Disclaimer:
I do not own anything from Love Hina or any copyrighted material. Any other characters used in this fic are mine, however.
Chapter 3 – An Unknown Fate
All was quiet inside the Hinata Sou as the remaining tenants slept. Keitaro was in his room finishing up a late round of studying, focusing all of his attention at the task at hand. It was not until the phone rang that broke the peaceful stillness that flowed within its walls as well as his concentration. Surprised, Keitaro made his way to the phone, wondering who would be calling at this time of night.
"I hope this isn't a wrong number or something," he said to himself.
Elsewhere in the building, Naru awoke to the sound of the phone ringing in Keitaro's room. The first two rings she tried to ignore them by burying her head in her pillow, with little affect. Finally it stopped and it looked as though she'd get a good night's sleep for once. Unfortunately it wasn't going to be the case – the sounds of footsteps came from the hallway, then a knock on her door caused her to get out of bed. Opening it, she saw a distraught Keitaro in front of her.
"Keitaro, if you're here for a late night tutoring session look elsewhere," she said flatly.
"Naru," Keitaro said, "something happened to Kitsune."
"What!" gasped Naru. "What happened to her?"
"Just help me wake the others," he told her. "I'll tell you what happened once everyone's awake and in the living room."
~~
After waking the others, they all gathered in the living room with Keitaro. Naru was worried what he may have to say to them; it had been difficult since Kitsune left over a week ago…now something's gone wrong.
"Alright everyone," said Keitaro, "I hate to wake all of you this late in the evening, but I have some…uh…bad news to tell you."
"What is it Sempai?" asked Shinobu, yawning.
"This doesn't to do with a banana shortage, does it?" added Su.
Motoko shot a serious look at the young girl. "Su, Urashima wouldn't have woke us up for something so trivial."
Keitaro took a deep breath. "I got a call from Kitsune's editor earlier tonight. Something happened to the group she was in…they're missing."
Everyone was stunned at the news – it hit all of them like a ton of bricks. Tears began to well in all of the girls' as they tried to comprehend what Keitaro said. A brief moment of silence passed until Naru spoke up.
"What…what happened to her?"
Keitaro turned his gaze to her. "The camp that she was in was shelled – some sort of crossfire between the two forces in the area. All the journalists staying there had to leave in a hurry…some of them were killed by the shelling. Somehow in the confusion, some of the smaller groups got separated and drove off in any direction they could."
Motoko looked down at the floor lost in thought. She then faced Keitaro once more.
"When did this happen?" she asked solemnly.
"About three days ago," Keitaro answered. "The people in charge of covering the war are doing the best they can to find them…but the chances of surviving…"
"Keitaro," said Naru, "if there isn't a body, then she's alive out there!"
"Naru, I–" Keitaro started, but was cut short.
"Kitsune is missing…she is not dead! She can't be!" she shouted angrily.
Naru slammed her fist in frustration on the table, and then broke down into bitter tears. Motoko put a hand on her shoulder while Su wrapped her arms around her neck in an effort to comfort her. Shinobu began to sob and moved to Keitaro's side.
"Sempai…is there anything we can do?" she choked.
Keitaro looked down at the small girl. "All we can do is hope that she's okay."
~~
Two days earlier…Kitsune woke up in a cold sweat. Sitting up in the car seat, she immediately started looking for the others. Spotting them under an old tree made her breath a sigh of relief – it had been a stressful night as they left the village. The memory of that event caused her to think bitterly of her current situation.
'Some safe zone,' she thought. 'We should've painted a goddamn bullseye on all of the buildings.'
Getting out of the car, she made her way to the group.
"What's going on?" she asks.
"We're busy trying to figure out where we are," said Gus.
"Jay, can't believe that you got us lost!" said Sandy, shooting him a stern look.
"Hey, I really didn't have any other choice," Jay replied. "I didn't want to take a road that wasn't blowing up every minute!"
"Guys knock it off," Gus said. "Playing the blame game isn't gonna get us the hell out of here."
After calming everyone's nerves, each of them looked over the map of the area. Several minutes passed until they found out where they were. Realizing their location at the moment, Sandy was able to sum it up in five words.
"We are in deep shit," she said. "It seems we somewhere about thirty miles away from the Albanian border, give or take a few."
"Then what's the problem?" asked Kitsune.
Gus sighed. "The problem is that there's heavy fighting between us and safety."
"That is a problem," commented Kitsune. "So what's our next move?"
"Well," Jay said, "our only option is to drive as close to the border as possible and try to cross it from there. It's our best bet."
"Hey, isn't that a little dangerous?" said Sandy.
"We're with the press," Kitsune added. "I doubt we'll get shot at outright."
"Still it's a big risk, but it's better than trying to stick it out here any longer," commented Gus.
Coming to an agreement, all of them got into the car and drove off. The ride was tense as all four of them kept a lookout for militant forces. Kitsune had her hand gripped to the door handle the entire time, as she felt the anticipation rise within her. As a general rule of thumb, each group kept the car doors unlocked when they traveled – this is so that they could get out of the car in a hurry if they were under attack. After driving for about fifteen minutes, Kitsune felt the car slowing down. Turning her head to the front, she saw what they all feared they'd run into – a military checkpoint.
Men in Serbian uniforms took up defensive positions around several sandbag barriers that lined the road. An officer stood up and signaled the car to stop. As carefully as they could, Kitsune and the others pulled out the press I.D. cards as well as their cameras. The man took one hard look at their credentials as well as their faces. He then spoke to Jay in a soft tone in his language. Nodding to everything the officer had to say, and then he waved them off. Smiling nervously, Jay put the car into drive and pulled away. All the soldiers kept their rifles trained on them the entire time.
"What was he talking to you about?" asked Gus.
"My Serbian sucks, but the jist of it is this that there's going to be more fighting up ahead," he replied. "But since we're reporters, he told us to keep our heads down."
"That's not good," said Kitsune.
"Okay, just keep a lookout for any trouble and get ready to get out fast," instructed Sandy.
Tense minutes passed without incident. Just as things seemed to become peaceful, the sound of mortar rounds being fired got everyone's attention. An explosion in front of the car caused Jay to swerve off the road. When they stopped, the motor died out.
"Oh shit!" cried Jay. "Come on dammit, come on!"
Turning the ignition key, he tried to get the car moving again. More explosions shook the interior as the fighting began to pick up steam.
"Forget about starting the damn car!" shouted Kitsune. "We gotta find some shelter now!"
Scrambling out of the car, all four of them dove for cover as another mortar streaked in. Scanning the area, Jay points to a run-down house a few feet away.
"Get to that house!" he shouted. "We gotta get out of this field or we're dead!"
Running as fast as they could, they dove inside. Closing the door shut, Kitsune slumped to the floor as more explosions rang outside.
"Stay down!" cried Sandy "Find some cover and stay low!"
The rest began to take cover anywhere they could inside the house, while Kitsune sat near the doorway. Soon, she found herself alone in what used to be a living room. The sound of mortars ceased and all was quiet.
A moment later the sound of heavy armor came closer and closer. Looking out the window, Kitsune saw several militants running through the field firing at their unseen adversaries. She saw in horror as several of the men dropped dead, their blood staining the ground a bright crimson. Pulling her camera out from her bag, she began to take photos of the ensuing carnage.
Some of the men that fell weren't dead. They screamed in pain as they clutched bloody wounds on their bodies; others grabbed at the stumps of blown off limbs, crying out in agony; it was a truly gruesome scene. As the fighting intensified, Kitsune didn't realize that she was out of film. Despite this, she couldn't turn away – it's as if she was in some sort of trance.
All of a sudden, an explosion from a rifle grenade shattered the window. The sudden impact knocked Kitsune off her feet. Crawling around on the floor in a panic, she somehow managed to find a bathroom. Slowly the truth of the matter began to sink into her head: it wasn't a game or some movie – this is real. Those are real people dying out there, and she was smack in the middle of it.
As the sounds of war rang outside, Kitsune began to think about her life at the Hinata Sou…images of happier times ran through her head like a slideshow. The Cherry Blossom Festival, the Christmas Party, the time she and Naru tried their hand at cooking – all these events in her life that took place just recently seemed too distant and faded to remember. She'd give anything to be back home…back to where things made sense. What she has seen and experienced made her realize how lucky she is to have such a life and to have friends that cared about her. It soon dawned on Kitsune that she might never see that life again.
Bringing her knees to her chest, Kitsune began to cry.
***
A/N – This was a difficult chapter to write, so I hope I did a good job. I hope my inclusion of the rest of the L.H. cast in the beginning didn't seem too out of place (or a bit OCC), but I wanted to include their point-of-view on what's happened so far.
Anyway, thanks to British Dragon and i won't tell for reviewing my last chapter (I hope that I didn't make you too sick after reading it, but I'm big on descriptions).
Okay people, you know the drill! Read and review and I'll have the next chapter up ASAP! ^_^
