Okay, so, I'm not exactly new at fic writing. However, I'm kinda rusty. Eh-heh… Anyway, I've spent a lot of time planning out the rest of this as I finished. Now, basically, I took a quick amount of time (IE: very little time) analyzing the song Tuesday Morning by Michelle Branch. Soooo… I think this is a very important for the fic, hence the name. Of course, it's quite a loose base for the fic… but a base nonetheless…
I
don't own Love Hina… blah-di-blah-blah…
I do, however, own this fic…
Keep in mind that Italics mean thoughts and/or flashback scenes. Just try and
tell the difference, it's easy...
- ~ -
Tuesday
Morning
01 – Friendly Advice
SethSolare
As she stared out her balcony view, the light breeze blew her hair to the left side. Her nightgown, blue and thin, floated about in the wind. She wore some blue pajamas and had on her new blue slippers. The wind beat against her ears. She could hear that sound the wind commonly makes. A faint smile spread across her face while watching the town below her rise up this early. The small shops around Hinata opened up for business. The Hinata market started up briskly as it commonly does very early in the morning. All these little dots ran around the calm little town. Everything outside the Hinata Sou was completely calm and fresh. Inside, a board in her floor slid open.
"Naru?" a voice whispered from the floor. First hair, then eyes popped out of the little hole. "Can I come in?"
"You're already in my room." Naru didn't bother to turn around to face Keitaro at all. "Come over here."
"It's such a nice day, isn't it?" Keitaro mentioned, trying to start a conversation. He felt highly uncomfortable doing this. But, he did want to be up here with her more than anything. He walked over to her side and leaned on the balcony railing. His dark, short hair ruffled around a little in the wind.
"Of course it is. It's nice to wake up with a friend by your side," a little bit of red came to Naru's cheeks. She felt a little awkward sharing this beautiful moment with such a nice person. He was maybe even too nice for her. With that thought, she quickly shook it away and turned to face her right. Perhaps a little blushing would give Keitaro the wrong idea, and she didn't want that to happen.
"I kind of figured you'd be up pretty early," he said.
"What made you think that?" she asked. Her reddish hair floated around his face. Brushing aside her hair, he crept around to her right side. A change in position suddenly put his face into her view. She stared at him and smiled a larger smile.
"I don't know, I just thought it was what you were used to. You always wake up early for Tokyo U. I suppose that the end of the spring term wouldn't change your sleeping habits. Sleeping early, waking early. It's completely and utterly you," he said with a little sly look. He brushed her cheek lightly with his left hand.
"I'm sure you won't flirt like that with anyone in America," her eyes suddenly narrowed. Her right eye squinted at him and the edge of her lips rose a little. She looked at him rather seriously with that same stern look of hers. He snatched his hand back away from her face and closed his eyes awaiting a large impact.
"Oh crap! This is really going to hurt. It sounds like I'm going to cheat on her. But, I can't cheat on her if we're not… wait. What am I thinking? Wait, where's the fist? The moving air? The ground?!" Keitaro rattled off the thoughts in his head quickly. After a few seconds, nothing happened. She was holding his left hand and was simply rubbing the back of it. She stared out at the scenery before her. She was somehow very sure of him getting to go to America. Somehow, she thought that he would be going there and going with Seta. Somehow, she thought that he would be leaving Hinata for six months. He would be leaving her for six months…
"Actually, while I'm there," he then took her hand and began stroking it. "All I could possibly think about will be-"
"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!" a girl screamed as she was taking some clean laundry up to Naru's room. Clothes tumbled around everywhere. "I didn't know you were up here, Keitaro. I didn't mean to walk in on you and Naru …" Shinobu's voice trailed away.
"It's fine. Here, let me help," Keitaro said as he ran over to Shinobu to help pick up the pile lying on the floor. Naru walked over to the heap in the middle of the hallway and began folding as well. Shinobu took every piece of clothing she picked up and folded neatly. Everything she did was so maternal. She stacked every bit of clothing in separate stacks. All of Naru's shirts were arranged by color in neat, different towers.
"You know, Shinobu, you will make a fine mother one day," Naru said as she stacked another one of her shirts on the red pile.
"I – I – I… Thank you," the girl said simply as she put down one of Naru's skirts. Slowly, her face began to light up like fireplace. She looked down with her bright red face as Naru giggled a little.
Keitaro began to smile as well until he realized that he was touching an article of clothing not meant for his hands. A pink, lacy bra was right under his hands and a red, fuming Naru in front of his face. He quickly closed his eyes again and when he opened them, he was outside of the Hinata Café and in much pain.
- ~ -
"You really need to be careful, Kei," Haruka pointed out. She lit up another cigarette after she put Keitaro's coffee on the table along with a box of bandages. "A girl's underwear is definitely not for your hands. That goes double for Naru's. Triple for Motoko's." Keitaro sighed a little, "Things began to sound good. I mean, there we were, on her balcony. We were just watching the sunrise and we were just standing there. It was very nice." He flinched a little at the stinging of the antiseptic.
"Don't be such a baby, it's not supposed to hurt that much. Besides, you're someone who can survive falling from a punch. This stuff shouldn't hurt that much," Haruka said as she patched up one little scratch. "But, I can see your dilemma. This punching thing shouldn't be happening in the first place. However, I am happy that things are very happy between you and Naru. Of course, you shouldn't have touched her underwear."
Keitaro giggled and flinched all at once. He thought about Naru so much. He was in love with her. There was no doubt anywhere. She knew it as much as he did. Everyone in the Hinata Sou knew it as well. Everyone acknowledged the fact that he loved her. Even Mutsumi knew it, as dense as she is. She tries so hard to get Naru to admit all of her feelings. The only person that really hasn't truly acknowledged it is Naru. The only person who won't outright say it all is Naru. As much as he loved her, he couldn't get past the fact that she wouldn't tell him how she really felt. All he could think about was that time near the pool:
"I wanted to tell
you that I love you," Naru said with a huge blush. Her hair blew around
lightly to her left side. She smiled at Keitaro. She smiled at Kei.
"You mean…" Keitaro exclaimed,
his heart skipping a beat. He could feel his jaw dropping at her words. She
finally admitted it. She…
"But I'm not sure," Naru came back as she looked aside, her hair finally
settling. Keitaro fell over completely from her lack of decisiveness.
"Are you thinking of the pool incident?" Haruka asked.
"Yeah, you know, I just – Wait. How do you know about that?" Keitaro asked, obviously completely and utterly taken aback by her knowledge of that incident.
"Seta and I were watching you," she stated simply as she
put on the last bandage. "There. That's enough of the bandaging." Haruka
stood up and walked away with the bandages. She put them away and walked back
out to the table. "You really need to improve your aim."
"Uhm,
you mean, I mean, uh," Kei stuttered and looked down, embarrassed.
"I didn't say you'd be practicing on me," she said and quickly flicked his forehead. Keitaro regained his senses and decided to let his aunt talk. She was, perhaps, the most insightful and intelligent person around. She knew the most about these kinds of things. To turn down a man that was madly in love with her, she must have thought about that situation constantly. She must've known a lot about these emotional traumas, problems, and solutions. If anyone could help, it was Aunt Haruka.
"Kei, you should just show her your feelings. Rather than trying to tell her, perhaps you could, as I said, aim better," she said with a little smile. Keitaro blushed a little. He wasn't too good at… that. He couldn't even get close to the vicinity of her lips. All he could do was kiss her nose. How horrible was that? "You really need to do more than just kiss her, Kei. I don't mean to take it that far either. Do you understand that? More than a kiss, less than sex." Keitaro felt a little stunned to hear Haruka tell him that. He didn't expect he'd be hearing about sex from his Aunt.
"You know how to french kiss a girl right?" She just outright asked him that.
"O – Of course I do," Keitaro stuttered along. He hadn't actually kissed Naru before, let alone French kissed her.
"Mutsumi was probably a good kisser and all. But she's not your real first kiss. You haven't actually, really kissed a girl, but I guess you know how. Anyway, I guess you haven't actually thought about it that much since you seem startled by it. But I know you've at least thought about it." She was right. "Don't do it on the first kiss. She'll just hit you like she normally would." The word 'normally' made Keitaro flinch. She always hit him. Naru would never cease to find some kind of obscure reason to beat the crap out of him.
"So, if it has to be more than a kiss and less than sex and not a French kiss, what?" Keitaro asked. He had no idea what he could do for Naru. He had no idea how to react girls, really. If anything, his first real girlfriend would or could be Naru. But, somehow, things were a little hopeless. Naru wouldn't even give him the slightest little verbal acknowledgement that she cared about him. Rather, she would say it, and then take it back.
"You have to do more than tell her you love her. But I'm going to let you figure out what to do. It's a life experience for you. Be smart, Kei," Haruka said as she walked outside of the café. She watched outside of it as the little town outside of her little café moved about. There was happiness in this town. Maybe, just maybe, there may be happiness in Keitaro's the world called Hinata Sou.
- ~ -
Kitsune handed the red head a can of cheap beer. Naru slowly looked up at her best friend, but refused the drink with a wave of her hand. Kitsune simply shrugged and plopped down on her floor. She was wearing her new tank top and shorts. She felt so at ease in her room, but she could sense the building tension that sat next to her. It was so odd to have Naru in her room like this. Usually the bath was the place for these kinds of things. But it was too early and Kitsune was too thirsty for a bath with simply water.
It was so much easier to have discussions in the bath. Everything was so relaxing. It was warm and it felt wonderful. However, Naru didn't feel like it. She just sat on a pillow with her legs tucked up to her chest. Though she didn't want to try, Kitsune couldn't stand to leave her best friend like that.
"Why don't you just tell him you're sorry?" Kitsune posed the little question as if it were something so simple. Maybe she could do it so easily because she was drunk. But Naru, she couldn't even justify in her head what she did. She hated herself for punching a guy that she cared about so much.
"You know, I try so hard to resist trying to kill him. But, sometimes, he acts like a complete idiot. It makes me hate him so much. Then, he comes back from Haruka, completely bruised and bandaged. And you know what he does?" Naru seemed incredibly aggravated and sad all at once. Kitsune didn't bother to add in her little clever remarks. "He smiles at me. He smiles at me. He comes back to me, half-dead, smiling!" she screamed. She was completely red in the face. She could feel her face burning up. She looked like she had been completely sunburned. Then, she could feel water cool her face off as at streamed down her cheek.
"I mean, I punch him and beat him up. I could send him into orbit if I wanted to. But I just want to keep him on earth. I want to keep him on earth, right next to me," Naru cried. She couldn't stop her tears. Kitsune, for the first time in a long while, had truly felt sorry for Naru. She hated seeing Naru cry, especially at this age and for this reason.
"He's going to go to America. He's going to leave me behind. I could just kick him there if I didn't want him to stay. I could just tell him to go and never come back. I wouldn't feel guilty every time I even think about him telling me that he cares so much about me. I wouldn't feel guilty about hitting him every time we get close," Naru complained. "Why the hell do I keep doing this? I keep hurting my chances with him. I keep messing things up. I keep saying it's his fault. He's the pervert. He's the letch. I keep trying to not say that I care about him. "
"I ruined the most perfect morning with him. I woke up and wore those pajamas because I remembered the way he looked at them when he first bought them for me. I wore them in hopes of him coming to see me that morning. I hoped to maybe even just ki…" her voice immediately halted. The familiar feeling of loss overwhelmed her. She felt horrible just thinking about his face. It was a feeling of guilt. The knowledge and acceptance that this was her fault made her feel worse.
"Every time something happens with us, I want it to last. I'm happy when I'm with him and everything is wonderful. I wish that wish so much so that every time he so much as brushes my arm, I want him to do it again. Every time he touches me in like that, I can't help but with he'd just keep going on," she whispered. Kitsune's mind began to wander around that thought. With something like that in her mind, she couldn't possibly deny that Naru has deep feelings for Keitaro. Kitsune almost felt guilty. These kinds of thoughts aren't from Naru but from herself. "I might have influenced her thinking of relationships a little too much."
"I hate myself," Naru said plainly. She quickly snatched the can of beer from Kitsune's hand and began to drink.
"Stop that! That's not going to help you at all!" Kitsune yelled as she took back the can. She wanted to help her friend more than anything and so she walked over and emptied out the can from the window. "I don't want to butt in, not this time, but," Kitsune reached out to Naru's shoulder. "I'll talk to him for you, if you want me to." Naru began to sob louder. She just couldn't stop.
"Come on, you need a bath." Kitsune immediately dragged Naru down to the hot spring.
- ~ -
Keitaro sighed heavily. "These bandages are on my face luckily. I guess I'll go wash the rest of me off."
