feel as if I can't say it enough. It shames me to abandon the children and yourself after all you've done for us, more so than the times I ran away before. If you will do nothing else for me in light of what I've done for you, don't follow me. Don't come get me. Don't try to find me. I will come home when I'm ready, I swear.
Urashima Keitaro.
Alicia slipped away as Motoko continued to stare at the letter in her hands, giving the woman a pat on the shoulder before disappearing into her room. Sitting back slowly, her mind torn between fury, sadness, understanding, a feeling of abandonment and that this all must be a joke somehow; she sat there continuing to stare until her eyes closed of their own accord and she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
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The sun was high over head as Motoko wearily trudged back up the steps to Hinata-sou, the legal documents in her bag seemingly weighing more than the wrapped blade on her back. The signing of all of them had been an emotional ordeal, to say the least, and she still wasn't sure she had done the right thing. Perhaps it would have been best to let Hina-san come home and settle matters for her...
"Obassan!!" Motoko smiled slightly as Sizu appeared at the top of the steps, during a flying leap at her, from which Motoko easily caught her and gave the young girl a hug.
"Sizu-chan. I hope you were good for Alicia-chan," she said lightly as she switched the girl to her shoulders and they continued up the walk.
"Lots a fun! Muchiko-chan here too!"
"Muchiko?"
"Konichiwa, Obassan," greeted Muchiko as she appeared at Motoko's side with a huge grin on her face. "Mama said you'd be here soon."
"Chiko-chan, what are you doing here?" asked Motoko, too stunned to ask anything other than that. "I mean, normally you call ahead of time..."
"Call it a 'spur of the moment' visit," explained Tsurako as she appeared at the top of the steps just as Motoko at the two little girls reached it. "Konichiwa, Motoko-chan."
"Konichiwa, Onnesan," replied Motoko with a nod as she set Sizu down and shooed the two towards the house where Alicia was standing with Keiko in her arms.
"I'll watch them, don't worry," the blind woman called as she followed the two inside, asking them to come into the kitchen and help her with some cookies to their delight.
"That one is much more than she seems," commented Tsurako as she sat elegantly on the bench beside the front door. "However, she it not the reason for my trip."
"I did not think she was," replied Motoko rather dryly as she sat beside her sister and set her katana and bag behind her. While she still held a great respect and love for her sister, the one topic of she consistently pursued when she showed up was beginning to get a little old. The older woman had accepted Motoko's request to stay longer on account of helping with Keitaro's children at first, but she'd probably figured he had recovered enough by now to take care of things again and would resume her argument once more.
"You know why I have come again, then?" Tsurako gave Motoko a look.
"I would hope only for a friendly visit, but I doubt it is such." Motoko returned the look with one of her own.
"I had come to ask the weak and cowardly Urashima to let you free of your contract, but he has already done it for me," replied Tsurako as she held up the letter Motoko had received the night before. "No doubt you went and told his lawyers to pass the news on to his grandmother, for I knew you would return to us soon when you could honorably do so."
"I am not coming home, onnesan," replied Motoko softly as she bowed her head and pulled out the papers from the bag. "Nor will I until he has. The children need me, and I will stay here and take care of them as I swore I would do to Naru upon her deathbed. Gomen, that I did not tell you about it sooner, but it is true. I could not return home honorably if I did other wise ever again."
"But...he had things set so you could..." argued Motoko's sister in a low voice, keeping herself calm though she knew a storm raged beneath that calm and placid surface.
"He does not know of my promise to his late wife," replied Motoko simply. "Or he would not have set things so."
"It is his own fault that his children are left alone. It is not your place to step in as their guardian after all you have already done for him."
"It is my only place to do so after swearing to take care of them always."
"He is taking advantage of your honor and your love for them."
"He takes advantage of nothing, because he knows nothing except that I love them as much as he does and that he trusts only me with such precious beings as they. Tsurako, think about it, if something were to happen to you, what would happen to Muchiko?"
"That is different," countered the woman automatically. "You are Muchiko's teacher, the one who will train her in the sword. If I die, it is only natural that she goes and lives with the one whom she will reside with most of the time anyways."
"I could never live a balanced and honorable life knowing I had abandoned these children," replied Motoko firmly as she looked up and met her sister's gaze head on. "If I must return home, it will not be until their father returns."
"And if he dies, being the foolish man he is?"
"Then I will return home with the children at my side," replied Motoko slowly. "And adopt them as my own until they reach the legal age upon which they can decide to stay with us and be initiated into the clan, or to leave and make their lives elsewhere."
"Very well." Tsurako sighed and looked past her sister to the sky, then smiled. "I guess that if you were anything less than as honorable as you are, I would be disappointed in you. Gomen, Motoko-chan."
"It's alright, sister," replied Motoko with a relieved smile of her own. "It is you I learned honor from to begin with, after all."
"That is true." The two sisters let the issue drop for the first time in years and began to gossip of old friends and happenings inside and out of the clan itself. Marriages, babies that had been born, new issues that arose, and a beloved elder's death, all of which Motoko quickly absorbed before telling her sister of the other happenings within the Inn besides Keitaro's sudden disappearance and everyone's different reaction to it.
The sun began to set when they finally finished their talk, Tsurako summoning Muchiko to her side before they left.
"All's well, I take it?" asked Alicia as she stood beside Motoko, who watched her sister leave with a smile.
"Very well," replied Motoko as she took Keiko from the blind woman. "Arigato, Alicia-san. I will make this up to you..."
"How about just keeping your end of the promise with Keitaro-san, hm?" she suggested as she strolled back into the house, leaving Sizu and Keiko with her outside as she went to make dinner. "I think you'll have enough on your plate with that alone."
Motoko sighed, the smiled wearily. "You're probably right..."
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More time passed, the winter melding into spring, which then unfolded into summer. May found Motoko up to her elbows in dirty diapers, PTA meetings, playing with the kids, and keeping the Inn together. With only the six of them living there now, it was more empty than ever and often times when the kendo woman was alone completing one task or another she'd wish for the days when you could hear Su-chan's laughter echoing down the halls, Shinobu's quiet singing as she cooked dinner, Naru's sweet greetings to the rest of the tenants or even Keitaro's screams as Naru gave him a one way ticket to the stratosphere for being a pervert. Not that she could remember the last time that had happened since Keitaro had proposed to her, his inherit clumsiness had partially faded sometime around then. Partially being the operative, there.
Motoko sat in the main room shuffling through the main as she usually did right about then, Keiko lying on the floor chewing on her fingers happily as Muchiko -who was there for the summer- and Sizu ran around in the back with Alicia. Shinji would be arriving home any moment with Haruka, his last day of school ending for the year. The front door opened just as she checked the clock, figuring it was about time.
"Shinji-kun! How was your last day of school?"
"Why don't you ask him when he gets home, Motoko-chan?" another voice replied behind her as someone glomped on her from behind.
"Su-chan!" Motoko was up on her feet in an instant, the young foreign woman wrapping herself firmly about her trunk. "Ack...! It's good to see you too, Su-chan."
"Motoko-san!" The kendo woman found herself tackled by another set of arms as the normally quiet and reserved Shinobu threw her arms around Motoko's neck as well and buried her face in her shoulder.
"It's so good to see both of you," sighed Motoko as she hugged them both, the pulled them from her gently so she could inspect them. Su was the same as ever, with her white-blonde hair tied back from her face and wearing the short skirts and white shirts she liked so much. Shinobu had matured some, though, and while there was still an air of childish innocence about her she seemed to have gained some wisdom and spine from her travel overseas. "I trust you are both well?"
"Very," replied Shinobu with a smile that faltered slightly. "Well...we're fine, yes, but...we wanted to ask for a favor...?"
"To see Naru's grave," added Su in an unusually soft voice, bowing her head slightly.
"We do wish we could have come sooner..."
"Your studies were more important at the time, as Naru-san would have said herself," insisted Motoko as she scooped up Keiko then called to Alicia that she'd be gone for awhile and was taking Keiko with her. "Come, we'll go now while it's still light outside.
"Who was that?" asked Su as they walked along together, Shinobu holding Keiko and cooing over how much she'd grown since the last time she'd seen her.
"Alicia-san, a new tenant from America," explained Motoko as she led them around a corner, the temple and graveyard coming into view. "She's been taking over Shinobu's duties while you both were gone."
"Is she a student or something?"
"I don't know," admitted Motoko with a shrug. "She claims to be a student at an Academy for the Blind, but she keeps her own counsel, and seeing as the meals always arrive on time no one seems to mind."
"Do you think she'd mind if I took a few meals every now and then?" asked Shinobu timidly. "I mean, it is her choice since she is the new cook..."
"I'm sure she wouldn't," Motoko assured her with a shake of her head. "Alicia-san is very understanding, and will probably be more than happy to split the work with you. Perhaps you could even teach each other something new, right?"
"I never thought of that..." Shinobu considered her words while Su began to talk about the intricate details of her latest project: The Ultimate Mecha Tama 6000! While she was lost for the most part, Motoko nodded politely at intervals and paid as close attention as she could, though in the end she knew even less than she had in the beginning.
Together, they walked up the steps of the temple and then around the back, standing before Naru's grave as Shinobu and Su were given time to shed the last of their tears at her final resting place.
"I can't believe she won't be there tonight when we sit down for dinner," murmured Shinobu as she leaned against Motoko, the kendo woman offering what comfort she could.
"Or Keitaro," added Su, who had been extremely disappointed when the news of his disappearance came through. "It will be so quiet without the two of them around. Are you sure you don't want me to try and track him down, Motoko-chan?"
Motoko shook her head, turning away from them both as she began to walk back towards the front of the temple. "He...Urashima-san will return when he's ready. The only thing we can do is wait."
"But all those times before...he needed to be dragged back!"
"Those times were things of his own doing, failings he could have possibly prevented. Now..." Motoko paused, and glanced back at Naru's grave, a single tear falling down her face. "None of this was his fault, and if he feels he needs time apart from us to deal with it, I shall, for once, grant it to him."
Shinobu sighed, bowing once more to the grave before she walked towards the front as well. "I miss them both."
Su bowed as well before joining them sadly. "I do too." She leaned on Motoko, who'd taken Keiko from Shinobu. "Are you sure Keitaro-san will return someday?"
"Has Urashima-san ever broken a promise before?" asked Motoko slowly.
"No..."
"Then I do not believe he will start now. Urashima-san will return again someday."
"When do you think it will be?" asked Shinobu as they headed back towards the house.
"I don't know," admitted Motoko as she resettled the now napping babe in her arms and looked up to the sky. "That is something only time will tell."
:-@-:-@-:-@-:-@-:-@-:-@-:-@-:-@-:-@-:-@-:@-:-@-:-@-:-@-:-@-:
*Somewhere in an Island near Australia*
Keitaro looked at the sky as he took a pause from his work, an overwhelming sense of sorrow and self-loathing taking hold of him for a moment.
"Naru-san....Motoko-san....gomen, for now I've failed you both..."
~*~&~*~&~*~&~*~&~*~&~*~&~*~&~*~&~*~&~*~&~*~&~*~
And there's the second part. A little sad, like the last one. The third one will be less angst-centered. That I promise. I know a few characters might seem slightly OCC, give me an idea on how near/far I am from getting it right, this is my one and only Love Hina fic after all. Please review, it's the kind thing to do!
~Crosseyedbutterfly~