Chapter 7 – The Duel
(Character thoughts) [Author notes]
"WAIT!" A distraught Shinobu yelled, halting her fathers assault. Keaitaro gave a small sigh and turned to face Shinobu. As did her parents. "I wan...want to s.st..y..stay here in Hinata Sou." And as she wished it, the gods made it be. [89 - I'm gonna cut this short, it's getting really annoying, typing in parent response is hard when your battling a serious case of writers block]
Keitaro sighed as he finished repairing his room. Shinobu's parents had relented and she was now in the kitchen making dinner. The others welcomed her and also found a way to threaten him if h tried any of his moves on her. (This is getting a little too frequent.) Deciding a dip in the hot springs would be nice, Keitaro embarked on his way to the hot springs. He opened the door and walked in clad in nothing more than a towel around his waist. Easing into the water, he could feel all the pain and tense muscles ease away. He waded further into the water and found a small alcove for himself and settled in. His eyelids began to droop as he grew more and more relaxed. Suddenly, he was out like a light.
Several hours later, the group led their new tenant to the hot springs, in order to enjoy a nice after dinner dip. "Can you believe the nerve, that pervert, not even showing up for dinner." Naru rambled. "It's not his fault, he was very busy I'm sure." Shinobu said to her even though she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince, herself or Naru. "Either way, he should have been there, lecherous as he is, this is low." Motoko said, drumming on her katana menacingly. Su and Sara jumped around noisily and asked their new friend in hurried questions.
They group opened the door to the hot springs, clad in nothing but towels and entered. They heard no one and thus entered hurriedly. Sighing as they eased into the waters, they were unaware that Urashima laying asleep only feet away, as Keitaro remained oblivious to the oncoming danger. Motoko, Naru, and Kitsune leaned back into the rocks and sat socking in the water as Su and Sara dragged a smiling Shinobu deeper in.
"Looks like Su found something interesting." Naru commented idly as she waded over to the foreigner. What happened next is not to be repeated at all costs. [Readers have been warned that any and all actions taken by any of the characters are practiced and possibly fatal without the right immortality.]
Naru stopped when she reached Su, who was now poking the unnaturally human shape in the alcove. She recognized the figure instantaneously. "WHY YOU LITTLE!" Naru wound up and let loose, launching one of her most ferocious punches at Keitaro. The punch almost made it. Right at the moment it touched Keitaro's cheek, but had still not let all it's momentum slam into him, he panicked and slapped the hand away. The punches momentum sent Naru sailing to the other end of the springs.
Motoko was up next, as Keitaro started to get a clearer head. "Urashima!" Realizing that for once, he could fake or beg his way out of this and bolted, grabbing his clothes and rushing out of the hot spring. The other's including Naru followed.
Around and around Motoko chased Keitaro. Through the commotion, Keitaro had somehow changed into his regular clothes and was now closing in on his room. He leapt across the room and went for something in the back. Motoko jumped into the room just in time to see Keitaro escape throught the hole in between his and Naru's room.
Quickly retracing her steps, Motoko raced up the stairs, only seeing red, and only vengeance in her mind. Searching sporadically for his ki, she followed him through the building, eventually winding up on the laundry deck. Keitaro held a sword loosely by his left hand, doubled over and wheezing form the run. He looked up at the sound of heavy footsteps and backed away, desperate for an exit.
Finding none, Keitaro prepared himself for Motoko, who chose this time to rush up the stairs and bound onto the deck. By this time, the others had gotten changed and had gathered at the roof across the way from the deck to watch the massacre.
"Urashima, how dare you break into the women's bathing area whilst we cleaned ourselves. Have you no shame?" She never gave him time to contemplate the answer and charged at him with her blade pointed right at his neck.
Thinking quickly, Keitaro barely dodged the incoming blade. "What are you talking about? I was in there first, and besides, I am the landlord." Keitaro tried to explain, but the words never reached Motoko's ears as she round on him again, even more enraged that a novice like him had avoided her attack.
ACTION | FIGHT motoko vs. keitaro
Motoko launched one of her popular ki moves and sent a column of near invisible force directly at Keitaro. Keitaro leaned back, bent his knees slightly and brought his arms up in a criss-cross to defend himself. The attack slammed into him sending him back a few feet, but had little other affect.
Motoko, now even more aggravated, launched herself at the unfortunate landlord. Keitaro recovered and raced towards Motoko, surprising the audience and Motoko. Motoko forced that thought out of her being and concentrated on her offensive.
Then it happened, right before their swords clashed. Keitaro used his running start to jump over a bewildered Motoko. Motoko, barely stopped from rushing into the fence from her own momentum. She round on Keitaro and declared; "Urashima. I will never accept you and kanrinnin unless you can defeat me in combat."
Keitaro, still confused as to the origins of this conflict, shrugged and made his next mistake by letting his mouth rub even more on Motoko's already bruised ego. "Whatever, this wont take long."
Motoko's lips curled into a malicious smile as she whispered, "Oh, it certainly wont be too long...before you leave!" Without waiting for a response, Motoko charged in and delivered a powerful slash at Keitaros stomach, but he managed to parry the blow and launch one of his own. After pushing her blade away, Keitaro let loose a vicious downward stike at Motoko, who easily dodgedit and rolled away, jumping up to launch a KI move on Keitaro.
Keitaro never saw it coming and get struck in the left rib area. He was launched a couple of feet but managed to stay in the deck. (Damn, gotta watch out for those) He thought.
Motoko looked at him with a crocodile smile. Before he knew what he was doing, he charged in and delivered a three swipe combo, which Motoko barely avoided. Before she could launch an attack of her own, Keitaro's blade was at her stomach, sending forth a small amount of ki from the tip. Motoko got hit hard and was sent flying several feet. She insistently rose and charged at Keitaro. Keitaro ducked her overhead slash and continued to dodge even more of her attacks.
After a while, Motoko jumped back and slashed viciously at Keitaro, who brought up his own sword and met her. Sparks flew as the tow weapons clashed and rebounded.
"C'mon, do we really have to do this?" Keitaro said as he realized how tired she was. Motoko gave a powerful battle cry and lunged forward in response. Keitaro decided to end this before anyone got too seriously injured. He brought up his blade and pretended to began to bring it down, in a simple downward slash.
Motko fell for the rouse and paused momentarily to let the blade come down. However, Keitaro let loose a very powerful ki attack and flung the raging vortex at a startled Motoko. The attack was dead-on and struck Motoko, who had begun to move forward, and collided with her body, slamming her backwards.
Silence conquered the arena as the smoke cleared. Motoko lay on the ground, twitching slightly, but otherwise not moving. On the other side, Keitaro was panting heavily and wiping sweat from his brow. As the last of the smog disengaged, Keitaro walked over to Motoko and check to make sure was alright. The other girls crowded around their fallen comrade. Naru stared disgustedly at Keitaro and spat at him.
"This is all your fault. Leave, right now." Naru said.
"C'mon, I couldn't let her just attack me." Keitaro rebutted.
"How could you hit a woman?"
"One, she's fifteen, two, you did see her launch about twenty of those special moves?"
"Still that's no right to hurt her."
"But it's plenty right for her to attack me."
"Hey, you peaked on us you perv."
"You do realize that I was in there before you and anyone else."
"You still haven't gone in there."
"Why not? I'm the landlord whether you like it or not. I even battled Motoko for the title and won."
"Oh come off it. You probably cheated."
"Is it even possible to cheat on one of these things?"
"You would be one to know, cheater."
Keitaro sighed and rolled his eyes, before turning to leave the deck. "Wait." Came a small voice from the center of the group; Motoko. "You have proved that you are worthy of the post. I see now that in my haste to punish you, I failed to assess the situation."
Keitaro checked that his mouth was under control and responded, "Well, what's done is done. Let's put itself behind us. But there is one last issue. I still don't know how everyone feels about me being the landlord. So I want you all to go around in a circle and voted yes or no for my stay. Motoko's has already accepted me, so let's go from there. Su?"
"OKIES, onii-chan can stay!"
"Shinobu?"
"Of course Sempai."
"...Sara?"
"..."
"Well?"
"Fine, you can stay dork breath."
"wow*shrugs and moves on* Kitsune?"
"Sure, Mr. Urashima, maybe later you can come by my room to discuss the 'rent'."
"*frowns*sure. Naru?"
"I guess it woudn't hurt, just don't try any of you pervy stunts again. And we need to go over some ground rules."
(Character thoughts) [Author notes]
"WAIT!" A distraught Shinobu yelled, halting her fathers assault. Keaitaro gave a small sigh and turned to face Shinobu. As did her parents. "I wan...want to s.st..y..stay here in Hinata Sou." And as she wished it, the gods made it be. [89 - I'm gonna cut this short, it's getting really annoying, typing in parent response is hard when your battling a serious case of writers block]
Keitaro sighed as he finished repairing his room. Shinobu's parents had relented and she was now in the kitchen making dinner. The others welcomed her and also found a way to threaten him if h tried any of his moves on her. (This is getting a little too frequent.) Deciding a dip in the hot springs would be nice, Keitaro embarked on his way to the hot springs. He opened the door and walked in clad in nothing more than a towel around his waist. Easing into the water, he could feel all the pain and tense muscles ease away. He waded further into the water and found a small alcove for himself and settled in. His eyelids began to droop as he grew more and more relaxed. Suddenly, he was out like a light.
Several hours later, the group led their new tenant to the hot springs, in order to enjoy a nice after dinner dip. "Can you believe the nerve, that pervert, not even showing up for dinner." Naru rambled. "It's not his fault, he was very busy I'm sure." Shinobu said to her even though she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince, herself or Naru. "Either way, he should have been there, lecherous as he is, this is low." Motoko said, drumming on her katana menacingly. Su and Sara jumped around noisily and asked their new friend in hurried questions.
They group opened the door to the hot springs, clad in nothing but towels and entered. They heard no one and thus entered hurriedly. Sighing as they eased into the waters, they were unaware that Urashima laying asleep only feet away, as Keitaro remained oblivious to the oncoming danger. Motoko, Naru, and Kitsune leaned back into the rocks and sat socking in the water as Su and Sara dragged a smiling Shinobu deeper in.
"Looks like Su found something interesting." Naru commented idly as she waded over to the foreigner. What happened next is not to be repeated at all costs. [Readers have been warned that any and all actions taken by any of the characters are practiced and possibly fatal without the right immortality.]
Naru stopped when she reached Su, who was now poking the unnaturally human shape in the alcove. She recognized the figure instantaneously. "WHY YOU LITTLE!" Naru wound up and let loose, launching one of her most ferocious punches at Keitaro. The punch almost made it. Right at the moment it touched Keitaro's cheek, but had still not let all it's momentum slam into him, he panicked and slapped the hand away. The punches momentum sent Naru sailing to the other end of the springs.
Motoko was up next, as Keitaro started to get a clearer head. "Urashima!" Realizing that for once, he could fake or beg his way out of this and bolted, grabbing his clothes and rushing out of the hot spring. The other's including Naru followed.
Around and around Motoko chased Keitaro. Through the commotion, Keitaro had somehow changed into his regular clothes and was now closing in on his room. He leapt across the room and went for something in the back. Motoko jumped into the room just in time to see Keitaro escape throught the hole in between his and Naru's room.
Quickly retracing her steps, Motoko raced up the stairs, only seeing red, and only vengeance in her mind. Searching sporadically for his ki, she followed him through the building, eventually winding up on the laundry deck. Keitaro held a sword loosely by his left hand, doubled over and wheezing form the run. He looked up at the sound of heavy footsteps and backed away, desperate for an exit.
Finding none, Keitaro prepared himself for Motoko, who chose this time to rush up the stairs and bound onto the deck. By this time, the others had gotten changed and had gathered at the roof across the way from the deck to watch the massacre.
"Urashima, how dare you break into the women's bathing area whilst we cleaned ourselves. Have you no shame?" She never gave him time to contemplate the answer and charged at him with her blade pointed right at his neck.
Thinking quickly, Keitaro barely dodged the incoming blade. "What are you talking about? I was in there first, and besides, I am the landlord." Keitaro tried to explain, but the words never reached Motoko's ears as she round on him again, even more enraged that a novice like him had avoided her attack.
ACTION | FIGHT motoko vs. keitaro
Motoko launched one of her popular ki moves and sent a column of near invisible force directly at Keitaro. Keitaro leaned back, bent his knees slightly and brought his arms up in a criss-cross to defend himself. The attack slammed into him sending him back a few feet, but had little other affect.
Motoko, now even more aggravated, launched herself at the unfortunate landlord. Keitaro recovered and raced towards Motoko, surprising the audience and Motoko. Motoko forced that thought out of her being and concentrated on her offensive.
Then it happened, right before their swords clashed. Keitaro used his running start to jump over a bewildered Motoko. Motoko, barely stopped from rushing into the fence from her own momentum. She round on Keitaro and declared; "Urashima. I will never accept you and kanrinnin unless you can defeat me in combat."
Keitaro, still confused as to the origins of this conflict, shrugged and made his next mistake by letting his mouth rub even more on Motoko's already bruised ego. "Whatever, this wont take long."
Motoko's lips curled into a malicious smile as she whispered, "Oh, it certainly wont be too long...before you leave!" Without waiting for a response, Motoko charged in and delivered a powerful slash at Keitaros stomach, but he managed to parry the blow and launch one of his own. After pushing her blade away, Keitaro let loose a vicious downward stike at Motoko, who easily dodgedit and rolled away, jumping up to launch a KI move on Keitaro.
Keitaro never saw it coming and get struck in the left rib area. He was launched a couple of feet but managed to stay in the deck. (Damn, gotta watch out for those) He thought.
Motoko looked at him with a crocodile smile. Before he knew what he was doing, he charged in and delivered a three swipe combo, which Motoko barely avoided. Before she could launch an attack of her own, Keitaro's blade was at her stomach, sending forth a small amount of ki from the tip. Motoko got hit hard and was sent flying several feet. She insistently rose and charged at Keitaro. Keitaro ducked her overhead slash and continued to dodge even more of her attacks.
After a while, Motoko jumped back and slashed viciously at Keitaro, who brought up his own sword and met her. Sparks flew as the tow weapons clashed and rebounded.
"C'mon, do we really have to do this?" Keitaro said as he realized how tired she was. Motoko gave a powerful battle cry and lunged forward in response. Keitaro decided to end this before anyone got too seriously injured. He brought up his blade and pretended to began to bring it down, in a simple downward slash.
Motko fell for the rouse and paused momentarily to let the blade come down. However, Keitaro let loose a very powerful ki attack and flung the raging vortex at a startled Motoko. The attack was dead-on and struck Motoko, who had begun to move forward, and collided with her body, slamming her backwards.
Silence conquered the arena as the smoke cleared. Motoko lay on the ground, twitching slightly, but otherwise not moving. On the other side, Keitaro was panting heavily and wiping sweat from his brow. As the last of the smog disengaged, Keitaro walked over to Motoko and check to make sure was alright. The other girls crowded around their fallen comrade. Naru stared disgustedly at Keitaro and spat at him.
"This is all your fault. Leave, right now." Naru said.
"C'mon, I couldn't let her just attack me." Keitaro rebutted.
"How could you hit a woman?"
"One, she's fifteen, two, you did see her launch about twenty of those special moves?"
"Still that's no right to hurt her."
"But it's plenty right for her to attack me."
"Hey, you peaked on us you perv."
"You do realize that I was in there before you and anyone else."
"You still haven't gone in there."
"Why not? I'm the landlord whether you like it or not. I even battled Motoko for the title and won."
"Oh come off it. You probably cheated."
"Is it even possible to cheat on one of these things?"
"You would be one to know, cheater."
Keitaro sighed and rolled his eyes, before turning to leave the deck. "Wait." Came a small voice from the center of the group; Motoko. "You have proved that you are worthy of the post. I see now that in my haste to punish you, I failed to assess the situation."
Keitaro checked that his mouth was under control and responded, "Well, what's done is done. Let's put itself behind us. But there is one last issue. I still don't know how everyone feels about me being the landlord. So I want you all to go around in a circle and voted yes or no for my stay. Motoko's has already accepted me, so let's go from there. Su?"
"OKIES, onii-chan can stay!"
"Shinobu?"
"Of course Sempai."
"...Sara?"
"..."
"Well?"
"Fine, you can stay dork breath."
"wow*shrugs and moves on* Kitsune?"
"Sure, Mr. Urashima, maybe later you can come by my room to discuss the 'rent'."
"*frowns*sure. Naru?"
"I guess it woudn't hurt, just don't try any of you pervy stunts again. And we need to go over some ground rules."
