Love Hina: A Manlier Side?
Chapter 6
"Ugh," Kitsune moaned as she re-entered the world of the awake. She rolled over one way and her hand hit something hard. The pain jolted her awake as she slightly cursed and cradled her hand, pulling herself into a sitting position. She looked outside to see the sun setting and noticed that it was almost near dinnertime. 'Whoa...no hangover...what happened?' she realized. No pain radiated from her head and she registered no feeling of dizziness that resulted from it. 'That's right, I took a nap,' she recounted. She then got up and made herself presentable by dressing in her usual tank top and shorts that exposed enough skin to make almost any man drool. She made her way out of her room towards the kitchen to see what kind of cuisine Shinobu came up with.
"Shinobu," Kitsune said as she entered the kitchen and noticed the said girl cooking. She looked up and smiled.
"Kitsune-san, you're awake," Shinobu said.
"Yeah, and hungry. What's cooking?" the older lady inquired, then sniffed the air, which only made her hungrier. "Whatever it is, it smells good."
"Tonight's meal is sukiyaki," the resident chef announced as she turned off the stove and headed for the fridge to take out more ingredients for something else.
"Mmm...really looking forward to it," Kitsune mumbled. Her stomach growled in agreement, to which both girls laughed. She left the kitchen towards her room when she noticed some sound and movement from a distance. She stopped to see what was going on, and was rewarded for her short patience. From a corner stepped out Keitaro, smiling at something, or rather, someone. This riled Kitsune's curiosity. What followed her next confused and probably shocked her. A couple seconds later stepped out Motoko, not wearing her usual mask of seriousness. In fact, it had a small smile; it was small, but it was a smile nonetheless, and that too a genuine one. It wasn't her face that shocked the fox lady but her proximity to the man. They were, at least from her vantage point, standing next to each other. 'Wait a minute. That's Keitaro. He's a male. That's Motoko. She's a female. Motoko has something against him. Or she HAD something against him,' Kitsune tried to process all that she noticed and failed to come up with a logical reason. Instead, she decided to simply watch them.
"So yeah, I finally realized that I should enjoy what I do if I want to succeed, especially in getting into Tokyo U. Heh, as Narusegawa says, I'm an idiot, but for a reason. I still can't believe that it took me this long to realize it. So don't be like me and force yourself through everything, Motoko. It will make your life easier," Keitaro said, half-jokingly and half-seriously. Motoko simply nodded as she digested his joke and reasoning. They soon reached the stairways. "I'm going downstairs to check up on food and whatever I need to do."
"Then I shall see you at the dining table later," Motoko replied, then headed for her room as Keitaro went downstairs. Kitsune could only see and store in memory what just happened. 'Motoko didn't try to kill him this time. What happened?' Oblivious to what was going on, Keitaro headed downstairs to the kitchen, where a very attracting smell wafted from. He entered the kitchen and saw Shinobu finish cooking a dish.
"Hi, Shinobu-chan!" he greeted. Shinobu turned and saw him, much to her relief, fully dressed.
"Hello, Sempai," she replied, smiling and blushing slightly.
"What's cooking? It smells good from outside," the manager asked. He, just like Kitsune, was now quite hungry.
"Sukiyaki with some extras I created," she proudly announced. The youngest resident of Hinata Inn had always looked up to him as her role model, despite his main shortcoming of being a ronin, and always looked for a way to please him. Despite the age difference, she even had a crush on him, which he had absolutely no idea about.
"Mmm! I'm really looking forward to it!" Keitaro openly said. Shinobu blushed again as he complimented her cooking again. Even though Keitaro complimented her cooking almost every meal, she couldn't help but blush every time he did so. This was no exception. "Is it almost done?" he asked.
"Yes. Another minute and it is ready to serve," Shinobu said as she turned off the stove and started to take out a bunch of plates.
"I'll go and tell everyone else then," Keitaro said as he left the kitchen and started going to people's rooms. He reached Kitsune's room and lightly rapped on the shoji door. A grunt was heard, and seconds later, the door opened to show Kitsune in usual attire. Normally, Keitaro would've stared for a couple seconds and get teased, but this time around, he saw her come out and simply said, "Dinner's ready," then went upstairs. Kitsune looked at him in confusion, but tonight, until her hunger was satisfied, her stomach had control of her body instead of her head so not giving it much thought, she headed downstairs to the dining room.
Keitaro went upstairs and first headed for Motoko's room. As he lifted his hand in a knocking motion, the door opened and Motoko stepped out. Keitaro's eyes and ears did not register the motion and sound of the door and he simply knocked on what he thought was the door. Instead, it was Motoko's chest and then did he notice when there was no sound and what he assumed to be the door felt quite soft. He looked to see where his hand was, then realized that Motoko had come out.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you came out," he said, smiling sheepishly as he had one of his hands behind his head in apology. "Anyways, dinner is ready," he said as he headed for Suu's room.
Out of natural instinct, Motoko threw her right hand on her katana, but then realized something. 'I was going to hurt him again,' Motoko's mind screamed. She was about to break down again before Keitaro's words struck her again. "I won't forgive you unless you can forgive yourself." She relaxed her grip on the katana and herself and headed for the dining room, determined to fix her now-unwanted instinct.
"Suu-chan! Dinner's ready!" He said as he knocked on Suu's door. It opened, then Suu jumped onto Keitaro's shoulders. He was taken by surprise for a second, then adjusted himself to accommodate Suu's weight on his shoulders.
"Food?" she asked, excited. "Let's go Keitaro!"
"You can go first. I still have to get Narusegawa and Mutsumi-san," Keitaro told the second-youngest resident.
"I want to be with you Keitaro. I'll go with you," she said, looking down at him from her vantage point.
"All right, if that's what you want," he answered as he started his way towards Naru's room with Suu riding on his shoulders. He approached Naru's door and rapped it. There was no response. "Narusegawa? Mutsumi-san? Dinner's ready," he said loudly outside. Still no response. "Narusegawa? Mutsumi-san? You in there?" he asked, curious as to the lack of response.
"Why don't we go in?" Suu innocently suggested. Keitaro thought over the idea for a second.
"I guess. As long as they aren't changing or anything," he said as he grabbed the door handle and slowly pulled it. He looked inside to see Naru and Mutsumi soundly sleeping. "Oh, they're asleep. Oh well, I'll get their food later then," he noted and headed for the dining room himself. A minute later, everyone, save Naru and Mutsumi, were seated around the table. Shinobu noticed two empty seats.
"What happened to Naru-sempai and Mutsumi-san?" she asked. The others noticed the empty seats.
"They're asleep upstairs," he answered, to which Suu nodded vigorously. Satisfied by the answer, everyone started eating, and Kitsune remembered the scene she had observed earlier. "Ne, Motoko," she called between bites.
Motoko turned to the older woman. "Yes?"
"Let me ask you something," Kitsune started, with a glint in her eye. The younger girl noticed this and realized whatever she might ask wouldn't bode well and prepared herself as she simply nodded. "Were you trying to hit on Keitaro earlier?"
Motoko simply froze while Keitaro looked up in confusion. Next to him, Suu tapped his arm. "Hit on? Is that delicious?" she asked, always thinking with her stomach than with her head.
Shinobu looked up with shock splattered all over her face. 'Motoko...and Sempai??? A couple??? Nooooo.....' she mentally wailed. Keitaro noticed the usually cool girl's obvious discomfort.
"No, Kitsune, Motoko wasn't trying to hit on me. We just had a little discussion which resulted in making her feel better," he calmly explained. Before she could come back with another tease, Keitaro interrupted, "Make that a verbal discussion." This silenced the short-haired lady in surprise. Motoko silently thanked him for putting her off the hot seat.
'How did he know I was going to bring THAT up?' Kitsune wondered over bites of food.
'Phew...Motoko and Sempai are not dating,' Shinobu sighed in relief. Kitsune heard that and decided to make the chef her new target in teasing.
"Eh? Shinobu? What's with that sigh? You seem quite relieved about something," the fox lady smirked.
Shinobu snapped her head up to face the older woman. "Eh?" she panicked.
"Oh! You're even blushing! You wouldn't be thinking about hitting on Keitaro also would you?" Kitsune pressed, enjoying watching the blue-haired girl squirm. The said man lifted his head up when his name was mentioned.
'N-n-n-o! That's not it, I promise you!!" Shinobu stammered, waving her arms frantically. The older woman snickered, and decided to show mercy and stopped her teasing. Shinobu calmed slightly, and noticed someone looking at her. She turned to see Keitaro looking right back at her, and froze. Keitaro simply smiled and went back to eating his food while Shinobu froze, the image of his smile etched in her mind. She blushed once again as she ate.
Dinner passed without any more incidents as each person finished, said her thanks and took the dishes to the kitchen before heading back to their own activities. The only two people left on the table, Keitaro and Shinobu, still ate their food. Keitaro then stood up as he finished his meal.
"Thank you again for another good meal, Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro said as he took his dishes to the kitchen. As usual, the said girl blushed and looked down on her food, having trouble chewing it. He came out of the kitchen holding a tray and loaded the extra servings of untouched food meant for Naru and Mutsumi and was about to leave for the said girl's room when Shinobu said something.
"Umm...sempai?" she called timidly. Keitaro looked at her. Noticing his eyes on her, she fidgeted before continuing. "I have some problems with my math homework. Can you help me later tonight?"
"Sure, I'll come by your room after I check up on Narusegawa and give her her food," he said as he left, carrying the tray of food. The young girl nodded her thanks and took her dishes to the kitchen to wash them and the rest of the dishes.
Keitaro approached Naru's room and rapped on the door. "Are you awake?" he called out. There was some shuffling, then a second later, the shoji door opened to show a drowsy but otherwise presentable Naru. "Oh, did I wake you? Sorry about that," he apologized.
"Nah, it's OK. I needed to wake up anyways," Naru mumbled while rubbing her eyes. Her stomach growled and she looked down at it, slightly embarrassed. "Oh well, food time."
"Oh yeah, here's your and Mutsumi-san's dinner," Keitaro gave the tray of food. "I'll leave you for now," he headed for Shinobu's room. Naru tried to say something but nothing came from her mouth. She took the tray into her room and closed the door behind her. He headed for Shinobu's room to take care of her request. "Shinobu-chan, are you in there?" he called, knocking the door.
"Come in!" she said from inside. Keitaro walked in and saw Shinobu sitting at her desk with a number of books open. He approached her and looked down at the problems.
"What's the trouble?" he asked as he took one of her pencils and a sheet of paper.
"You see..." For a couple of hours, Shinobu pointed out her problems, Keitaro helped her solve the problems and Shinobu re-did the problems again.
While Keitaro and Shinobu busied themselves with her problems, Kitsune sat idly in her room, playing around with her guitar. Assuming that no one was around listening to her, she tuned it, grabbed a chord, cleared her throat, and started playing and singing:
"Today is the first day of the
rest of our lives,
Tomorrow is too late to pretend everything's all right
I'm not getting any younger as long as you don't get any older
I'm not going to state that yesterday never was"
Kitsune stopped, letting the neck of the guitar go. She collapsed backward toward the sofa and tried to remember the rest of the song. It came back to her and she started playing again:
"Bloodshot deadbeat and lack of
sleep,
Making your mascara bleed
tears down your face
leaving traces of mistakes, when I
say
If I promise to go to church on Sunday,
will you go with me on Friday night?
If you live with me, I'll die for you
and this compromise."
As Kitsune played and sang each line, all sorts of thoughts ran through her head. Most of these thoughts rotated around the only male resident of the Inn. "Tomorrow is too late to pretend everything's all right," she whispered. She took out an envelope and stashed in numerous bills.
Finally, Shinobu had the concept laid down and thanked him. She then made what was to her the bravest move yet. As Keitaro opened the door, she asked. "Sempai?" He stopped and turned to face her.
"Hmm?" he asked, curious as to what she was about to ask.
"Umm...err..." she stammered, not quite being able to make out the rest of her sentence. Keitaro approached her.
"What's the matter? It's OK, you can tell me," he said, smiling lightly to loosen her up.
"You see," she trailed for a few seconds, then just closed her eyes and blurted out what she wanted to say in a jumble, "Willyoutakemeoutonadate?" By now she was blushing harder than ever and she couldn't bear to look up at Keitaro.
The said man was initially surprised at the timid girl's bold request. His surprise, however, was short-lived and was replaced by a form of amusement as he placed a hand on her head. Shinobu froze on contact, fearing the worst. 'Sempai's going to reject me, sempai's going to reject me!' ran through her head constantly until Keitaro spoke.
"Shinobu-chan, maybe not a date," he first said. Her heart fell and almost broke into two pieces, had he not have continued, "But I will take you out somewhere." Shocked, her head snapped back and she did nothing but stare at her role model, who simply smiled back. A pool of tears was forming in her eyes as she fully digested what he said.
"Sempai! Thank you! Thank you so much!!!" she wailed, letting loose a fresh stream of tears. Keitaro took her into a hug, which she hurriedly returned, that too with a grip that would make Suu look very tame in bed. Keitaro winced, and gently urged the girl to let go, which she reluctantly did.
"How about we go out this Saturday, after your classes are over?" he suggested. Shinobu vigorously nodded, almost like a three-year-old kid who got a pile of candy. "All right, that's settled. I have to get back and do some work. Just keep working on it, that's the only way to improve," he said as he exited the room. Shinobu, now the happiest girl ever, was all smiles that night as she solved problem after problem in her assignment.
Keitaro reached his room and sat down in front of his kotatsu as he prepared himself for another night of studying. Upstairs, as Naru and Mutsumi, who still hasn't gone home yet, were studying, Naru's mind was on anything but studying. 'Why can't I talk to him like before anymore?' she pondered. She finally gathered her courage and headed for the hole that connected her and Keitaro's room together. Then she heard him say something and decided to just listen, like last time.
As he prepared his books, he heard a knock outside. "Come in!" he yelled. The door opened to reveal a surprisingly sober, and not to mention dressed, Kitsune, for once able to stand on both legs and be decent be wearing clothes that covered all of her torso. "Kitsune-san?" he asked, surprised at her sober state, or simply the lack of an alcoholic drink of sorts on one of her hands. Upstairs, Naru lifted her doll and see if her best friend was drunk again. For Keitaro and Naru, the surprises did not end there. Instead of sauntering up to him with her trademark foxy grin, she walked up to him, as if she had a definite purpose of sorts, sat down across from him and simply and wordlessly placed a brown envelope on the middle of the table. She then silently sat across from him, her head bent down as in prayer, avoiding eye contact with him.
"Take it," she said simply.
Keitaro gave her a weird look. 'It's not usual for her to give me something, other than the yearly Valentine's chocolate,' he mused as he took the envelope. 'This is heavy for a small size. If it's rent, rent isn't due for another three weeks,' he thought to himself as he picked it up and opened it to see its contents. His face exhibited immense shock. "Kitsune-san! What's all this money for???" he exclaimed. He roughly counted it and the shock grew. "This has to be at least some 100,000 yen (roughly 833 dollars)!!! What's all this for?" Kitsune remained silent and unmoving. While this continued to surprise the girl above, the surprise turned into shock, which turned into worry for the resident manager. Noticing the lack of response, he got up and walked over to her side. He then sat down next to her and she still didn't budge.
By now, Naru was concerned; for as long as she knew her, Kitsune was never silent. She was always the loud, ever-smiling type, whether she played a joke or simply laughed, and as far as she was concerned, this was not Kitsune. Forgetting her own problems for the moment, she dropped down the hole. "Kitsune?" she asked. Keitaro saw the younger woman and motioned to her to come, which she did readily. She came and sat next to Kitsune. "Kitsune, what's bothering you? This is so unlike you," Naru asked softly. The older woman lifted her head slightly, looked to her left, then her right, noticing her fellow tenants on both sides of her. Wordlessly, she got up and headed out. She opened the door and stepped out, but stopped, sticking out her forearm against the door frame and leaning against it. As the other two started getting up, Kitsune spoke.
"Urashima Keitaro," she began and paused. This stopped all movement. "How do you do it?"
"How do I do what?" the said man replied. 'What IS with her? I'd rather that she try to con me out of my money like usual rather than go through someone who obviously ISN'T herself,' he thought to himself. For a moment, he didn't register the fact that being conned out of his money by Kitsune involved lots of flesh exposure and groping.
"How do you stand it? How do you stand the way I act? How?" she asked, with a slightly wavering voice, but unmoving from her current posture. There was a pause as the older woman anxiously waited for Keitaro's reply, who was giving it some thought before he finally opened his mouth.
"Mitsune," he started, placing a hand on her right shoulder. She tensed, somehow expecting the worst. "When we interact with people, we have to accept them the way they are. We have to take the whole package, nothing more, and nothing less. If we do not want to accept the person in its entirety, we become nothing short of hypocrites. True, there are times when I feel like I will snap whenever you come by and rip me off, I'll admit that," he paused momentarily, during which Kitsune's head bent down a bit, "But I realize that playing tricks and the like are part of what makes you who you are, to me, to us, and, most importantly, to yourself." He heard Kitsune sniff, and saw her lift her other hand to wipe her tears. Then she pushed herself off the door and gently grabbed the hand on her shoulder while turning around to face him. 'Never realized she was shorter than I was,' Keitaro randomly mused, looking slightly down at her.
Looking up, Kitsune softly said, "I'm sorry. Take the money as compensation." She paused and asked, even more softly, "Am I forgiven?"
"That is for you to decide," he answered, "If you can forgive yourself, I can forgive you." Kitsune gently broke her grip, which the man readily let go, and made a turn to walk back to her room. "Thank you," she whispered. She started walking when Keitaro called out her name.
"Kitsune!" The said woman stopped and turned back to the manager. Seconds later, she reflexively caught a brown envelope, which happened to be her money. She looked back at him, confused and scared. "Just pay the rent when the time comes." She simply looked back, smiling and about to break into tears, but managed to hold them and calmly walked back into her room.
A/N – Sorry for the delay, I've had some trouble trying to describe Kitsune and her situation. However, the hardest is yet to come: how to do a Naru-centric chapter without rehashing stuff from the manga or other fanfics. Anyways, special thanks go to Harvey Bautista for prereading this work and to those who have faithfully continued reading and reviewing this fic.
For the next chapter, I am looking for more prereaders; drop me a line if you're interested.
I have a webpage now! Check my profile and this is what'll get updated first. Come by and leave a message or something!
My goodness...fanfiction.net doesn't seem to let me center stuff, or let me put in a URL, so forgive me if some of the things here seem wierd in terms of looks and formation.
Once again, folks, review please!!!