Love Hina: A Manlier Side?
Chapter 4
A/N - You guys are really good with the reviews!!! I appreciate it a LOT! I mean, I don't think it's easily possible to get almost 30 reviews just out of the first three chapters. Well, here's chapter 4 of God knows how many I'm planning for this.
'Hope that takes care of Suu. Now off to studying,' the manager thought, as he headed back to his room. 'Study study,' He got back and took out a couple books, and started absorbing information. A while later, the door opened and closed and someone walked in, oblivious to Keitaro.
"Keitaro?" she asked. He turned around and saw a tall, well-endowed and short-haired woman. 'Kitsune,' he summed up, then noticed her wobbly legs. 'Make that Drunk Kitsune.' Meanwhile, above him, Naru sat in front of her desk, studying, and heard the door open. She silently moved Liddo-kun to a side and peeked underneath to see a drunk Kitsune and Keitaro.
"Hi. What's up?" he asked. Kitsune got down to her knees, then to all fours, and crawled towards Keitaro.
"Keitarooooooooo," she whispered huskily as she approached the said man, slowly unbuttoning her shirt.
'Geez, not again,' the younger girl mentally complained. She closed her eyes and sighed for a second, and opened it, only in shock to see the compromising position Keitaro had been put under, literally. She was about to jump down when she noticed two things: 1. Keitaro wasn't gawking. 2. Keitaro wasn't bleeding through his nose. As Kitsune slowly positioned herself above him to make their eyes level, Keitaro made a sudden move. He grabbed her back with one arm, used his other arm to get up and got onto his legs. To say that the two ladies were surprised would be an understatement, although Kitsune's was somewhat covered by her drunkenness.
"Ooooh, Keitaro, so manly," Kitsune cooed. Their faces were so close that they could feel each other's breaths.
"Kitsune-san, you're drunk again. Let me help you to your room," he said, without much emotion, ignoring her comment. While having a hold of one of her arms, he turned around, bent his back and picked her up. He then walked out, carrying her on his back, towards her room.
Naru sat there, dumbstruck over the turn of the events. What was meant to be a mock seduction and a beating turned into.nothing. Keitaro just picked her up and took her to her room. 'What happened to him? Ever since that day when he walked into the hot springs, he seemed to have grown up many years. But how? Why?' she asked herself, but got silence in reply. At that moment, Keitaro entered his room and noticed the open hole. He climbed up, and right before sticking his head in, he called out, "Narusegawa," She snapped out of her mental questioning, and looked down the hole to see Keitaro looking up. "Did you want to talk to me? Your hole is open," he said.
"Umm.err." Naru stuttered. 'Naru! Say something already!' her brain screamed. Keitaro patiently looked up. "Umm.yeah, can we study together again?"
Keitaro smiled. "Sure! Your room or mine?"
"I'll come down there. Hang on," she said. She headed back to her table, scooped a couple books, and headed for the hole again. She bent over and handed Keitaro her books, then after seeing him put them on the table, started going down. However, she somehow lost her balance and fell head- first. "Eek!" she screamed.
"Crap!" Keitaro shouted, as he stuck his arms out. He caught Naru with one arm behind her chest, another arm behind her legs, and in one smooth motion moved his arms, and her, in a tight arc, resulting in an unscathed, but shaken Naru looking up at him. "Are you all right? I think I should look into getting a pole of sorts so you can safely get down from there." Naru looked at him like she didn't understand what he was saying, wide-eyed, wide-mouthed and very confused. Seconds later, his question made its way to her brain.
"Y.yeah, I'm fine. Thank you," she whispered. 'Such firm arms.' Keitaro set her down on the floor in front of his table, and then walked over to the other side. He sat down, opened a book and started reading away, while scribbling something in a notebook. 'He's really serious, like a couple nights ago,' Naru mused, then started studying herself. Hours passed by as both ronins read, wrote and scribbled.
SOMEWHERE ELSE IN THE INN.
"Where's Keitaro?" Suu asked Kitsune, who was vainly trying to pry open the vice-like grip the exotic girl had around her.
"Check his room," Kitsune managed to let out amid gasps and grunts. Thankfully, Suu let go immediately and ran towards the kanririn's room. "That girl." she sighed to herself and headed for her own room.
Suu ran towards Keitaro's room, passing by a confused Motoko. 'What's with her today?' Motoko mused as she picked up her ever-present sword and calmly followed after her. After a second, she deduced that Suu was heading towards Keitaro's room. 'That cannot be good. But.' she trailed, 'Urashima has changed. Even so, I'm still going to watch her.' As Motoko made a turn, she saw Suu run and jump into the room and expected to hear some sort of loud noise and waited. Hearing nothing, her curiosity peeked and she was about to head for the room herself when Suu walked out, deep in though. 'That is most unlike her,' Motoko thought to herself, and approached the younger girl. "Suu,"
Suu looked up from her thoughtful state. "Oh, Motoko! Keitaro's strange, just like last time!" she exclaimed.
"Let me look," Motoko said. Suu got right behind her as Motoko approached the room and looked in. Suu peeked behind her, and it seemed as if Suu was scared of Keitaro. "Hmm.something seems different about Urashima all right. His presence is very peaceful." She entered, with a trepid Suu behind her, and cleared her throat. "Ahem."
Naru looked up from her books. "Oh, Motoko-chan, do you need anything?" she asked.
"Yes, can I talk to Urashima for a minute in private?" Motoko asked.
"I don't see why not. I'll be back in a few minutes," Naru said as she headed back upstairs. Keitaro did not notice her leaving, or Motoko's presence, and continued scribbling and reading. "Urashima," she called out.
".The X goes into equation 4.1, then place the value into equation 2.2." he mumbled and continued his calculations. Motoko, dumbstruck, couldn't think of another way to get his attention. "Suu, stay here and keep an eye on him. If he stops studying, come up to Naru-sempai's room and let me know," Motoko told her and headed upstairs to talk to Naru.
"Knock knock"
"Come in!" yelled Naru from insider her room. Motoko entered. "Oh, are you done talking?"
"Well, it concerns Urashima." Motoko started. Naru then motioned her to sit down, which the kendo girl did, then fidgeted, "I do not know how to get his attention. He is so immersed that even Suu's entrance didn't distract him."
"Hmm," Naru wondered. "I have an idea." Motoko looked at her, giving the older girl all her attention. "You said that the Zanmaken will not harm a person, but an evil spirit inside right?"
"Yes. The Zanmaken Ni-no-tachi."
"Then how about you pull that move off on him?"
Motoko hesitated for a moment, then finally agreed. Both women walked back downstairs to Keitaro's room and saw Suu watching him. She saw Motoko, and just shook her head. "Suu, get out of the way," she ordered. "I'm sorry, Urashima," she apologized in advance. Then, closing her eyes, she gathered her ki and focused it to her now unsheathed sword. "Hiken," she mumbled, then lifted her sword above her head. "Zanmaken! Ni-no-tachi!" she shouted, and sent the ki towards the unsuspecting manager. The burst of ki flew towards Keitaro, causing loose paper to fly around and pages of open books to flap violently. Seconds later, it went through Keitaro's body. All three girls looked, anxious for any difference. For a while, it seemed like nothing happened. Then suddenly.
Keitaro lifted his head and looked to see no one in front of him. Then he looked around to see the three girls at the door. "Can I help you?" he asked as he got up. The second he got up, his eyes rolled up and he fell down, unconscious.
"Keitaro!"
"Urashima!" All three girls ran towards the now-unconscious manager. Naru got to him first and placed his head on her lap. She placed her hand on his forehead and picked up a burning fever.
"Oh my God! Keitaro has a fever!!!" Naru exclaimed, making Motoko and Suu very shocked. "You two, try to take care of him. I'm going to call up an ambulance!" As Motoko took over Naru's position, and Suu ran out to get a towel and a bowl of cold water, Naru rushed downstairs to the phone in the lobby and dialed the emergency number. Minutes later, the usually quiet night was filled with the sounds of a siren and a rushing car, followed by fast footsteps, as paramedics ran up to the inn. Naru, very distraught, managed to calm down for a minute to lead the paramedics to Keitaro's room, where they promptly put him in a stretcher and took off, with Naru in hot pursuit. "I'm following him to the hospital, I'll call you guys up when I know where he is!" she yelled towards Motoko and Suu as she ran out the inn with the ambulance crew.
Fifteen minutes later, all the tenants, along with Haruka, found themselves outside the ER. Shinobu was on the verge of bursting into tears, Haruka and Motoko, along with Suu hooked onto her, looked at the doors of the ER impassively, Naru was crying into Kitsune's chest and Kitsune hugged Naru, trying to comfort her amidst her own hangover. Finally, after what seemed like hours to the distraught women, the doors opened and a doctor with a name tag saying "Ukazuchi" and a stoic face came out. All the girls except Haruka ran up to him, and stormed him with questions, most of them consisting of the words "Keitaro" and "die".
The doctor raised his hands up to silence them. "First off," he started, "Urashima, is that his name?" The girls nodded. "He is not going to die. It is simply a case of extreme exhaustion." A chorus of "Yokkata!" filled the air as Shinobu burst into tears, saying "Sempai's all right, Sempai's all right!" repetitively, Motoko took Shinobu into her arms while letting out a small sigh of relief of her own, Suu became her hyperactive self again, Haruka broke a small smile and Naru calmed down. "We would like to keep him here for a night to observe him for any sudden changes. By the way, has he been doing anything physically stressing?" the doctor asked as he took out a clipboard and a pen.
"Well, for starters, he's the kanririn of a girls' dormitory. He's also a student who spends a great deal of time every night studying for the upcoming university entrance exams," Haruka said. The doctor nodded slightly as he jotted down notes in his clipboard.
"And I take it he does a great deal of physical work?" he asked.
"Every morning he wakes up early to clean out a hot spring, and wipe all the floors in the building, to name a few."
"Ah. That explains his muscular form," he said, then noticed two of the tenants blushing furiously and chuckled, before continuing, "and, unfortunately, his exhaustion. Lack of sleep and too much physical work, no matter how strong the body is, can and will cause things like this." The group nodded collectively.
"Can we visit him now?" Naru asked.
"Yes, but please keep your voices down. Urashima-san needs all the rest he can get. I shall see you in the morning. Good night," the doctor said as he left them.
"I'm going to stay here tonight with Keitaro. Who else wants to stay?" Haruka asked. She wasn't too surprised when five hands went up in the air almost immediately. "Remember, keep quiet," she reminded as the group made its way into Keitaro's room. Despite the doctor's positive outlook, Naru couldn't help but get a grisly image of seeing Keitaro hooked up to multiple tubes of liquids of various colors and various machinery, and somewhat hid behind Kitsune as they walked in. Kitsune sensed her apprehension, took the younger girl's hand to hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's going to be all right," she whispered with conviction. Naru, now with a boost of confidence, nodded and followed in, and much to her relief, Keitaro was lying down on the bed, tucked in, without any sorts of wires or tubes stuck in him. All the girls looked at the sleeping form of their manager and felt at ease. A second later, a nurse came in, carrying some chairs.
"Dr. Ukazuchi asked me to bring these chairs in, seeing all of you here," she said as she set them down. Naru thanked her and the nurse left them. Everyone sat down and just watched him in silence. 'He looks so peaceful, so innocent like that,' Naru thought. She would have had the shock of her life if she knew everyone had the same thought.
Motoko got down to her knees, placed her sword perpendicular to her and closed her eyes in meditation. 'Urashima.now is the time I pay back the debt I owe you for watching over me when I was at my weakest,' she thought to herself.
The rest of the girls sat there with Haruka watching him. Shinobu and Suu tried their best to stay awake but soon fell asleep; Naru took Shinobu's head and placed it on her lap while Kitsune took Suu and did likewise. The remaining women occasionally shared a glance, but other than that, dutifully watched over Keitaro. Despite the fact that they were in a hospital, that too with someone they know well in a bed, the mood wasn't heavily depressing and along with the glance, they shared a small smile. This kept up for the next five or six hours, when the sun rose again and they heard activity from outside the room. Dr. Ukazuchi then came in to check up on Keitaro. He wasn't surprised to find everyone in the room and smiled slightly, touched by their affection towards Keitaro. "Good morning. I believe there have been no changes over last night?" There was a collective shaking of heads. "OK. If you don't mind, can you please wait outside? I would like to check up on him once more." The group left and waited outside the room. A few minutes later, the doctor came out, and this time, he wasn't run over. Instead, Haruka calmly asked, "What's his current condition?"
"There is no longer a fever or anything else of that nature," he answered. Many sighs of relief followed after that. "He can be discharged when he wakes up on his own. Now is there a family relative among this group?" Haruka walked forward. "Please follow me. I would like you to sign his discharge papers." She nodded and followed the doctor.
Kitsune, now carrying Suu on her back, walked to Naru, who still had a hold of Shinobu. "See? I did say everything was going to be all right," she said, with an "I-told-you-so" voice for comic effect. Naru looked up and smiled at her longtime friend, then looked at the door. Then she heard a grunt from the room, and realized Keitaro woke up. She walked in, trailed by Motoko and Kitsune, and saw Keitaro wake up and stretch.
"Oh man! That felt so nice!" he said to himself and sighed in pleasure. His smile disappeared to form confusion as he looked at what he was wearing (a hospital gown), his surroundings (a high bed along with white blankets, white walls and a septic scent) and finally, the people to his left. He turned around to see who they were, but without his glasses, all he could make out were a bunch of blurry figures. "Umm.whoever is over there, can you get my glasses for me please?" he asked. Naru looked at a drawer next to the bed, grabbed his glasses, took his hand and placed them on it. "Thanks." he trailed, then put on his glasses to see Naru looking back at him, "Narusegawa." He smiled briefly and looked around. "Wait. Why am I in a hospital?"
Naru, Kitsune and Motoko smiled and sat down in the chairs again. "You fainted last night and you had a burning fever," Motoko explained. "Naru-sempai thought it was serious and she called the ambulance." Naru just looked down and blushed.
"Oh that's what happened? Well, thank you, Narusegawa, and thank you too Motoko-chan and Kitsune-san for staying with me," he said, smiling widely. All three girls were now blushing quite a bit. Their discomfort was mercifully brought to an end when Haruka came in.
"Oh, Keitaro, you're awake. How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Much better, thanks," he answered.
Haruka then looked at the girls. "Can you leave Keitaro and me alone for a while? Family talk." The girls nodded and left. When the door closed, she turned to Keitaro, this time with a serious expression instead of her usual expressionlessness.
Outside, Naru and Kitsune were extremely curious as to what Haruka and Keitaro were going to discuss about. They placed the still-sleeping Shinobu and Suu under Motoko's care and despite the well-disciplined girl's words about respecting privacy, walked up to the door and stuck their ears on it. The said girl, despite her strong discipline, had a lapse and snuck up behind them and placed an ear on the door as well. Naru and Kitsune gave her a look that said "What was that about respecting people's privacy?" to which Motoko just gave a sheepish smile.
"What's the matter?" Keitaro asked, somewhat confused. Haruka sighed and thought for a moment before starting.
"You see, you fainted because of extreme exhaustion. You didn't rest enough for what work you put through. And you have to admit, you do a lot of work, whether it's physical or mental," Haruka started.
"O.kay?" Keitaro said, not understanding where his aunt was taking him.
"The doctor asked what kind of work you did and I only told him the tip of the iceberg. Even with what I said, I realized that just that was already a lot alone. I didn't mention the beating you got every day on a daily basis and that only adds to the amount of work your body handles," Haruka said, her face still serious. Outside, Naru's and Motoko's faces fell slightly when they remembered the countless times they sent him flying for various reasons, then became serious again.
"So?" her nephew asked, even more confused now.
"You don't quite get it do you? Naru and Motoko have probably given you enough beatings to last you ten reincarnations, Kitsune has taken enough money from you to buy sake that it's a miracle she hasn't had to go to the hospital because of liver damage. Suu has always targeted you so much with her creations that it's a marvel you're still in one piece. Probably the only one who hasn't harmed you is Shinobu. What you have gone through is more than what a regular man can take before he goes insane," Haruka explained. Outside, three faces all fell, realizing how they've always beaten and made use of Keitaro and never considered his feelings. They were even softly crying but one word snapped them back to attention. "Why?" the usually emotionless woman asked.
There was silence for about a minute as Keitaro digested everything his aunt told him and contemplated, but that minute seemed like an eternity to the girls outside. While the two people inside the room were perfectly calm, the girls outside was a different story; they were on the verge of breaking down the door and begging for forgiveness. Suddenly, Keitaro's voice was heard and the girls froze, expecting the worst.
"Because," he started, and paused, as in thinking.
"Because?" Haruka asked, beckoning him to continue.
"Because?" the girls outside whispered.
"Because, Aunt Haruka, I care for them," Keitaro said, with an uncharacteristically firm voice, despite its softness. Haruka's eyes went up slightly in surprise and the girls all snapped back in shock. 'Even after all we put through him, he still cares for us?' ran though the girls' heads. "Every time I see each of them, I can see my own self reflected on each of their faces. I came to Hinata Inn because I wanted to avoid the problems back home. I am a third-year ronin and my parents wanted me out, so I came here. However, instead of avoiding my problems, I ended up bringing them with me here. In each girl I see, despite their cheerfulness or seriousness, there's always a problem behind them," he paused.
"How did he." the girls outside whispered before getting cut off by Keitaro continuing.
"I can't say what each girl's problem is because I have no right to pry into their personal lives, and that doesn't change whether I'm the kanririn or even Granny Hina for that matter. But I do know that they are only happy on the surface, like how I am whenever I am around. You see, I don't pity them or sympathize with them. I KNOW what it feels like and despite my problems, I want to help them." At this point, Haruka's face softened to a small smile and outside, the three girls had formed a continuous stream of tears. 'Keitaro, how did you know? How?' Naru thought, crying. 'And I always call you weak, Urashima. It is I who is weak,' Motoko thought, crying just as much. 'Even after all I did to you, you still hold no grudges?' Kitsune wondered, crying.
"Second, I made a promise, or should I say two promises. I made a promise to Shinobu that I would get into Tokyo U this year around. I promised Narusegawa that I would get into Tokyo U this year with her. Finally, I promised myself that I'd get into Tokyo U. The second promise was that I would never give up on these girls until they didn't want me to stay anymore. I may be a clumsy and stupid pervert as how the girls always say, but I am also a man of my word and I never back from a promise I make." At this point, the trio outside was crying in a group hug continuously, Keitaro's words repeating in their heads; if anyone passed by them, they would've assumed that someone close to them had passed away.
Haruka wiped a tear from her left eye. "That was.touching," she said, "Then again, if I didn't know you better, I would've called you incredibly nice or incredibly stupid."
Keitaro blushed slightly and put a hand behind his head. "Haha! Maybe I am either one of those," he said. "Umm.can you please wait outside while I change?" Haruka nodded and walked outside to be greeted by a trio of crying and wailing girls in a group hug. She was somewhat annoyed that they overheard, but her annoyance changed to a sad smile. Motoko looked up and saw Haruka looking at them. "Umm.you see.ahh," she mumbled, trying to think of an excuse. The other two noticed her looking up and followed her gaze to see Haruka looking down at them. At that moment, all the girls felt guilty for overhearing without her permission and expected to be chewed out.
"You know, you girls should be very glad to have a friend like him, who never holds anything against anyone," the older woman bent down to the girls' level whispered gently. "Now go to the bathroom and get yourself cleaned up." The three girls sniffed a bit and headed towards the ladies' room, leaving Shinobu and Suu under Haruka's care. Half a minute later Keitaro came out dressed in regular clothes and noticed only Suu and Shinobu.
"Where's the rest?" he asked.
"Bathroom," Haruka answered. Not suspecting anything out of the picture, Keitaro let it go at that. He noticed the still-sleeping girls and put Shinobu on his back. "Keitaro, are you going to be all right with that?" his aunt asked, still a bit worried. "After all, you did faint yesterday."
"It's OK. I've never felt more refreshed," Keitaro gently countered. Haruka shrugged and let it off at that. At that moment the girls came back, looking more composed, save the red and puffy eyes. He noticed their eyes and became worried. "You know, you could've at least slept for a couple hours. You didn't have to stay up the whole night."
"No, it would not have been proper," Motoko answered, somewhat softer than usual as she went and picked up the sleeping Suu.
"Well.thanks again," he thanked them genuinely and turned around to start walking back home. His sincerity shook them like a massive earthquake and they were again on the verge of breaking into tears. Haruka, however, seemed to sense the imminent distress and patted all their backs. All the girls turned to face the older woman, who simply nodded, as in saying "It's going to be all right." They nodded back, smiled slightly and started walking as well.
TBC
A/N - MAN! What a long chapter!!! OK, that's enough of sick people being taken care of. This fic has reached a point where now I don't know how to continue the plot. Some people might be wondering how I manage to update so quickly. Well, thanks to daylights saving time, my biological clock is screwed up big time so I can't seem to go to sleep until 5 in the morning, so go figure.
Can someone please verify that sword move? My copy of the manga is fan- translated and it seems to change so I would appreciate it if someone verified the sword move in his/her review.
Also, I have not determined pairing just yet, and the reason why I write a lot of Naru is because exams are coming up so it would be logical to involve those two a great deal.
OOC.hmm.I'm afraid I kinda made Motoko OOC, but, oh well, I'm letting it go for now. Besides, it's for the sake of the story. And also, she is still human so there is at least a shard of feelings in her. About Keitaro being muscular, IMO, it is not OOC, or its physical equivalent because a year's worth of daily scrubbing and washing WOULD give you at least a lean figure, but since Keitaro began with a lean figure, adding some muscles seemed like the next logical step.
Some random notes about Keitaro - if you read the manga all the way till the end (either if you know Japanese, Chinese or you have a fan-translated copy), it's funny because Keitaro has this tendency to pat everyone on their heads.except Kitsune. That's just something I noticed, it has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm writing.
If you want to, you can IM me if you want to discuss the manga with me. I'm always willing to talk anything about it.
Anyways, that's enough of my rants. CONTINUE THOSE REVIEWS PLEASE!!!!
A/N - You guys are really good with the reviews!!! I appreciate it a LOT! I mean, I don't think it's easily possible to get almost 30 reviews just out of the first three chapters. Well, here's chapter 4 of God knows how many I'm planning for this.
'Hope that takes care of Suu. Now off to studying,' the manager thought, as he headed back to his room. 'Study study,' He got back and took out a couple books, and started absorbing information. A while later, the door opened and closed and someone walked in, oblivious to Keitaro.
"Keitaro?" she asked. He turned around and saw a tall, well-endowed and short-haired woman. 'Kitsune,' he summed up, then noticed her wobbly legs. 'Make that Drunk Kitsune.' Meanwhile, above him, Naru sat in front of her desk, studying, and heard the door open. She silently moved Liddo-kun to a side and peeked underneath to see a drunk Kitsune and Keitaro.
"Hi. What's up?" he asked. Kitsune got down to her knees, then to all fours, and crawled towards Keitaro.
"Keitarooooooooo," she whispered huskily as she approached the said man, slowly unbuttoning her shirt.
'Geez, not again,' the younger girl mentally complained. She closed her eyes and sighed for a second, and opened it, only in shock to see the compromising position Keitaro had been put under, literally. She was about to jump down when she noticed two things: 1. Keitaro wasn't gawking. 2. Keitaro wasn't bleeding through his nose. As Kitsune slowly positioned herself above him to make their eyes level, Keitaro made a sudden move. He grabbed her back with one arm, used his other arm to get up and got onto his legs. To say that the two ladies were surprised would be an understatement, although Kitsune's was somewhat covered by her drunkenness.
"Ooooh, Keitaro, so manly," Kitsune cooed. Their faces were so close that they could feel each other's breaths.
"Kitsune-san, you're drunk again. Let me help you to your room," he said, without much emotion, ignoring her comment. While having a hold of one of her arms, he turned around, bent his back and picked her up. He then walked out, carrying her on his back, towards her room.
Naru sat there, dumbstruck over the turn of the events. What was meant to be a mock seduction and a beating turned into.nothing. Keitaro just picked her up and took her to her room. 'What happened to him? Ever since that day when he walked into the hot springs, he seemed to have grown up many years. But how? Why?' she asked herself, but got silence in reply. At that moment, Keitaro entered his room and noticed the open hole. He climbed up, and right before sticking his head in, he called out, "Narusegawa," She snapped out of her mental questioning, and looked down the hole to see Keitaro looking up. "Did you want to talk to me? Your hole is open," he said.
"Umm.err." Naru stuttered. 'Naru! Say something already!' her brain screamed. Keitaro patiently looked up. "Umm.yeah, can we study together again?"
Keitaro smiled. "Sure! Your room or mine?"
"I'll come down there. Hang on," she said. She headed back to her table, scooped a couple books, and headed for the hole again. She bent over and handed Keitaro her books, then after seeing him put them on the table, started going down. However, she somehow lost her balance and fell head- first. "Eek!" she screamed.
"Crap!" Keitaro shouted, as he stuck his arms out. He caught Naru with one arm behind her chest, another arm behind her legs, and in one smooth motion moved his arms, and her, in a tight arc, resulting in an unscathed, but shaken Naru looking up at him. "Are you all right? I think I should look into getting a pole of sorts so you can safely get down from there." Naru looked at him like she didn't understand what he was saying, wide-eyed, wide-mouthed and very confused. Seconds later, his question made its way to her brain.
"Y.yeah, I'm fine. Thank you," she whispered. 'Such firm arms.' Keitaro set her down on the floor in front of his table, and then walked over to the other side. He sat down, opened a book and started reading away, while scribbling something in a notebook. 'He's really serious, like a couple nights ago,' Naru mused, then started studying herself. Hours passed by as both ronins read, wrote and scribbled.
SOMEWHERE ELSE IN THE INN.
"Where's Keitaro?" Suu asked Kitsune, who was vainly trying to pry open the vice-like grip the exotic girl had around her.
"Check his room," Kitsune managed to let out amid gasps and grunts. Thankfully, Suu let go immediately and ran towards the kanririn's room. "That girl." she sighed to herself and headed for her own room.
Suu ran towards Keitaro's room, passing by a confused Motoko. 'What's with her today?' Motoko mused as she picked up her ever-present sword and calmly followed after her. After a second, she deduced that Suu was heading towards Keitaro's room. 'That cannot be good. But.' she trailed, 'Urashima has changed. Even so, I'm still going to watch her.' As Motoko made a turn, she saw Suu run and jump into the room and expected to hear some sort of loud noise and waited. Hearing nothing, her curiosity peeked and she was about to head for the room herself when Suu walked out, deep in though. 'That is most unlike her,' Motoko thought to herself, and approached the younger girl. "Suu,"
Suu looked up from her thoughtful state. "Oh, Motoko! Keitaro's strange, just like last time!" she exclaimed.
"Let me look," Motoko said. Suu got right behind her as Motoko approached the room and looked in. Suu peeked behind her, and it seemed as if Suu was scared of Keitaro. "Hmm.something seems different about Urashima all right. His presence is very peaceful." She entered, with a trepid Suu behind her, and cleared her throat. "Ahem."
Naru looked up from her books. "Oh, Motoko-chan, do you need anything?" she asked.
"Yes, can I talk to Urashima for a minute in private?" Motoko asked.
"I don't see why not. I'll be back in a few minutes," Naru said as she headed back upstairs. Keitaro did not notice her leaving, or Motoko's presence, and continued scribbling and reading. "Urashima," she called out.
".The X goes into equation 4.1, then place the value into equation 2.2." he mumbled and continued his calculations. Motoko, dumbstruck, couldn't think of another way to get his attention. "Suu, stay here and keep an eye on him. If he stops studying, come up to Naru-sempai's room and let me know," Motoko told her and headed upstairs to talk to Naru.
"Knock knock"
"Come in!" yelled Naru from insider her room. Motoko entered. "Oh, are you done talking?"
"Well, it concerns Urashima." Motoko started. Naru then motioned her to sit down, which the kendo girl did, then fidgeted, "I do not know how to get his attention. He is so immersed that even Suu's entrance didn't distract him."
"Hmm," Naru wondered. "I have an idea." Motoko looked at her, giving the older girl all her attention. "You said that the Zanmaken will not harm a person, but an evil spirit inside right?"
"Yes. The Zanmaken Ni-no-tachi."
"Then how about you pull that move off on him?"
Motoko hesitated for a moment, then finally agreed. Both women walked back downstairs to Keitaro's room and saw Suu watching him. She saw Motoko, and just shook her head. "Suu, get out of the way," she ordered. "I'm sorry, Urashima," she apologized in advance. Then, closing her eyes, she gathered her ki and focused it to her now unsheathed sword. "Hiken," she mumbled, then lifted her sword above her head. "Zanmaken! Ni-no-tachi!" she shouted, and sent the ki towards the unsuspecting manager. The burst of ki flew towards Keitaro, causing loose paper to fly around and pages of open books to flap violently. Seconds later, it went through Keitaro's body. All three girls looked, anxious for any difference. For a while, it seemed like nothing happened. Then suddenly.
Keitaro lifted his head and looked to see no one in front of him. Then he looked around to see the three girls at the door. "Can I help you?" he asked as he got up. The second he got up, his eyes rolled up and he fell down, unconscious.
"Keitaro!"
"Urashima!" All three girls ran towards the now-unconscious manager. Naru got to him first and placed his head on her lap. She placed her hand on his forehead and picked up a burning fever.
"Oh my God! Keitaro has a fever!!!" Naru exclaimed, making Motoko and Suu very shocked. "You two, try to take care of him. I'm going to call up an ambulance!" As Motoko took over Naru's position, and Suu ran out to get a towel and a bowl of cold water, Naru rushed downstairs to the phone in the lobby and dialed the emergency number. Minutes later, the usually quiet night was filled with the sounds of a siren and a rushing car, followed by fast footsteps, as paramedics ran up to the inn. Naru, very distraught, managed to calm down for a minute to lead the paramedics to Keitaro's room, where they promptly put him in a stretcher and took off, with Naru in hot pursuit. "I'm following him to the hospital, I'll call you guys up when I know where he is!" she yelled towards Motoko and Suu as she ran out the inn with the ambulance crew.
Fifteen minutes later, all the tenants, along with Haruka, found themselves outside the ER. Shinobu was on the verge of bursting into tears, Haruka and Motoko, along with Suu hooked onto her, looked at the doors of the ER impassively, Naru was crying into Kitsune's chest and Kitsune hugged Naru, trying to comfort her amidst her own hangover. Finally, after what seemed like hours to the distraught women, the doors opened and a doctor with a name tag saying "Ukazuchi" and a stoic face came out. All the girls except Haruka ran up to him, and stormed him with questions, most of them consisting of the words "Keitaro" and "die".
The doctor raised his hands up to silence them. "First off," he started, "Urashima, is that his name?" The girls nodded. "He is not going to die. It is simply a case of extreme exhaustion." A chorus of "Yokkata!" filled the air as Shinobu burst into tears, saying "Sempai's all right, Sempai's all right!" repetitively, Motoko took Shinobu into her arms while letting out a small sigh of relief of her own, Suu became her hyperactive self again, Haruka broke a small smile and Naru calmed down. "We would like to keep him here for a night to observe him for any sudden changes. By the way, has he been doing anything physically stressing?" the doctor asked as he took out a clipboard and a pen.
"Well, for starters, he's the kanririn of a girls' dormitory. He's also a student who spends a great deal of time every night studying for the upcoming university entrance exams," Haruka said. The doctor nodded slightly as he jotted down notes in his clipboard.
"And I take it he does a great deal of physical work?" he asked.
"Every morning he wakes up early to clean out a hot spring, and wipe all the floors in the building, to name a few."
"Ah. That explains his muscular form," he said, then noticed two of the tenants blushing furiously and chuckled, before continuing, "and, unfortunately, his exhaustion. Lack of sleep and too much physical work, no matter how strong the body is, can and will cause things like this." The group nodded collectively.
"Can we visit him now?" Naru asked.
"Yes, but please keep your voices down. Urashima-san needs all the rest he can get. I shall see you in the morning. Good night," the doctor said as he left them.
"I'm going to stay here tonight with Keitaro. Who else wants to stay?" Haruka asked. She wasn't too surprised when five hands went up in the air almost immediately. "Remember, keep quiet," she reminded as the group made its way into Keitaro's room. Despite the doctor's positive outlook, Naru couldn't help but get a grisly image of seeing Keitaro hooked up to multiple tubes of liquids of various colors and various machinery, and somewhat hid behind Kitsune as they walked in. Kitsune sensed her apprehension, took the younger girl's hand to hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's going to be all right," she whispered with conviction. Naru, now with a boost of confidence, nodded and followed in, and much to her relief, Keitaro was lying down on the bed, tucked in, without any sorts of wires or tubes stuck in him. All the girls looked at the sleeping form of their manager and felt at ease. A second later, a nurse came in, carrying some chairs.
"Dr. Ukazuchi asked me to bring these chairs in, seeing all of you here," she said as she set them down. Naru thanked her and the nurse left them. Everyone sat down and just watched him in silence. 'He looks so peaceful, so innocent like that,' Naru thought. She would have had the shock of her life if she knew everyone had the same thought.
Motoko got down to her knees, placed her sword perpendicular to her and closed her eyes in meditation. 'Urashima.now is the time I pay back the debt I owe you for watching over me when I was at my weakest,' she thought to herself.
The rest of the girls sat there with Haruka watching him. Shinobu and Suu tried their best to stay awake but soon fell asleep; Naru took Shinobu's head and placed it on her lap while Kitsune took Suu and did likewise. The remaining women occasionally shared a glance, but other than that, dutifully watched over Keitaro. Despite the fact that they were in a hospital, that too with someone they know well in a bed, the mood wasn't heavily depressing and along with the glance, they shared a small smile. This kept up for the next five or six hours, when the sun rose again and they heard activity from outside the room. Dr. Ukazuchi then came in to check up on Keitaro. He wasn't surprised to find everyone in the room and smiled slightly, touched by their affection towards Keitaro. "Good morning. I believe there have been no changes over last night?" There was a collective shaking of heads. "OK. If you don't mind, can you please wait outside? I would like to check up on him once more." The group left and waited outside the room. A few minutes later, the doctor came out, and this time, he wasn't run over. Instead, Haruka calmly asked, "What's his current condition?"
"There is no longer a fever or anything else of that nature," he answered. Many sighs of relief followed after that. "He can be discharged when he wakes up on his own. Now is there a family relative among this group?" Haruka walked forward. "Please follow me. I would like you to sign his discharge papers." She nodded and followed the doctor.
Kitsune, now carrying Suu on her back, walked to Naru, who still had a hold of Shinobu. "See? I did say everything was going to be all right," she said, with an "I-told-you-so" voice for comic effect. Naru looked up and smiled at her longtime friend, then looked at the door. Then she heard a grunt from the room, and realized Keitaro woke up. She walked in, trailed by Motoko and Kitsune, and saw Keitaro wake up and stretch.
"Oh man! That felt so nice!" he said to himself and sighed in pleasure. His smile disappeared to form confusion as he looked at what he was wearing (a hospital gown), his surroundings (a high bed along with white blankets, white walls and a septic scent) and finally, the people to his left. He turned around to see who they were, but without his glasses, all he could make out were a bunch of blurry figures. "Umm.whoever is over there, can you get my glasses for me please?" he asked. Naru looked at a drawer next to the bed, grabbed his glasses, took his hand and placed them on it. "Thanks." he trailed, then put on his glasses to see Naru looking back at him, "Narusegawa." He smiled briefly and looked around. "Wait. Why am I in a hospital?"
Naru, Kitsune and Motoko smiled and sat down in the chairs again. "You fainted last night and you had a burning fever," Motoko explained. "Naru-sempai thought it was serious and she called the ambulance." Naru just looked down and blushed.
"Oh that's what happened? Well, thank you, Narusegawa, and thank you too Motoko-chan and Kitsune-san for staying with me," he said, smiling widely. All three girls were now blushing quite a bit. Their discomfort was mercifully brought to an end when Haruka came in.
"Oh, Keitaro, you're awake. How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Much better, thanks," he answered.
Haruka then looked at the girls. "Can you leave Keitaro and me alone for a while? Family talk." The girls nodded and left. When the door closed, she turned to Keitaro, this time with a serious expression instead of her usual expressionlessness.
Outside, Naru and Kitsune were extremely curious as to what Haruka and Keitaro were going to discuss about. They placed the still-sleeping Shinobu and Suu under Motoko's care and despite the well-disciplined girl's words about respecting privacy, walked up to the door and stuck their ears on it. The said girl, despite her strong discipline, had a lapse and snuck up behind them and placed an ear on the door as well. Naru and Kitsune gave her a look that said "What was that about respecting people's privacy?" to which Motoko just gave a sheepish smile.
"What's the matter?" Keitaro asked, somewhat confused. Haruka sighed and thought for a moment before starting.
"You see, you fainted because of extreme exhaustion. You didn't rest enough for what work you put through. And you have to admit, you do a lot of work, whether it's physical or mental," Haruka started.
"O.kay?" Keitaro said, not understanding where his aunt was taking him.
"The doctor asked what kind of work you did and I only told him the tip of the iceberg. Even with what I said, I realized that just that was already a lot alone. I didn't mention the beating you got every day on a daily basis and that only adds to the amount of work your body handles," Haruka said, her face still serious. Outside, Naru's and Motoko's faces fell slightly when they remembered the countless times they sent him flying for various reasons, then became serious again.
"So?" her nephew asked, even more confused now.
"You don't quite get it do you? Naru and Motoko have probably given you enough beatings to last you ten reincarnations, Kitsune has taken enough money from you to buy sake that it's a miracle she hasn't had to go to the hospital because of liver damage. Suu has always targeted you so much with her creations that it's a marvel you're still in one piece. Probably the only one who hasn't harmed you is Shinobu. What you have gone through is more than what a regular man can take before he goes insane," Haruka explained. Outside, three faces all fell, realizing how they've always beaten and made use of Keitaro and never considered his feelings. They were even softly crying but one word snapped them back to attention. "Why?" the usually emotionless woman asked.
There was silence for about a minute as Keitaro digested everything his aunt told him and contemplated, but that minute seemed like an eternity to the girls outside. While the two people inside the room were perfectly calm, the girls outside was a different story; they were on the verge of breaking down the door and begging for forgiveness. Suddenly, Keitaro's voice was heard and the girls froze, expecting the worst.
"Because," he started, and paused, as in thinking.
"Because?" Haruka asked, beckoning him to continue.
"Because?" the girls outside whispered.
"Because, Aunt Haruka, I care for them," Keitaro said, with an uncharacteristically firm voice, despite its softness. Haruka's eyes went up slightly in surprise and the girls all snapped back in shock. 'Even after all we put through him, he still cares for us?' ran though the girls' heads. "Every time I see each of them, I can see my own self reflected on each of their faces. I came to Hinata Inn because I wanted to avoid the problems back home. I am a third-year ronin and my parents wanted me out, so I came here. However, instead of avoiding my problems, I ended up bringing them with me here. In each girl I see, despite their cheerfulness or seriousness, there's always a problem behind them," he paused.
"How did he." the girls outside whispered before getting cut off by Keitaro continuing.
"I can't say what each girl's problem is because I have no right to pry into their personal lives, and that doesn't change whether I'm the kanririn or even Granny Hina for that matter. But I do know that they are only happy on the surface, like how I am whenever I am around. You see, I don't pity them or sympathize with them. I KNOW what it feels like and despite my problems, I want to help them." At this point, Haruka's face softened to a small smile and outside, the three girls had formed a continuous stream of tears. 'Keitaro, how did you know? How?' Naru thought, crying. 'And I always call you weak, Urashima. It is I who is weak,' Motoko thought, crying just as much. 'Even after all I did to you, you still hold no grudges?' Kitsune wondered, crying.
"Second, I made a promise, or should I say two promises. I made a promise to Shinobu that I would get into Tokyo U this year around. I promised Narusegawa that I would get into Tokyo U this year with her. Finally, I promised myself that I'd get into Tokyo U. The second promise was that I would never give up on these girls until they didn't want me to stay anymore. I may be a clumsy and stupid pervert as how the girls always say, but I am also a man of my word and I never back from a promise I make." At this point, the trio outside was crying in a group hug continuously, Keitaro's words repeating in their heads; if anyone passed by them, they would've assumed that someone close to them had passed away.
Haruka wiped a tear from her left eye. "That was.touching," she said, "Then again, if I didn't know you better, I would've called you incredibly nice or incredibly stupid."
Keitaro blushed slightly and put a hand behind his head. "Haha! Maybe I am either one of those," he said. "Umm.can you please wait outside while I change?" Haruka nodded and walked outside to be greeted by a trio of crying and wailing girls in a group hug. She was somewhat annoyed that they overheard, but her annoyance changed to a sad smile. Motoko looked up and saw Haruka looking at them. "Umm.you see.ahh," she mumbled, trying to think of an excuse. The other two noticed her looking up and followed her gaze to see Haruka looking down at them. At that moment, all the girls felt guilty for overhearing without her permission and expected to be chewed out.
"You know, you girls should be very glad to have a friend like him, who never holds anything against anyone," the older woman bent down to the girls' level whispered gently. "Now go to the bathroom and get yourself cleaned up." The three girls sniffed a bit and headed towards the ladies' room, leaving Shinobu and Suu under Haruka's care. Half a minute later Keitaro came out dressed in regular clothes and noticed only Suu and Shinobu.
"Where's the rest?" he asked.
"Bathroom," Haruka answered. Not suspecting anything out of the picture, Keitaro let it go at that. He noticed the still-sleeping girls and put Shinobu on his back. "Keitaro, are you going to be all right with that?" his aunt asked, still a bit worried. "After all, you did faint yesterday."
"It's OK. I've never felt more refreshed," Keitaro gently countered. Haruka shrugged and let it off at that. At that moment the girls came back, looking more composed, save the red and puffy eyes. He noticed their eyes and became worried. "You know, you could've at least slept for a couple hours. You didn't have to stay up the whole night."
"No, it would not have been proper," Motoko answered, somewhat softer than usual as she went and picked up the sleeping Suu.
"Well.thanks again," he thanked them genuinely and turned around to start walking back home. His sincerity shook them like a massive earthquake and they were again on the verge of breaking into tears. Haruka, however, seemed to sense the imminent distress and patted all their backs. All the girls turned to face the older woman, who simply nodded, as in saying "It's going to be all right." They nodded back, smiled slightly and started walking as well.
TBC
A/N - MAN! What a long chapter!!! OK, that's enough of sick people being taken care of. This fic has reached a point where now I don't know how to continue the plot. Some people might be wondering how I manage to update so quickly. Well, thanks to daylights saving time, my biological clock is screwed up big time so I can't seem to go to sleep until 5 in the morning, so go figure.
Can someone please verify that sword move? My copy of the manga is fan- translated and it seems to change so I would appreciate it if someone verified the sword move in his/her review.
Also, I have not determined pairing just yet, and the reason why I write a lot of Naru is because exams are coming up so it would be logical to involve those two a great deal.
OOC.hmm.I'm afraid I kinda made Motoko OOC, but, oh well, I'm letting it go for now. Besides, it's for the sake of the story. And also, she is still human so there is at least a shard of feelings in her. About Keitaro being muscular, IMO, it is not OOC, or its physical equivalent because a year's worth of daily scrubbing and washing WOULD give you at least a lean figure, but since Keitaro began with a lean figure, adding some muscles seemed like the next logical step.
Some random notes about Keitaro - if you read the manga all the way till the end (either if you know Japanese, Chinese or you have a fan-translated copy), it's funny because Keitaro has this tendency to pat everyone on their heads.except Kitsune. That's just something I noticed, it has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm writing.
If you want to, you can IM me if you want to discuss the manga with me. I'm always willing to talk anything about it.
Anyways, that's enough of my rants. CONTINUE THOSE REVIEWS PLEASE!!!!