Love Hina: A Manlier Side?
by Bug-chan
CHAPTER 2 -- THE NEXT MORNING
"Urashima-kun?"
"Myu?"
Keitaro woke up groggily and tried to get his glasses that were sitting on the low table. He put them on and looked at the source of the voice, or rather, voices, and saw Mutsumi and Tama looking down at him. "Morning, Urashima-kun," she greeted him with that ever-perpetual smile. "Myu!" Tama greeted, lifting her wing/leg.
Keitaro slowly got up into a sitting position. "Morning Mutsumi-san, Tama," he returned their greeting. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes. If you don't mind, I will be going back to my home," she said.
"Please. Thank you for coming over last night," he said as he ushered the anemic out the inn. Once he saw her go without any fainting spells that plagued her, he headed back to the living room to check up on the ladies. He and Tama came and took all their now-lukewarm towels and felt their foreheads to see if they were still overheating and to their relief, everyone had cooled down. 'Yokkata...' the kanririn sighed in relief. He took all the towels, put them in the bowls and took them back. He then headed for the kitchen, hoping that Shinobu cooked extra last night and found some leftovers covered in wrap inside the fridge. He then microwaved them, took them out and put them along with numerous dishes, bowls and utensils, not to mention a bunch of bananas, and headed back for the living room. He went back again and boiled some (or in this case, a lot of) water for tea for everyone. A few minutes later, he brought the kettle to the living room and placed it next to the food along with the cups with tea. Then he picked up one of the books he brought along from last night and started reading and digesting its information, while taking a look at the girls every now and then to see for any changes in condition. 'In 1991, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic broke up into 15 countries. They are Russia, Ukraine, Esto--' he read to himself until six different-pitched groans interrupted him. He looked up to see all the six girls get up very groggily and not knowing what was going on.
"Ah, you've waken up," he pleasantly greeted them. "How are you feeling right now?"
"Like crap," Kitsune answered. The rest of the girls grunted in agreement.
"Yeah, I'd guess," Keitaro sympathized. "After all, you did faint due to staying in the hot springs for too long you know." The girls did not seem to hear it, and if they did, they didn't show any reaction...yet. "Well, it's good to see you awake and since you are now awake, I shall be going back to my room to study a bit more. Breakfast is sitting on the table right there, thankfully Shinobu cooked more than needed last night. Don't try to overexert yourselves since you are still not fully recovered." At this point, all the girls were less groggy and more responsive, except for Suu and Sara, who crashed back and Keitaro grabbed his books and started heading towards his room. Just as he was about to disappear upstairs, he stuck his head low and turned towards the girls. "And one last thing, your clothes are still in the changing room." He then continued towards his room.
At that, the girls looked at the stairs in confusion with one thought in their heads, 'Our clothes are still in the changing room?' They then looked down at what they were wearing and saw a robe instead of a shirt or some other piece of clothing they always wore. Motoko went one step further and felt her chest to see if it was wrapped. It wasn't. She looked in her robe and lo and behold, no long white cloth that wrapped around it. Her confusion turned to rage at that point. "Urashima," she growled softly as she got up and headed towards the unsuspecting kanririn's room.
"Motoko-chan, wait!" Naru tried to say but it came out rather softly due to her tired and feeble condition. Motoko didn't hear it and continued her way up towards Keitaro. She walked with large strides and came in front of a room that had a little signpost above the door that said "Kanririn". She burst the door open with a bang and saw Keitaro, back facing her and hunched on a book, apparently oblivious toward her presence. She interpreted that as being ignored, and it further angered her.
"Why you lowlife, perverted, sick MALE!" she shouted as she ran towards him with a fist ready to connect. He then got up and turned around, thinking of getting out to get some fresh air and check up on the girls again. As he fully turned around, he saw Motoko run up to him, and suddenly fall forward.
"Shimatta!" he cursed as he ran forward and grabbed hold of Motoko as she fell. As he stuck out his arms, she fell down and her armpits made contact with his outstretched arms which stopped her fall. His entire forearms, along with Motoko, was draped in long, smooth black hair. "Motoko! Are you all right?" he asked, worried. Motoko lifted up her head, feeling extremely tired again, looked at Keitaro's face and eyes and could only find sincerity and concern.
"Urashima..." she whispered, sleep taking over her very quickly. "I was wrong...forgive me..." she trailed as her eyes closed and her chest started going up and down with a steady rhythm. Keitaro looked at her with confusion, not understanding what she meant, then gave it no thought as he hooked his left arm underneath her knees, slung her left arm around his neck, placed his right arm underneath her back and picked her up. He took her downstairs to where all the futons were, not really wanting to set another one up in Motoko's room.
Meanwhile, the girls downstairs were waiting for any loud noises that were to emanate from upstairs, for once feeling sympathy for the kanririn. They were surprised to not here anything: no screams, no broken wood, no broken walls, no technique, no nothing. Their surprise only grew when they saw Keitaro come down with a sleeping Motoko on his arms; in fact, they were so stunned, Naru didn't jump to perverted conclusions, Kitsune didn't tease him and Shinobu didn't cry over his proximity to a different girl. They could only watch him as Tama, who was idling around with the girls, lifted the blanket to let Motoko in the futon and placed it back on her. Keitaro got up, smiled slightly and sighed as he shook his head. "Motoko, Motoko...stubborn as always," he said to himself. Then he turned to the others. "Remember, don't overdo yourself," he reminded them with a smile, and headed back to his room to continue studying, leaving the girls in some trance. They broke out of it when a door closed shut upstairs.
"Was that...Keitaro?" Naru asked, quite uncertain and not believing her own eyes.
"Yes, that definitely was Keitaro. He was..." Kitsune trailed, hesitation apparent.
"He was what?" Naru asked her longtime friend, quite curious. She was then surpised to see her fidget a bit, which was most unusual of her, then blush.
"Manly," the short-haired woman answered, blushing even more. "And it's very attractive," she said, this time quite softly.
"Aaauuuuuuu!" Shinobu moaned. 'Kitsune now wants Sempai more than before!' she panicked. Before Naru could get Kitsune to elaborate, a growl emenated from the stomachs of the three awake girls.
"Oh well, time to eat," Kitsune said as she and the other two approached the food sitting on the table and started eating it in silence. However, what was going on in each of the girl's heads was anything but silent.
'Keitaro...what happened to you?' Naru thought as she munched on some rice. 'You've lost your perverted and clumsy self and it's so much better but...' she trailed off. 'But I miss your old self, like how you always stumble in to catch me in compromising situations...' her eyes then widened and she blushed heavily. 'WHAT WAS I THINKING?????' and gasped, not realizing that she still had some rice in her mouth. A grain of rice flew into her windpipe causing her to choke and cough violently.
"Naru! Shinobu, get her something to drink!" Kitsune yelled. Shinobu nodded and poured some of the now-lukewarm water into a glass and handed it over to the coughing girl, who took it and downed it in a gulp. It did the job and she calmed down.
"I'm all right, I choked on some rice," she said, now under control. Both girls sat down in relief and continued eating. Naru stopped her train of thoughts and focused solely on eating and making sure the food went down the correct tube until she was done.
Shinobu's train of thoughts took off now. 'Sempai...ever since I've seen you, I've always admired you for being a Toudai student. Then I admired you for being very hardworking and not giving up. Now I admire you because you are more masculine than before.' The shy middle-school girl stopped eating and blushed like a stop sign as well as drop her jaw. 'Oh no! What am I thinking???' Naru and Kitsune saw the young resident in a very strange position: a spoon of food an inch away from her open mouth, her eyes wide and her face red.
"Oi, Shinobu, you OK there?" Kitsune asked, waving her hand in front of Shinobu's eyes. No response. Then she just took her spoon of food and put it down, but accidentally dropped the spoon, creating a *clang*. This snapped the young girl and she looked around.
"Huh?" she asked confused.
"You all right? You're blushing," Naru said, with a hint of concern.
'Oh no! I'm blushing!!!' Shinobu mentally panicked. She put her hands on her cheeks and felt the heat. "Oh no!" she yelled, then looked at the two other residents. Naru and Kitsune only looked back with concern and confusion, but Shinobu's head went into overdrive. "No! I'm sorry!" she yelled as she fled from the living room towards her own room, ignoring her lack of strength.
"Shinobu-chan!" Naru yelled after the running blue-haired girl but to no avail. "Mou..." she sighed as she continued eating. The rest of the meal passed by without incident and the two ladies took the dishes and the leftover food to the kitchen. Just then Keitaro came by.
"You two look much better!" Keitaro complimented the two women in the kitchen. He grabbed a drink from the fridge and walked outside to get some fresh air for about a few minutes, and headed back inside. He saw the two of them folding up the unoccupied futons and blankets and quickly went over to them.
"Whoa whoa," he said, waving his hands. Naru and Kitsune looked at him somewhat bemused. "Let me take care of that, you ladies go outside and get some fresh air." They didn't let go of the futons. "Here, let go," Keitaro said as he gently released Naru's and Kitsune's grips on their futons, "and," he then got behind the girls and put one hand on each girl's back, "go outside and breathe the fresh air." he finished as he gently pushed them towards the entrance, and finally out the door. The girls were too confused to put up any form of resistance and just complied. Seconds later, they found themselves standing outside the inn.
"What just happened?" Naru asked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Kitsune answered. She thought for a moment, then said, "Let's head down to the cafe, and ask Haruka-san. After all, he is her nephew." Naru nodded and both headed for the cafe with a long mental list of questions to ask. A few minutes later, they reached the cafe, saw it to be quiet as usual and sat at a table, waiting for Haruka to come out.
'Hmm, I thought I saw a couple people walk in,' Haruka thought as she saw two people walk in from the corner of the eye from the kitchen. 'Oh well, doesn't hurt to have customers,' she said as she prepared two cups and a kettle of tea and put them on a tray. She carried the tray outside and saw none other than Kitsune and Naru. "Naru? Kitsune?" she asked, surprised to see them down at the cafe.
"Umm...Haruka-san, can we talk for a minute?" Naru asked. Haruka continued looking at her, as if asking the younger girl to elaborate. "It's about Keitaro."
Haruka's interest piqued for a second, then she returned to her neutral face. "Is he being a pervert and you want him out?" she asked, slightly amused.
"Actually, it's about his perversion," Kitsune started, then paused. "He's not perverted anymore."
The short-haired woman's eyes went up. "Oh?" she asked, her voice betraying no surprise or other emotion.
"Uh huh," Naru nodded. "And he's not clumsy anymore too."
This time, the ever-perpetual cigarette in Haruka's mouth fell down, her mouth wide, her face betraying outright surprise. The two tenants saw her reaction, and would've laughed if they were under different circumstances, but just nodded solemnly in agreement, not suprised at seeing her reaction.
"In fact, I suggest you come up with us to observe him for yourself. Seeing it will be more of a shock than just us telling you," Kitsune said, to which the older woman nodded, took off her apron and followed the two tenants to the inn. When they walked inside, they saw the living room empty and clean, not even the sleeping Sara, Suu or Motoko were visible. "Eh?"
"What happened to the girls?" Naru asked.
"Let's check Motoko's room first, then Suu's," Haruka suggested. The three ladies headed for the kendo girl's room and went inside. There, they found a seemingly undisturbed Motoko sleeping. When they saw this, the girls (Naru and Kitsune) didn't know whether to feel relief or confusion. This only grew when they walked into Suu's room to see Suu and Sara asleep, apparently undisturbed as well. They walked out and went towards the stairs, confused as heck. "I suggest we ask Keitaro about this."
"Somebody called me?" Keitaro asked as he came out of his room.
His sudden voice surprised all three ladies. "Speak of the devil," Naru whispered to herself, then asked him, "Did you move the girls to their rooms?"
"Yup, they'd get disturbed too much if they were left in the living room anyways," the kanririn reasoned. "Oh, Haruka-san, didn't notice you were here just now," he said somewhat sheepishly.
'Wait a minute, did he just call me Haruka-san? No obaasan?' Haruka thought to herself. Secretly, she had a fist ready to send the moment he mentioned "obaasan". 'Naru and Kitsune are right, something's different about him.'
"Uhh, Haruka-san? Are you there?" Keitaro asked, a tad bit concerned, as he waved his hand up and down to get her attention. Haruka snapped back to reality, faced him and nodded, slightly embarrased at her temporary lapse. "Phew, we lost you for a second there," he sighed in relief. He then turned to Naru. "Narusegawa, you look just like new now," he said, noticing the lack of fatigue in her face. "Why don't you go study now? After all, we don't have much time till the exams take place again," he said, then turned around to head back.
"Wait!" Naru yelled. Keitaro turned around to face the long-haired girl and waited patiently for her question. "Do you mind if I study with you?" she asked, blushing. 'I know I don't do this, but I have to see just how much he changed,' she mentally rationalized.
Keitaro's face changed into a slightly happy one with a small grin in his face. "That'd be really nice! I'll bring my books up to your room shortly," he replied and went back into his room.
Once Keitaro was out of earshot, Kitsune turned to Naru. "So now you definitely have the hots for him eh?" she asked with that sly grin of hers. Naru blanched, then blushed.
"N-n-n-no! I don't!" she stammered out. "I just want to see if he really changed or not!"
"Suuuuuuuuuuuuure," Kitsune said. Haruka just grinned in amusement.
A few minutes later, both ronins were in Naru's room, sitting across each other on the low table. Both were studying, but rather different materials. Keitaro was studying intently his math, while Naru was studying the said male. 'It's like that night, when he zoned out,' she thought. 'There has to be a way to bring him back to his old self.' She sat there for a minute trying to think of a way to get him to be a pervert, then gave up. 'Might as well study, then think later.' Just like Keitaro, she started intently studying her book materials. For a couple hours, there was total silence as the two of them read and read and digested the information coming out of the books. Then an idea struck Naru. 'That's right! Let's see if he's going to kiss again!' She pretended to read her books, then just fell backwards. She started to snore, even though she was fully awake and aware. However, the snoring went on for about ten minutes and she did not detect any movement or whatever. "Keitaro..." she whispered, hoping that would catch his attention.
It did. He snapped out of his books, thinking he heard his name being called. He looked around for a second and was about to go back when he heard it again, just as softly. "Keitaro..." He looked across the table to see Naru sleeping (or so he thought).
"Maybe I was wrong at suggesting that she study. Guess these hot springs are quite dangerous," he said to himself, fully unaware that Naru was awake and listening to everything. "Oh well, at that rate she's gonna get a cold, with only a flimsy robe like that." He got up, walked over to where he put her futon and blanket, picked up a pillow and blanket and brought it over. He gently lifted her head and placed the pillow underneath it. He then spread the blanket on top of her.
Meanwhile, it took Naru all her willpower not to burst out and send him flying as usual. She had to make sure that he was changed but she was running a risk. 'What if suddenly he makes a perverted move?' she thought to herself. That alone was almost enough to snap her eyes open, but what he said next stopped her dead in her tracks.
"Gomen ne, Narusegawa. I suggested that you study just hours after you wake up from your fainting spell. At least you don't have a fever anymore," he said again as he felt her forehead. He then removed some random strands of hair covering her face, and went back to his side of the low table.
'He...didn't try to kiss me like that time before,' Naru's head was by now no longer processing coherent thoughts. Instead, it was more like random words that clashed against each other trying to be thought out. She then shook her head hard and cleared her head of those thoughts. 'All right then, time for plan B.' Naru slowly got up into a sitting position and saw Keitaro working away again. "Umm...Keitaro?"
He lifted his eyes. "Hai?"
"Did I fall asleep?" she asked with some uncertainty for effect.
"Hai, though not for long. Do you want me to leave? Because you still look a bit tired," he said with a tad bit of concern.
"No, no, I'm quite fine," she waved him off. "Let's go back to studying, OK?"
"Hai," he agreed and dove right back into the books.
'This should really show whether he's a pervert just acing cool or not,' Naru thought as she slowly got up. "Oh Keitaro?" she called out with a tone of seduction as she undid the first two buttons of her shirt. I placed my fingers in the third button to start undoing it when he looked up, and he did look up. But only for a second before she had the chance to fully undo it. She stood there, dumbfounded, with her shirt a bit open, looking down at what seems to be an unreadable Keitaro. He read a few more pages, then closed his book and gathered all his study materials. Just as he got up with his books under one arm, he said, "Narusegawa?"
"H-hai?" Naru asked, shaking out of her reverie.
"You know what you did wrong?" he asked, again in an unreadable tone. He approached her.
"I don't understand," Naru said, very confused and not knowing where Keitaro was going with this.
Then, without another word, using his free arm, he grabbed Naru from behind her back, pulled her into him, and gave her a kiss smack on the lips. Naru, too shocked to do anything, just let herself be pulled into it and didn't react to the set of lips on hers. Keitaro held the kiss for about ten seconds, and finally let go of her, who staggered a bit before regaining her footing.
"THAT is how you seduce someone," he said, then walked out the door.
A/N -- I rushed through this one, so I understand if it doesn't sound nice. But anyways, R/R.
by Bug-chan
CHAPTER 2 -- THE NEXT MORNING
"Urashima-kun?"
"Myu?"
Keitaro woke up groggily and tried to get his glasses that were sitting on the low table. He put them on and looked at the source of the voice, or rather, voices, and saw Mutsumi and Tama looking down at him. "Morning, Urashima-kun," she greeted him with that ever-perpetual smile. "Myu!" Tama greeted, lifting her wing/leg.
Keitaro slowly got up into a sitting position. "Morning Mutsumi-san, Tama," he returned their greeting. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes. If you don't mind, I will be going back to my home," she said.
"Please. Thank you for coming over last night," he said as he ushered the anemic out the inn. Once he saw her go without any fainting spells that plagued her, he headed back to the living room to check up on the ladies. He and Tama came and took all their now-lukewarm towels and felt their foreheads to see if they were still overheating and to their relief, everyone had cooled down. 'Yokkata...' the kanririn sighed in relief. He took all the towels, put them in the bowls and took them back. He then headed for the kitchen, hoping that Shinobu cooked extra last night and found some leftovers covered in wrap inside the fridge. He then microwaved them, took them out and put them along with numerous dishes, bowls and utensils, not to mention a bunch of bananas, and headed back for the living room. He went back again and boiled some (or in this case, a lot of) water for tea for everyone. A few minutes later, he brought the kettle to the living room and placed it next to the food along with the cups with tea. Then he picked up one of the books he brought along from last night and started reading and digesting its information, while taking a look at the girls every now and then to see for any changes in condition. 'In 1991, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic broke up into 15 countries. They are Russia, Ukraine, Esto--' he read to himself until six different-pitched groans interrupted him. He looked up to see all the six girls get up very groggily and not knowing what was going on.
"Ah, you've waken up," he pleasantly greeted them. "How are you feeling right now?"
"Like crap," Kitsune answered. The rest of the girls grunted in agreement.
"Yeah, I'd guess," Keitaro sympathized. "After all, you did faint due to staying in the hot springs for too long you know." The girls did not seem to hear it, and if they did, they didn't show any reaction...yet. "Well, it's good to see you awake and since you are now awake, I shall be going back to my room to study a bit more. Breakfast is sitting on the table right there, thankfully Shinobu cooked more than needed last night. Don't try to overexert yourselves since you are still not fully recovered." At this point, all the girls were less groggy and more responsive, except for Suu and Sara, who crashed back and Keitaro grabbed his books and started heading towards his room. Just as he was about to disappear upstairs, he stuck his head low and turned towards the girls. "And one last thing, your clothes are still in the changing room." He then continued towards his room.
At that, the girls looked at the stairs in confusion with one thought in their heads, 'Our clothes are still in the changing room?' They then looked down at what they were wearing and saw a robe instead of a shirt or some other piece of clothing they always wore. Motoko went one step further and felt her chest to see if it was wrapped. It wasn't. She looked in her robe and lo and behold, no long white cloth that wrapped around it. Her confusion turned to rage at that point. "Urashima," she growled softly as she got up and headed towards the unsuspecting kanririn's room.
"Motoko-chan, wait!" Naru tried to say but it came out rather softly due to her tired and feeble condition. Motoko didn't hear it and continued her way up towards Keitaro. She walked with large strides and came in front of a room that had a little signpost above the door that said "Kanririn". She burst the door open with a bang and saw Keitaro, back facing her and hunched on a book, apparently oblivious toward her presence. She interpreted that as being ignored, and it further angered her.
"Why you lowlife, perverted, sick MALE!" she shouted as she ran towards him with a fist ready to connect. He then got up and turned around, thinking of getting out to get some fresh air and check up on the girls again. As he fully turned around, he saw Motoko run up to him, and suddenly fall forward.
"Shimatta!" he cursed as he ran forward and grabbed hold of Motoko as she fell. As he stuck out his arms, she fell down and her armpits made contact with his outstretched arms which stopped her fall. His entire forearms, along with Motoko, was draped in long, smooth black hair. "Motoko! Are you all right?" he asked, worried. Motoko lifted up her head, feeling extremely tired again, looked at Keitaro's face and eyes and could only find sincerity and concern.
"Urashima..." she whispered, sleep taking over her very quickly. "I was wrong...forgive me..." she trailed as her eyes closed and her chest started going up and down with a steady rhythm. Keitaro looked at her with confusion, not understanding what she meant, then gave it no thought as he hooked his left arm underneath her knees, slung her left arm around his neck, placed his right arm underneath her back and picked her up. He took her downstairs to where all the futons were, not really wanting to set another one up in Motoko's room.
Meanwhile, the girls downstairs were waiting for any loud noises that were to emanate from upstairs, for once feeling sympathy for the kanririn. They were surprised to not here anything: no screams, no broken wood, no broken walls, no technique, no nothing. Their surprise only grew when they saw Keitaro come down with a sleeping Motoko on his arms; in fact, they were so stunned, Naru didn't jump to perverted conclusions, Kitsune didn't tease him and Shinobu didn't cry over his proximity to a different girl. They could only watch him as Tama, who was idling around with the girls, lifted the blanket to let Motoko in the futon and placed it back on her. Keitaro got up, smiled slightly and sighed as he shook his head. "Motoko, Motoko...stubborn as always," he said to himself. Then he turned to the others. "Remember, don't overdo yourself," he reminded them with a smile, and headed back to his room to continue studying, leaving the girls in some trance. They broke out of it when a door closed shut upstairs.
"Was that...Keitaro?" Naru asked, quite uncertain and not believing her own eyes.
"Yes, that definitely was Keitaro. He was..." Kitsune trailed, hesitation apparent.
"He was what?" Naru asked her longtime friend, quite curious. She was then surpised to see her fidget a bit, which was most unusual of her, then blush.
"Manly," the short-haired woman answered, blushing even more. "And it's very attractive," she said, this time quite softly.
"Aaauuuuuuu!" Shinobu moaned. 'Kitsune now wants Sempai more than before!' she panicked. Before Naru could get Kitsune to elaborate, a growl emenated from the stomachs of the three awake girls.
"Oh well, time to eat," Kitsune said as she and the other two approached the food sitting on the table and started eating it in silence. However, what was going on in each of the girl's heads was anything but silent.
'Keitaro...what happened to you?' Naru thought as she munched on some rice. 'You've lost your perverted and clumsy self and it's so much better but...' she trailed off. 'But I miss your old self, like how you always stumble in to catch me in compromising situations...' her eyes then widened and she blushed heavily. 'WHAT WAS I THINKING?????' and gasped, not realizing that she still had some rice in her mouth. A grain of rice flew into her windpipe causing her to choke and cough violently.
"Naru! Shinobu, get her something to drink!" Kitsune yelled. Shinobu nodded and poured some of the now-lukewarm water into a glass and handed it over to the coughing girl, who took it and downed it in a gulp. It did the job and she calmed down.
"I'm all right, I choked on some rice," she said, now under control. Both girls sat down in relief and continued eating. Naru stopped her train of thoughts and focused solely on eating and making sure the food went down the correct tube until she was done.
Shinobu's train of thoughts took off now. 'Sempai...ever since I've seen you, I've always admired you for being a Toudai student. Then I admired you for being very hardworking and not giving up. Now I admire you because you are more masculine than before.' The shy middle-school girl stopped eating and blushed like a stop sign as well as drop her jaw. 'Oh no! What am I thinking???' Naru and Kitsune saw the young resident in a very strange position: a spoon of food an inch away from her open mouth, her eyes wide and her face red.
"Oi, Shinobu, you OK there?" Kitsune asked, waving her hand in front of Shinobu's eyes. No response. Then she just took her spoon of food and put it down, but accidentally dropped the spoon, creating a *clang*. This snapped the young girl and she looked around.
"Huh?" she asked confused.
"You all right? You're blushing," Naru said, with a hint of concern.
'Oh no! I'm blushing!!!' Shinobu mentally panicked. She put her hands on her cheeks and felt the heat. "Oh no!" she yelled, then looked at the two other residents. Naru and Kitsune only looked back with concern and confusion, but Shinobu's head went into overdrive. "No! I'm sorry!" she yelled as she fled from the living room towards her own room, ignoring her lack of strength.
"Shinobu-chan!" Naru yelled after the running blue-haired girl but to no avail. "Mou..." she sighed as she continued eating. The rest of the meal passed by without incident and the two ladies took the dishes and the leftover food to the kitchen. Just then Keitaro came by.
"You two look much better!" Keitaro complimented the two women in the kitchen. He grabbed a drink from the fridge and walked outside to get some fresh air for about a few minutes, and headed back inside. He saw the two of them folding up the unoccupied futons and blankets and quickly went over to them.
"Whoa whoa," he said, waving his hands. Naru and Kitsune looked at him somewhat bemused. "Let me take care of that, you ladies go outside and get some fresh air." They didn't let go of the futons. "Here, let go," Keitaro said as he gently released Naru's and Kitsune's grips on their futons, "and," he then got behind the girls and put one hand on each girl's back, "go outside and breathe the fresh air." he finished as he gently pushed them towards the entrance, and finally out the door. The girls were too confused to put up any form of resistance and just complied. Seconds later, they found themselves standing outside the inn.
"What just happened?" Naru asked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Kitsune answered. She thought for a moment, then said, "Let's head down to the cafe, and ask Haruka-san. After all, he is her nephew." Naru nodded and both headed for the cafe with a long mental list of questions to ask. A few minutes later, they reached the cafe, saw it to be quiet as usual and sat at a table, waiting for Haruka to come out.
'Hmm, I thought I saw a couple people walk in,' Haruka thought as she saw two people walk in from the corner of the eye from the kitchen. 'Oh well, doesn't hurt to have customers,' she said as she prepared two cups and a kettle of tea and put them on a tray. She carried the tray outside and saw none other than Kitsune and Naru. "Naru? Kitsune?" she asked, surprised to see them down at the cafe.
"Umm...Haruka-san, can we talk for a minute?" Naru asked. Haruka continued looking at her, as if asking the younger girl to elaborate. "It's about Keitaro."
Haruka's interest piqued for a second, then she returned to her neutral face. "Is he being a pervert and you want him out?" she asked, slightly amused.
"Actually, it's about his perversion," Kitsune started, then paused. "He's not perverted anymore."
The short-haired woman's eyes went up. "Oh?" she asked, her voice betraying no surprise or other emotion.
"Uh huh," Naru nodded. "And he's not clumsy anymore too."
This time, the ever-perpetual cigarette in Haruka's mouth fell down, her mouth wide, her face betraying outright surprise. The two tenants saw her reaction, and would've laughed if they were under different circumstances, but just nodded solemnly in agreement, not suprised at seeing her reaction.
"In fact, I suggest you come up with us to observe him for yourself. Seeing it will be more of a shock than just us telling you," Kitsune said, to which the older woman nodded, took off her apron and followed the two tenants to the inn. When they walked inside, they saw the living room empty and clean, not even the sleeping Sara, Suu or Motoko were visible. "Eh?"
"What happened to the girls?" Naru asked.
"Let's check Motoko's room first, then Suu's," Haruka suggested. The three ladies headed for the kendo girl's room and went inside. There, they found a seemingly undisturbed Motoko sleeping. When they saw this, the girls (Naru and Kitsune) didn't know whether to feel relief or confusion. This only grew when they walked into Suu's room to see Suu and Sara asleep, apparently undisturbed as well. They walked out and went towards the stairs, confused as heck. "I suggest we ask Keitaro about this."
"Somebody called me?" Keitaro asked as he came out of his room.
His sudden voice surprised all three ladies. "Speak of the devil," Naru whispered to herself, then asked him, "Did you move the girls to their rooms?"
"Yup, they'd get disturbed too much if they were left in the living room anyways," the kanririn reasoned. "Oh, Haruka-san, didn't notice you were here just now," he said somewhat sheepishly.
'Wait a minute, did he just call me Haruka-san? No obaasan?' Haruka thought to herself. Secretly, she had a fist ready to send the moment he mentioned "obaasan". 'Naru and Kitsune are right, something's different about him.'
"Uhh, Haruka-san? Are you there?" Keitaro asked, a tad bit concerned, as he waved his hand up and down to get her attention. Haruka snapped back to reality, faced him and nodded, slightly embarrased at her temporary lapse. "Phew, we lost you for a second there," he sighed in relief. He then turned to Naru. "Narusegawa, you look just like new now," he said, noticing the lack of fatigue in her face. "Why don't you go study now? After all, we don't have much time till the exams take place again," he said, then turned around to head back.
"Wait!" Naru yelled. Keitaro turned around to face the long-haired girl and waited patiently for her question. "Do you mind if I study with you?" she asked, blushing. 'I know I don't do this, but I have to see just how much he changed,' she mentally rationalized.
Keitaro's face changed into a slightly happy one with a small grin in his face. "That'd be really nice! I'll bring my books up to your room shortly," he replied and went back into his room.
Once Keitaro was out of earshot, Kitsune turned to Naru. "So now you definitely have the hots for him eh?" she asked with that sly grin of hers. Naru blanched, then blushed.
"N-n-n-no! I don't!" she stammered out. "I just want to see if he really changed or not!"
"Suuuuuuuuuuuuure," Kitsune said. Haruka just grinned in amusement.
A few minutes later, both ronins were in Naru's room, sitting across each other on the low table. Both were studying, but rather different materials. Keitaro was studying intently his math, while Naru was studying the said male. 'It's like that night, when he zoned out,' she thought. 'There has to be a way to bring him back to his old self.' She sat there for a minute trying to think of a way to get him to be a pervert, then gave up. 'Might as well study, then think later.' Just like Keitaro, she started intently studying her book materials. For a couple hours, there was total silence as the two of them read and read and digested the information coming out of the books. Then an idea struck Naru. 'That's right! Let's see if he's going to kiss again!' She pretended to read her books, then just fell backwards. She started to snore, even though she was fully awake and aware. However, the snoring went on for about ten minutes and she did not detect any movement or whatever. "Keitaro..." she whispered, hoping that would catch his attention.
It did. He snapped out of his books, thinking he heard his name being called. He looked around for a second and was about to go back when he heard it again, just as softly. "Keitaro..." He looked across the table to see Naru sleeping (or so he thought).
"Maybe I was wrong at suggesting that she study. Guess these hot springs are quite dangerous," he said to himself, fully unaware that Naru was awake and listening to everything. "Oh well, at that rate she's gonna get a cold, with only a flimsy robe like that." He got up, walked over to where he put her futon and blanket, picked up a pillow and blanket and brought it over. He gently lifted her head and placed the pillow underneath it. He then spread the blanket on top of her.
Meanwhile, it took Naru all her willpower not to burst out and send him flying as usual. She had to make sure that he was changed but she was running a risk. 'What if suddenly he makes a perverted move?' she thought to herself. That alone was almost enough to snap her eyes open, but what he said next stopped her dead in her tracks.
"Gomen ne, Narusegawa. I suggested that you study just hours after you wake up from your fainting spell. At least you don't have a fever anymore," he said again as he felt her forehead. He then removed some random strands of hair covering her face, and went back to his side of the low table.
'He...didn't try to kiss me like that time before,' Naru's head was by now no longer processing coherent thoughts. Instead, it was more like random words that clashed against each other trying to be thought out. She then shook her head hard and cleared her head of those thoughts. 'All right then, time for plan B.' Naru slowly got up into a sitting position and saw Keitaro working away again. "Umm...Keitaro?"
He lifted his eyes. "Hai?"
"Did I fall asleep?" she asked with some uncertainty for effect.
"Hai, though not for long. Do you want me to leave? Because you still look a bit tired," he said with a tad bit of concern.
"No, no, I'm quite fine," she waved him off. "Let's go back to studying, OK?"
"Hai," he agreed and dove right back into the books.
'This should really show whether he's a pervert just acing cool or not,' Naru thought as she slowly got up. "Oh Keitaro?" she called out with a tone of seduction as she undid the first two buttons of her shirt. I placed my fingers in the third button to start undoing it when he looked up, and he did look up. But only for a second before she had the chance to fully undo it. She stood there, dumbfounded, with her shirt a bit open, looking down at what seems to be an unreadable Keitaro. He read a few more pages, then closed his book and gathered all his study materials. Just as he got up with his books under one arm, he said, "Narusegawa?"
"H-hai?" Naru asked, shaking out of her reverie.
"You know what you did wrong?" he asked, again in an unreadable tone. He approached her.
"I don't understand," Naru said, very confused and not knowing where Keitaro was going with this.
Then, without another word, using his free arm, he grabbed Naru from behind her back, pulled her into him, and gave her a kiss smack on the lips. Naru, too shocked to do anything, just let herself be pulled into it and didn't react to the set of lips on hers. Keitaro held the kiss for about ten seconds, and finally let go of her, who staggered a bit before regaining her footing.
"THAT is how you seduce someone," he said, then walked out the door.
A/N -- I rushed through this one, so I understand if it doesn't sound nice. But anyways, R/R.