Love Hina: No wonder I can't stay mad at you

by Bug-Chan

A/N -- It's been ages since i've written anything, and I apologize to readers who still remember, or try to remember, my other works. I just got an inspiration while in an IM session with a buddy -- hopefully this short oneshot will have my creative juices flowing again.

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"Grab this, you dork!" a certain ten-year-old American blonde girl yelled as she threw what looked like a stone sculpture of Tama across the front yard of Hinata-inn. Springtime came and the group gathered in a picnic, watching the sakura blossoms fall.

"Augh!" A familiar kanririn yelled as the stone turtle met his head and sent him reeling towards someone else.

"Everyone! I've brought more food!" Maehara Shinobu proudly announced as she entered, holding two trays of appetizing and visually pleasing assortments, which if one didn't know better, could be a piece of work at the Louvre. Her cheerful face changed to that of panic seconds later when she felt a draft across a region that was covered by her skirt. "Aaaauuuu~~~."

"Sarah-chan, you shouldn't throw things like that at other people," Narusegawa Naru chided. All she got as a reply consisted of three letters: "meh." Having taken care of the wild girl, she decided to survey the damage. "Are you all-" made through her lips as she noticed the lack of dress of her fellow housemate and resident chef and the proximity of the hand of the lone male resident of the Inn: the hem of the said girl's skirt, and that too a tight grip.

Aoyama Motoko, swordswoman extraordinaire, noticed it. Picking up her katana, she growled in a low voice, "Urashima--"

Naru decided to fill in the rest, "--Keitaro! You pervert!!" and threw her trademark Naru Punch aimed at his jaw. Keitaro noticed something coming his way but didn't register it as a fist until he was airborne.

"Now if only she used that pretty mouth of hers for something a bit more pleasant to the ear," he mused as he went flying to regions unknown.

Hours later, the group packed up the picnic goods, having agreed to go inside to avoid the incoming chill from spring nights and seen enough of falling blossoms. The partying continued, however, courtesy of the resident slacker, Konno Mitsune, known as Kitsune for her fox-like cunning. Her drunken stupor was enough fuel to keep everyone smiling and cheery.

Those significantly underage didn't care much about the older residents having their share of sake and other beverages provided -- instead, they spent more time chasing each other, or in some cases, chasing Keitaro with an object intended to harm him and him alone, directly or otherwise. While he would result being scrapped, burnt, flattened, zapped, frozen, or whatnot, he still sprung back as if nothing had happened.

Finally the hours passed, first the youngsters surrendered to the peace of sleep, literally falling where they stood. Next went down the rest of the residents save Motoko and Keitaro, the former because she didn't drink anywhere near as much as Kitsune or the others and the latter because he was so busy being targeted that he worked out whatever alcohol he drank through sweat. Nodding at each other, both started to pick up residents and tried to make them as comfortable as possible if either couldn't carry her to her respective room.

Keitaro found his way to Sarah after taking care of his share of residents. Because of her light weight, he took her back to her room upstairs. As he got in, he silently prepared a futon and a blanket for the young girl who still lay unmoving. A minute later, he gently placed her on the futon and covered her up with a blanket.

Suddenly, the American girl stirred a bit, and Keitaro in his surprise simply froze. The next thing he knew, his entire left arm felt very warm and heavy and looking down after gaining his senses, he found a giant lump of skin, blond hair and girl latched onto his arm with a content smile. Surprise soon turned to a smile of content on his end, feeing very warmed. As he tried to gently extricate his captive limb from her swarm, he only felt a tightening of it and an incoherent mumble, which turned to one single word:

"Dork," she mumbled as she snuggled into the arm, her smile only growing larger. Seeing no feasible way out, the resident manager, in his aim to please, just lied next to the now tame youngster and tried his best to make himself comfortable. After a good deal of shifting on his side, fatigue, as well as a small amount of content, took over the tired manager's body as he fell asleep with a smile on his face as well.

The next morning proceeded as usual, with Keitaro seeing his fair share of painful exits and entries from and to Hinata-inn respectively, among other things. He found himself once again the target of crazy inventions and stone artifacts, running for his life, but for once, stopped, looked at the young girl chasing him, and smiled. Dumbfounded, Sarah just stared, but her young mind picked up a warm sense of familiarity and smiled back. Even if it was for an instant while her playmate/accomplice was just out of the scene and the smile became that of malice, Keitaro still couldn't help but think as he was being zapped, 'It's because of this it's no wonder I can't stay mad at you.'

END

A/N -- That ends my short one-shot fic -- the first in ages. I'll now at least try to continue my other unfinished pieces. Review, please!